The best online casinos in the UK in 2024

Applying The Independent’s journalistic expertise, we’ve undertaken a comprehensive evaluation of the UK’s best online casinos.

This review draws on in-depth research, statistical data from governing bodies and first-hand testing to assess each casino’s game selection, security measures and promotions.

By leveraging trusted third-party data and our rigorous reporting standards, we aim to provide readers with an accurate and up-to-date guide to choosing an online casino.

Online casinos feature heavily as a side option on the betting sites and betting apps of UK bookmakers, and they generally offer a wide variety of game-play options, from the best online slots to blackjack and roulette.

Such games are proving increasingly popular – in fact, a 2022 report from the UKGC estimates that online casino games generated almost £4bn in gross gambling yield between 2021 and 2022.

But with over 2,000 operators to choose from, where’s the best place to play online? Well, to answer that, you need to narrow down your choices before selecting the right online casino based on your own personal preferences.

We pride ourselves on delivering impartial and reliable insights, so we’ve evaluated major UK casinos below in order to review which are the best for every type of player.

To find out more about how we rate the best online casinos and about gambling responsibly please scroll a little further down the page.

Mr Vegas gets our vote for the best online casino for those who enjoy slots.

They offer a huge variety of slots – over 7000 – including popular titles like Big Bass Splash, Book of Dead and Starburst, as well as 450 jackpot slots from all the major providers, such as Jackpot King, Megaways and Dream Drop. For those who are interested in these games, you can read our guide to the different types of slot games.

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Mr Vegas offers a 100% matched deposit welcome package, in which they will match any deposit up to £200. The offer also includes free spins with no wagering requirements, in addition to ongoing promotions like the Wheel of Vegas.

Existing users can enjoy Rainbow Fridays, where cash rewards are handed out every Friday based on your slot play from during the week, while the Wheel of Vegas gives slot players the chance to win one of three exclusive jackpots.

Although there are plenty of pros to Mr Vegas, some users may not like its user interface and website design, which is a little dated, while it is also true that payouts can sometimes be a little delayed.

Grosvenor Casino is our pick of the best roulette sites, mainly due to their unique “Live and Direct” feature.

This allows online users to watch and bet on live streams of roulette tables from Grosvenor’s physical UK casinos.

Playing and staking a minimum of £25 on Grosvenor’s ‘Live and Direct’ tables will also qualify you for a spin on the Rewards Wheel, which offers a guaranteed casino bonus of up to £100.

The Authentic Tables section in the live casino allows customers to find a range of online roulette variations, such as XL Roulette, 10p Roulette and 20p Roulette, so their casino offerings cater to several different types of punter.

Grosvenor remains one of the premium names on the UK market, though it is sometimes guilty of lacking in range of promotions and value.

In our opinion, Ladbrokes Casino is the best blackjack site, with dozens of blackjack tables, including live options with varying bet limits.

There are daily blackjack tournaments, and the highly-rated mobile app enhances the gaming experience with an accessible, user-friendly interface.

Ladbrokes’ bet behind option is an important feature on their live blackjack offerings, allowing users to join games even when all the seats at the virtual table are taken.

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They also offer tables with unlimited players and a wide range of blackjack variations, giving users plenty of options when playing.

The icing on the cake is Ladbrokes’ Blackjack Lucky Cards promotion, giving out rewards of cash and free bets on a daily basis to users who play at one of the online casino site’s exclusive tables.

While the casino site is noteworthy, Ladbrokes remains primarily focused on sports betting, so their casino site lags a little behind in terms of game variety.

As a brand synonymous with the home of gambling, Las Vegas, it’s no surprise BetMGM have successfully set up a UK live casino.

They’ve transferred a knowledge of Vegas casinos to build a sleek and reliable live platform featuring a huge range of games, which include variants of all the popular casino classics.

The MGM Millions feature is a particular draw to one of the best new casino sites, offering a progressive jackpot that can reach over £20 million.

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To qualify, users just need to stake £0.10 on an MGM Millions game, many of which are featured on the live casino page.

BetMGM is also home to several exclusive titles, including Bellagio Blackjack, and has a good selection of VIP tables catering more towards high rollers.

As a new site, BetMGM has had some teething issues, primarily in terms of slow payouts, a difficult identity verification process and a smaller selection of games than some competitors.

Virgin Games is the top mobile casino app in the UK. Few mobile casino apps score as highly among iOS and Android users as Virgin Games with ratings of 4.7 and 4.6 on their respective app stores.

To get new customers started, there’s a welcome offer catered to favourite aspects of an online casino with slot fans getting 100 free spins after wagering £10, while live casino users will get £10 cashback after staking £50.

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Virgin also operate several free slot games, all available on their app, while players can discover a good range of offers and promotions via the Virgin Vault.

The gameplay on the app is every bit as good as the desktop experience, while even the mobile version of the site is of a high standard for those who prefer not to download the app.

While Virgin’s free spins offer represents decent value, the cashback offer is not great, meaning their overall welcome package is comparatively worse than the industry’s major players.

Neptune Casino may be new on the scene but it’s quickly climbing the best UK online casinos list. Like a lot of new online casinos trying to stand out from the crowd, Neptune’s sign-up offer is among the best around with a 100 per cent welcome bonus and 25 no wagering free spins on Book of Dead.

Despite only going live in 2024, Neptune has already built up an extensive library of games, with over 3,000 available to play.

These games also have some of the highest casino payouts around, helping Neptune to quickly rank amongst the best online casinos available with an impressive 97.41 per cent RTP.

While Neptune’s welcome offers provides good value, the promotions for existing customers are quite poor in comparison to other companies – for example, five bonus spins if you log in at a certain time and 10 per cent cashback at the weekend.

In our opinion, Buzz Casino offers the best online casino sign-up bonus at the moment and have run the same welcome offer since 2023. It’s proven popular with customers, as new users are able to get 200 free spins from an initial £10 deposit.

Customers must stake £10 on one of the 900-plus slot games available at Buzz Casino to unlock the free spins, which can only be used on Fire Blaze Blue Wizard Megaways. The spins are valued at £0.10 each and any winnings carry a x20 wagering requirement, which is a lower figure than is attached to most free spins offers.

Wagering requirements are always a negative on casino sites, even if these ones are low, while some users may have preferred some sort of matched deposit rather than just free spins.

Most casino sites offer a bingo product and anyone interested in this form of gambling will likely be aware of Mecca Bingo, who have over 50 bingo venues dotted around the UK.

Since moving into the online market they have developed one of the best bingo sites, but you’ll also find general casino games on there such as slots and even slingo, which is a cross between bingo and slot games.

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Mecca has been named ‘Bingo Operator of the Year’ on three occasions and that is no coincidence. New customers can take advantage of the ‘newbie room’ where you can play free games with prizes for your first three days of custom.

New sign ups are also entitled to receive up to £120 worth of bingo bonuses after depositing and playing £10 and spinning the bonus wheel.

Put simply, while Mecca might be a great site for bingo lovers, the lack of alternative games may put some users off.

As the name suggests, PokerStars started out life as a poker site, but have slowly evolved to offer an online casino and sports betting site too.

Despite branching out, it remains one of the best online poker sites with hundreds of tournaments available to play in every day. PokerStars offer a number of variations to standard tournaments, such as the fast-paced Spin&Go and Power Path, where you progress through different levels to reach the final tournament and a chance to win a lucrative gold pass.

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For those looking to get into poker, you can take advantage of PokerStars Learn, where you’ll get free tuition for playing poker, setting you up to play for real money on the PokerStars site. In addition, you can also read our guide on poker strategy.

New customers can currently claim a 100 per cent bonus on their first deposit with the Pokerstars promo code ‘STARS400’, worth up to £400.

While this offer presents potentially great value, some users may be affected by slower withdrawal and customer support response times.

We have used a variety of factors in order to evaluate and rank the best casino sites, and there is more detail on these below. Remember, though, that the ‘best’ online casino is different for everybody, so evaluate your betting preferences and needs before diving in to an online casino.

We ensure that all of the sites we recommend are fully licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission. The UKGC exists to enforce the rules of independent testing agencies such as eCOGRA, so a licence shows customers that said bookmaker operates fairly and legally.

In addition to the required licensing and regulation, our recommended sites will all use up-to-date security features to protect customer details and data. Such features may include ssl encryption and two-factor authentication.

When recommending such sites, we check that their games have a reasonable volatility and RTP, and chances for users to win fairly (to that end, you may wish to check our guide on ‘what is RTP’ before selecting a slot site for free spins).

The variety of the games on offer is another important factor, with the best casino sites offering plenty of gaming options for their users, from slot games and roulette options to table games such as poker and blackjack. In addition, these games must be provided by the best operators in the business.

We also evaluate the overall user experience of these UK casinos, including accessibility, the efficiency and performance of the app and desktop site. Only sites that perform well both on desktop and iOS and Android platforms will be recommended.

Regular promotions, both for new customers and existing users, are also taken into account, with the best casinos enticing new customers with good-value welcome offers while also doing their best to retain their business with running promotions and bonuses.

Our recommended sites will operate plenty of customer service options, such as live chat, phone and email, and will ideally be available 24/7.

A range of accessible payment methods, combined with top rated security and customer service, are also important when ranking online casinos. If a brand is classed as a good Apple Pay casino or a Google Pay casino, for example, we are more likely to favour them as it streamlines the deposit process for many users.

We only recommend betting sites that actively promote socially responsible gambling while also providing the requisite tools to help players foster better gambling habits.

The UKGC provides its own guide on how to stay safe when gambling - this includes thinking about why you’re gambling and how often, as well as how to put limits on your time and spending, and relevant organisations that can help.

There are a variety of different deposit and withdrawal methods available on UK online casinos.

The most commonly used method is debit card, which is often necessary for taking advantage of welcome offers at UK online casinos. The main advantage of this method is the ease of use, with a wide range of possible deposit values, though it isn’t always the fastest method for withdrawing winnings.

A similarly easy method is bank transfer, which is easily accessible and trustworthy, though transfers can take some time.

E-wallets and mobile wallets are other available options, with providers like Skrill and Neteller popular in the UK. These provide a good selection of funding options and various added security measures, as well as VIP options for regular users. However, they usually aren’t accepted as part of welcome offers and are sometimes difficult to use when withdrawing, even at fast withdrawal casinos.

Using a PayPal casino is becoming increasingly popular and it offers similar perks to Skrill and Neteller, though they sometimes take a commission when used on casino sites.

Some online casinos accept cheques, but the drawn out process and time taken for the money to arrive makes this an unpopular option. Using a pay by mobile casino is another option and they are on the rise. A pay by mobile casino allows users to deposit into their gambling account via their mobile phone credit or bill.

In a bid to get new customers to sign up – and to keep existing customers – UK online casinos offer a variety of different bonuses and promotions.

Deposit bonuses, no-deposit bonuses, free spins, cashback, loyalty programmes, and refer-a-friend bonuses are all common examples, and we’ve run through each of them below.

These types of bonuses are often tied in with online casino sign-up offers, though it’s quite common for online casinos to offer deposit bonuses to existing customers too.

The UK casino will offer to match your deposit up to a certain amount, giving you extra funds to play with. For example, they could offer to match your next deposit up to £100, meaning if you deposited £100, you’d been given £200 (an extra £100 from the casino themselves) to play with. These bonuses often have wagering requirements attached to them, so read the terms and conditions carefully and don’t necessarily expect a straightforward withdrawal on any winnings.

As the title suggests, no deposit free spins are bonuses given to you by UK casinos without the need to make a deposit.

They tend to be of a lower value than deposit bonuses and can often only be used in an area specified by the casino.

Examples include offers where the customer signs up and adds a card that they can deposit funds, and upon registering the card you receive free spins. In addition, some offers will give you added spins on top of the free spins once you make a deposit.

Any winnings generated with a non-deposit bonus are often subject to wagering requirements, though look out for offers that forego the wagering requirements.

Another regular part of a sign-up offer, free spins provide you with a set number of spins on a slot game or collection of slot games.

Casinos online will set the value of the free spins and you may have to deposit or stake a certain amount before the free spins become active.

Occasionally, as mentioned above, you will get free spins just for signing up, with extra free spins added when you make your first deposit.

You can earn back a percentage of your losses by opting in for cashback bonuses at online casinos. These bonuses are often paid out weekly and tend to be no bigger than 20 per cent of a player’s deposit losses during the specified time period.

Many of the best online casinos now run loyalty schemes, allowing you to build up points or credits. Once you’ve accumulated enough points, you can exchange them for perks like cashback on losses, free spins, deposit bonuses, and more.

Loyalty schemes may also include simple added bonuses or availability of more promotions, as well as bet specials and tailored offers for big events.

When it comes to loyalty programs, remember the rules of responsible gambling. Never stake more than you can afford just to fulfil the conditions of the program.

For those looking for a more interactive experience by playing alongside friends, some UK casino sites offer the chance to earn bonuses by referring friends. Those friends will need to meet certain spending requirements before the bonus is credited to you, while sometimes both you and your friend will be awarded a bonus.

Remember that gambling is only a form of entertainment, not a way to make money. Gambling sites can be addictive, so remember to never wager more than you can afford to lose, and take steps to remain in control of your budget.

If necessary, you can make use of responsible gambling tools offered by the best online casinos UK, such as deposit limits, loss limits, self-exclusion and time-outs.

The same applies whether you’re playing on slot sites, poker sites, bingo sites or any other form of gambling.

Should you wish to seek help for gambling-related issues, there are several charities and healthcare providers who offer support and information:

The best casino sites offer a range of services that set them apart, though as mentioned above, determining the best online casino depends on customer preferences. Different casino sites will cater better depending on your preferred game, whether that be slots, blackjack or roulette.

In addition, the best casino sites can be sorted into different categories, for example the best apps, the best bonus offer and the best overall site. There is no definitive best online casino.

All recommended online casino sites on this page are regulated by the UKGC, so you can be safe in the knowledge that you are using a safe, reliable and secure online casino.

Remember that it is important to choose a casino that meets your individual preferences – all of the best casino sites have easily accessible information and tools to aid responsible gambling practices.

Are online casinos legal in the UK?

Yes, online casinos are legal in the UK, provided they are licensed by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). Always ensure the casino you play at is fully licensed to guarantee fair play, security and adherence to UK gambling regulations. At The Independent, we only recommend safe betting sites and the best casino sites that are fully regulated.

Are online casinos rigged?

UK-licensed online casinos are not rigged. They are regulated by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), which requires the use of Random Number Generators (RNGs) to ensure fair and unpredictable game outcomes. Always opt for UKGC-licensed casinos for a secure and trustworthy gaming experience. All casino sites recommended by The Independent are fully licensed and regulated.

What games can I play on UK casino sites?

UK online casinos generally offer a wide variety of games, including slots, blackjack, roulette, poker, and live dealer games. You can also find progressive jackpots and speciality games like bingo and digital scratch cards. Some casino sites will offer slingo, which is a relatively new concept and combines slot game elements with bingo traits.

How do I withdraw my winnings from an online casino?

To withdraw your winnings from casino sites, go to the cashier section, select your preferred withdrawal method (for example PayPal, Apple Pay or debit card), and enter the amount you wish to withdraw. Withdrawal times will vary depending on the method chosen but typically range from a few hours to several days. Make sure to verify your identity before requesting a withdrawal.

What are wagering requirements at online casinos?

Wagering requirements refer to the number of times you must play through bonus funds before you can withdraw any winnings. For example, if a £10 bonus has a 30x wagering requirement, you would need to gamble £300 before any remaining winnings from the bonus can be withdrawn. Many online casino sites apply wagering requirements to welcome bonuses, promotions and free spins.

What is the best online casino UK?

There is no definitive answer to what the best online casino is. It really depends on the type of casino player you are, which is why we have ranked and reviewed the best casino sites according to the most popular games and features, such as live casino and the best casino sign up offers.

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