Royal Panda Review
100% Welcome Bonus up to ₹2,000
New Customers Only. 18+. T&C Apply.
Overview
Once upon a time, Royal Panda set out to give their customers a royal casino experience. This was meant to include an easy-to-use casino, great bonus offers and regular promotions, exciting games, and finally, a sportsbook to impress, though that was added a few years down the line.
Royal Panda was established in 2014 and is among those online betting sites that have managed to improve consistently, becoming ever more popular with their player base.
Indeed, Royal Panda does know how to treat their customer royally, which includes excellent customer service and fast payouts. Naturally, their sportsbook is of particular interest to us and it is quite unique. We checked it out for you to let you know whether it is a good place for your online betting in India.
What we liked:
- Accepts Indian customers and deposits in rupees
- Doubly licensed and very secure
- Sportsbook, Casino and Live Casino
- Free spins when signing up
- Very engaging customer service
What could be improved:
- Sportsbook navigation is not very intuitive
- Limited availability for customer service
- More promotions, including sports promotions
Our detailed review
Let’s check out Royal Panda in more detail before coming to a final verdict.
Safety and security
First of all, Royal Panda is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission as well as the Malta Gaming Authority. Whilst these are European gambling jurisdictions, gamblers from India can rest assured that Royal Panda is a very well-regulated online casino and sportsbook.
We’re happy to report that Royal Panda has never been sanctioned by the UKGC, who are notoriously strict and no infraction by an online gambling site goes unnoticed or unpunished.
So, on the official side of things, Royal Panda gets a thumbs up for trustworthiness. Beyond that, Royal Panda actively promotes responsible gambling and has all the required measures in place to help players regulate their gambling or provide help when problematic gambling behavior is detected.
Naturally, you’re playing at a secure website with the best encryption standards and all games are tested for fairness and randomness.
And what do other players say? Well, most complaints we have encountered are about the lengthy KYC process (know your customer) that customers have to go through before they can make a withdrawal. Whilst this may feel like a nuisance to some it also serves to protect your funds and ensure that you are indeed the correct recipient.
As it is, on AskGamblers, a majority of all complaints have been resolved, which is good news. No online betting site is free of complaints, but it’s also always worth considering how much an operator does to ensure those complaints are resolved eventually. Here, Royal Panda is doing well, and we certainly consider this a safe online betting site for players from India.
Odds, markets, and games
Royal Panda was first and foremost conceived as an online casino. However, eventually, they added a decent sportsbook, which has the added benefit of looking pretty cool, albeit as little cluttered and not always easy to navigate.
When you enter the sportsbook, you’ll find the available sports and markets on the left. You’ll be able to find markets for Cricket, Horse Racing, Tennis, Football, Basketball, Volleyball or Futsal and Handball as well as quite a good selection of eSports. Whilst the Royal Panda is nowhere near as big as that of competitors that are focussing much more on sports betting, you won’t need to search for long before you find many more sports and events, including thousands of more markets. The Royal Panda sportsbook is not as small as it appears at first glance, and most casual punters will find what they’re looking for here. Including competitive odds.
Since the sportsbook does cover most sports, you also find kabaddi betting here, and that’s something punters from India will appreciate.
But let’s not forget that Royal Panda is primarily an online casino. For those in need of at least a thousand slots to choose from, Royal Panda is a great choice. Fans of table games will find dozens of options including Casino Poker, Roulette, Blackjack or Baccarat. Video Poker, scratch cards, and in particular virtual sports betting are also available. Alas, we couldn’t find Andar Bahar among the table games selection, including the live casino.
That is otherwise really good though, and players will be able to play a great selection of Roulette and Blackjack tables as well as Baccarat and Casino Poker. Games are supplied by Evolution Gaming.
Welcome bonus and other promotions
New players from India at Royal Panda can claim two different welcome offers. You can either sign up for the casino bonus and double your first deposit of INR 10,000, playing with INR 20,000. Or you claim an INR 2,000 free bet.
You can claim the free bet by signing up, making the first deposit and betting INR 2,000 on odds of at least 2.0 or higher. Once the bet is settled, you’ll receive your free bet, which you can then use on just about any market but once again only on odds of 2.0 or higher. Also, be aware that the free bet stake is not included in any returns.
Casino players can also receive a bonus. A 100% match bonus of up to INR 10,000 awaits. Unfortunately, deposits via Skrill, Neteller, PayPal, and Paysafecard are not eligible for this bonus. Also, bonus funds and any winnings from it need to be wagered 35x.
More promotions are available all the time. Royal Panda has been offering regular big promotions, where you could earn free spins, bonus cash or even real cash. Sometimes they have prize drops or tournaments and there are regular offers such as the Bamboo Bonus, which you can claim every week.
Whilst there is no shortage of promotions, there are not really enough sports bonuses available. Those are still somewhat rare beyond the initial free bet.
Engaging customer support
Getting help at Royal Panda is not difficult. The first place to go is the small black tab on the right-hand side, which says “Help”. A little window will pop up that shows you some of the most frequently asked questions.
If that doesn’t cover what you are looking for, you start a live chat with the customer service team, make a call or send an email.
The phone number provided is actually for Malta, were Royal Panda is located, but you can request a callback, which is a handy service for those who prefer to speak to someone and wouldn’t cost you extra.
The only downside we found is the fact that the customer service team only seems to be available between 09:00 and 00:30 CET, which is not only limited but also a pain for customers from India due to the time zone difference. As such, if you need help outside these hours, you should request a callback or simply send an email.
We also noticed that the customer service reps seem to respond to every complaint they find online in various player forums. They are incredibly polite, and they address the issues each complainant has, instead of making a generic remark. That is a rare level of engagement and quite appreciated.
Banking at Royal Panda
Thankfully, at Royal Panda, a dedicated page for all available payment methods has been put together. We always find that quite helpful when it comes to information around banking. However, Royal Panda simply listed all available payment options, regardless of whether they might be available in India or not. So, you will have to filter yourself as not all those options will even be suitable for you.
Among the many methods, you should find something for your convenience, however. Also, you can see at a glance what fees apply, transaction times as well as deposit and withdrawal limits.
Whilst limits differ usually according to the method you are choosing, Royal Panda has imposed its own daily withdrawal limit of € 50,000 (or currency equivalent). We couldn’t find weekly or monthly limits beyond that, however. So, hopefully, there are none.
By the way, whilst Royal Panda prides itself by offering fast payouts, you do have to go through the KYC (know your customer) process first and that can be involved and take up some time. It is, therefore, our recommendation that you get your ID checks out of the way before making your first withdrawal request.
Software, navigation, and mobile play
Royal Panda caters to their players according to region. When you open up the casino lobby, you’ll see the big panda grinning at you holding wads of cash in front of the Taj Mahal. Truly, the panda is an adorable mascot and he is making appearances throughout the page.
The website is definitely a modern one, though some design elements strike us as a little bit old-fashioned, perhaps they say ‘online casino’ so loudly. Still, you can feel right at home here with the smiling panda as your host.
The casino is well-organized and easily navigated. You really can’t get lost here as it is intuitive to get around.
The sportsbook is another issue, however. Whilst the software is definitely modern and has some interesting features on offer, it can also be confusing sorting through the different views. Do you really need the Event View, Live View, Live Calendar and Multi-View? Sure, it’s great that you can customize your preferences and all that, but if you’ve never visited a sportsbook in your life, you might feel the options a little overwhelming.
Once you get used to it, it does get better. But here we feel less would have been more.
Verdict
A great online casino for casual punters
Royal Panda certainly gets close to offering a royal casino experience. They have managed to establish a good reputation and LeoVegas purchased the site for good reason a while back. Whilst there is room for improvement, we have very few complaints overall.
The sportsbook is definitely a decent addition and welcome by casino fans who want to be able to place occasional bets without having to go to a dedicated bookmaker. You get decent odds and many markets, though everything online betting players from India could want is available here. Most notably, there is kabaddi betting here, and IPL betting is definitely decent here.
Royal Panda is best suited to casual online casino players with an interest in online betting every once in a while. You can have lots of fun here but if you want to be really serious about online betting in India, other sportsbooks are better than Royal Panda.
Royal Panda FAQ
Players from India are very-well taken care of at Royal Panda. You can deposit in rupees and use INR as currency at Royal Panda making it very convenient for players from India.
Yes, players from India should find everything they are looking for at Royal Panda. They offer a comprehensive odds market on football, cricket, tennis, horse racing, and kabaddi.
Royal Panda claims to be the best Indian casino and has taken huge steps recently as a bookmaker with a huge focus on favorite Indian markets. So yes, of course, players from India can enjoy all bonuses and promotions at Royal Panda
Yes, Royal Panda got its own dedicated mobile application that works very well on Android and iOS.