Vipsta Casino

Vipsta Casino Review

Online casinos always claim to treat their players like VIPs – you have VIP programs, VIP bonuses, VIP managers… But only one site is so determined to VIP-ify the experience that it has straight up put the word into its title! That site, Vipsta Casino, is owned and operated by NovaForge Ltd, a company which generally has a good reputation with players, but is hardly known for being VIP-friendly.

Will Vipsta break the cycle and truly provide players with a gambling site that makes them feel like the cream of the crop? To find that out, we at CasinoAustraliaOnline spent many days researching every aspect of Vipsta, from the casino’s games and features through its bonuses, payment options, and – of course – legitimacy. With our research now complete, we’re here to tell you whether you should enjoy the vista or look away!

Bonuses

Welcome Bonus – 100% Match up to AU$750 + 200 Free Spins + 1 Bonus Crab

We must say that right off the bad, Vipsta’s facade of being a VIP casino is fading – its welcome bonus isn’t exactly what we’d call a VIP one. For starters, it’s very low, granting players a mere 100% match up to AU$750. Not only that, but unlike other casinos that will offer first-time users a package consisting of several deposits, Vipsta only has one – so it stings even more that it’s so low.

The silver lining here is that you’ll get a whole bunch of free spins: a total of 200, on a game decided by the casino. They’ll be given to you in 10 daily batches of 20, with each batch having to be played through in its entirely within the 24 hours in which it’s available, as any unused free spins will be forfeited. Unfortunate, but hardly uncommon with casinos.

As for the wagering requirements, the free spins winnings will have to be played through x40 times, while the cash bonus has a slightly lower requirement of x35. Both of these requirements will have to be fulfilled within 10 days, which will, admittedly, be pretty rough – and if you succeed, the withdrawals from both combined will be no more than x10 your deposit amount.

Reload Promotions at Vipsta Casino

Since Vipsta doesn’t have a welcome package, you’ll find yourself having to rely on reload promotions from your second deposit onwards. As their name suggests, these offers can be ‘reloaded’ over and over again, allowing you to keep claiming them indefinitely. The caveat here is that each of Vipsta’s reload promos can be received once a week, on different days.

The weekday promo, available between Monday and Thursday, will let you snatch up 50 free spins that can be used on a designated “game of the week”. The minimum deposit to receive this promo is AU$30. As for the weekend offer, available (you won’t believe this) over the weekend, the same deposit of AU$30 will give you a 50% match up to AU$1,050. But if you boost that up to at least AU$75, you’ll receive 50 spins on top of the bigger match bonus.

The wagering requirements for both of these promotions are the same as the welcome offer: x35 for the cash bonus, x40 for the free spins winnings, both must be completed within 10 days of receiving the bonus. There are a few more bonuses existing players can take advantage of, but they’re more situational – like the limited-time offers which are occasionally emailed to players.

Games

It’s awesome to find an online casino with great bonuses, but you know what’s even better? A great games selection! Luckily, Vipsta doesn’t disappoint in that department, as it offers players not only a fantastic pokies section, but also tons of live casino games, crash/instant win games, and even a full fledged sports section. That last one is great news for fans of sports betting, but is perhaps intended more as a side activity than the main event, as it lacks some options regarding both betting options and betting markets.

Ultimately, whether you enjoy this section will depend solely on your subjective tastes and what you’re looking for out of an online casino. If you’re mostly interested in pokies, you’ll be delighted by what Vipsta has to offer – like many online casinos by Stellar Ltd, the selection is almost unparalleled for Australia. But if you prefer sports or live casino titles, you won’t find much here that will impress you.

Pokies

As mentioned in our general overview above, Vipsta (alongside any other online casinos operated by Stellar Ltd) has a fantastic selection of pokies, especially here in Australia. Unfortunately, since many casino game providers don’t make their games available in AU (and other regions with dubious online gambling laws), the selection at most casinos can be very scarce. Vipsta has accounted for that by pulling in the games of practically every provider that operates here.

Many of them are big names that veterans of the online casino industry will quickly recognize: BGaming, Pragmatic Play, Play’n GO, Yggdrasil, Microgaming, etc. But it’s also worth noting just how many are ‘hidden gems’, such as Ruby Play, Foxium, and Oryx. If those company names don’t mean much to you, no worries – you can still find what you’re looking for by making use of Vipsta’s categorization feature, which segregates games by feature and, sometimes, theme.

Live casino

While the pokies section is undeniably the highlight here at Vipsta, the live dealer one is also not too bad – just maybe a bit lacking compared to what some other casinos have to offer. This is mostly due to the absence of Evolution Gaming, arguably the biggest live room provider in the industry, with only Pragmatic Live and a handful of smaller companies (like Atmsofera) left to fill that void.

With that said, it’s not like Pragmatic is terrible – quite the opposite, many players prefer it to Evolution for most games (like blackjack and roulette), so if you’re one of those you should be fine. The downside is that less popular game types, like sic bo, baccarat, and live game shows, have taken a bit of a hit in terms of both quantity and quality. They’re still there if you want them, but those rooms are noticeably not as engaging as what Evolution provides.

Deposits & Withdrawals

Although an online casino’s payment options are hardly the first thing on players’ minds when they choose to sign up, they’re still incredibly important – if you can’t deposit, you can’t play! Vipsta understands that well, and so has attempted to include a variety of different payment types that should, hopefully, satisfy the needs of most players.

For many of us here in Australia, using a simple banking option like a credit card or bank transfer will be easiest – but not everyone wants their bank to be aware that they’re gambling online. The alternative is using an online payment option, like Neteller, Skrill, Jeton, or Sticpay, which are a great solution if you’re willing to make an account. And pre-paid vouchers like Neosurf and Paysafecard (also available at Vipsta) don’t even require an account, though they obviously can’t be used for withdrawals.

In terms of anonymity, there’s no better solution than crypto: not only is it completely disconnected from banks, but also will not be verified during the KYC procedure (which we’ll discuss in our verification section). On that front, Vipsta also supports a decent amount of cryptos, many of which popular (like Bitcoin and Litecoin) while others less well known (like Ripple and BitcoinCash).

Withdrawal time

Although the withdrawal time isn’t exactly the most important thing that most players are interested in when choosing what payment option to use, it is, nonetheless, quite important to know. Especially since it can vary pretty wildly between individual methods! Before we discuss them one by one, be aware that Vipsta as a whole will have a 3 day processing time, which means you need to wait for about 3 days before the payment is dispatched.

Once those 3 days are up, though, the differences will become pretty stark. For example, electronic payments (like with e-wallets and crypto) will be delivered either instantly or almost instantly. Bitcoin and Dogecoin might take a few hours, but beyond that, you’ll get them as soon as they’re dispatched. Banking solutions, like with credit cards or bank transfer, will be much slower – they’ll take an additional 3-5 days to be processed, meaning you can wait for over a week to have access to your hard-earned winnings.

VIP Program

As we discussed in our examination of Vipsta’s bonuses, the site only has a handful of reload promotions (not counting the limited time offers you’d receive by email from time to time). This positions the VIP program as an important part of the bonus structure, a way for loyal players to get rewards even when they aren’t depositing. Which is why it’s so disappointing that it kind of sucks.

The basic structure of that program is extremely similar compared to what you’d find at most other sites: you’ll have to place bets with real money to accumulate XP that will eventually let you level up. Each of Vipsta’s 5 levels will give you passive bonuses, or increase ones you’ve gotten previously – for example, level 3 unlocks a cashback, and level 4 increases how big it is.

And therein lies the problem. Getting from one level to the next is HARD, and it only gets substantially harder the higher you go. It sucks to put in tens of thousands of dollars in order to go from level 1 to level 2 and still not even get a cashback, the most basic perk that any VIP program will offer you. By the end of the program (which few players will even reach) you’re looking at betting millions in exchange for no real benefit. Is a 5% cashback worth all that effort? We don’t think so.

Tournaments

Tournaments, much like the VIP section, are another way for loyal players to be rewarded for their efforts – plus it places them in direct competition with other players, which is always rather fun! Sadly, again like the VIP section, there are obvious issues that kind of spoil the whole experience.

On the bright side, Vipsta does offer a fantastic selection of tourneys: we’re talking both regular slot tournaments (weekly and monthly races), as well as longer Drops & Wins promotions organized by providers. Besides those, you’ll also have access to live casino and sports betting tournaments, which is so rare that it’s well worth celebrating whenever we see it!

On the other hand, many of those tournaments (for example, the aforementioned races) will not reward you with any actual cash, at least not directly. Instead, all you’ll win is Vipsta’s own currency that will let you buy bonuses… which in turn have their own wagering requirements that need to be completed. And quite frankly, having to wager tens of thousands of dollars in real money to win a tournament, only to be rewarded with a bonus that you might lose, isn’t a great feeling.

Verification

The verification (also known as KYC) is an important part of every online casino experience – yes, even those few which openly advertise themselves as not having it. To Vipsta’s credit, at least it keeps the existence of this process, as well as what it entails, very open to players (it’s all described in the terms and conditions well before you actually get there). Also to its credit, it’s a very straightforward process that shouldn’t give most players much trouble.

When you’re about to make your first withdrawal, that request will be denied – but only until you confirm a few personal details, like your identity and that you own the payment method used to deposit at the casino. This is mandated by law and intended to prevent money laundering, as casinos are often used by criminals to anonymously drain funds from stolen credit cards and hacked e-wallet accounts. For ordinary citizens (including, presumably, you), this should be no more than a minor inconvenience.

Is Vipsta Casino Legit & safe?

Many Aussies are very concerned about the legitimacy of the online casinos they play with, and who can blame them? Our country’s legislation means that if you get scammed in any way, sorry, you’re on your own as punishment for daring to have fun at an online casino. We at CasinoAustraliaOnline understand the danger and always take extra time to research whether a particular site can be trusted – and in Vipsta’s case, we believe that it can.

Obviously our opinion could be wrong, but examining the site critically reveals quite a lot of green flags. It’s owned and operated by a very big company (Stellar Ltd, also known as NovaForge), one that has been on the market for many years and is highly unlikely to start scamming players right now. On top of that, Stellar (and, by extension, Vipsta) has a license from Anjouan, meaning that there’s a regulatory body looking after players and having the power to actually punish the casino in a meaningful way. None of these things guarantee a scam-free experience, but they do make it far more likely.

Customer support

In the event that you need a little bit of help (whether with a technical issue or with just a question), there are two ways you can contact Vipsta’s customer support team. The first one is also the easiest: live chat! Just hit the icon in the bottom right corner and bam, you’re chatting with an agent already! Unfortunately, this option is also the inferior one by a rather significant margin, as the support will be quite slow and often provide incomplete information. At least, that was our experience while testing Vipsta’s live chat.

Instead, we would recommend that you send an email to the address we listed below (there doesn’t seem to be an option for submitting a ticket straight through the site). Will this take longer than live chat? Yes, you’ll be waiting 1-2 days instead of 10-15 minutes. But unless your issue is extremely urgent, you’ll be very glad to have waited. Trust us, the quality of support care between these two methods is like night and day.

Mobile casino

There isn’t much we can say about Vipsta’s mobile section – after all, it’s identical to the desktop version! Indeed, this site (much like practically every modern online casino out there) has prioritized its mobile interface over its desktop one, to the point where the latter is completely identical to the former. Whether you open up Vipsta’s site on a computer or your phone, you’ll find the same side menu accessed by a hamburger icon, the same large pokie images, etc. That’s not necessarily a bad means: it makes the mobile version of the site play great on mobile, even if the PC one suffers a little as a result.