Trusted Online Guide to Top Australian Pokies Sites

Security

Your safety and security online are of utmost importance to us. To ensure that you always have a superb experience, we only recommend online casinos that we have personally put to the test in this regard.

The developer should take advantage of the latest SSL 128-bit encryption technology to start with. It ensures that all your data sent to the site is safe from outside interference. It should be the case across the entire website from the moment you enter your name up to the point where you make a payment and share payment details online.

We take it a step further and also ensure that the security protocols within the organisation are in place to keep your information protected. That means that all your documentation uploaded to the site to complete the KYC procedures should be kept safe, with limited staff members having access to it.

The casino must also show that they support responsible gambling and that it has the information on its site that you might need if you develop a gambling problem. The best casinos all have self-help tools on their platforms that allows you to monitor and manage your time and money spent while visiting them.

You should preferably be able to set daily, weekly or monthly limits on both your budget and your time. The top sites will have temporary or permanent self-exclusion options available and strictly enforce it when requested.

License

Online gambling in Australia was banned in 2001, and as such none of the online casinos operating here will have an Australian gambling licence. However, there are international licensing authorities to look for on any online casino operating in Australia.

When a new online casino comes onto our radar, we're eager to put it to the test for you. The first important point we check is to see whether it's indeed licensed to operate in Australia. Some of the most trusted authorities we look for include the Malta Gaming Authority, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission and the Curacao Gaming Commission.

Another critical point that goes hand-in-hand with a gambling license is an independent third party institution that'll regularly spot-audit the casinos. They ensure that all systems and security measures are adhered to. Here, you'll find organisations such as eCOGRA high on the list of internationally trusted providers.

Banking

Variety and safety are what we look for when it comes to the banking methods offered by online casinos. It would be best if you had a well-selected collection of payment providers that can cater to all types of players.

The most popular form of payment is still debit and credit cards with Visa and Mastercard at the top of the list. The online casino should also offer e-wallets, prepaid cards and cryptocurrencies.

The most popular payment systems amongst Aussie players are сredit сards, Paysafecard, UPayCard, NeoSurf, Bitcoin, PayPal.

Unfortunately Neteller, Skrill and Poli are not available to the Australian market anymore. Many of the top-performing online casinos in Australia originate from the United Kingdom. It's important to note that recent legislation was passed in the UK that prohibits credit card payments for online gambling. It can affect international payments to UK based operators.

Bonuses

There are excellent bonuses available at Australian pokies sites. With online gambling being one of the most competitive industries worldwide, gambling sites entice players with generous offers. We look beyond the size of the bonuses and promotions to ensure that you get what you expect.

Unfortunately, some online operators offer massive bonuses to new players, but make it almost impossible for you to claim any winnings you make from them. Each bonus will have a unique wagering requirement, and it's our job to make sure these terms are fair and achievable.

Let's say an online casino offers a 100% deposit match bonus with 100 free spins on the Starburst slot, with wagering requirements of 50x your bonus. If you deposit $50 and the casino matches it with $50, you'll have $100 to play with. The wagering requirement means you'll have to place bets to the value of 50 x 50 = $2,500 before you can withdraw any winnings.

On pokies, the wagering requirement typically equates to a playthrough requirement on all the wins you accumulated from the free spins. It could be 20x the winning total. Let's say you made $1,000 profit from the 100 free spins on Starburst. To fulfil the requirements, you have to make further wagers to the value of 20 x 1,000 = $20,000 before you may request to withdraw winnings.

We’ll warn you in our review if we believe the wagering requirement is set too high. Remember that you're not obligated to claim any bonus or promotion from online casinos, only when you are satisfied with the terms of its use.

The next thing we look for from the bonuses is a good variety offered to regular players, and not only to newcomers. There are many ways an online casino can reward players for visiting its site, and here are some of the types of bonuses we look for:

Welcome Bonus: It's available to all new players when registering on the site. The welcome bonus is mostly a deposit match plus free spins on specific pokies, or the entire collection. You can also find welcome bonuses that are only one or the other. It depends on each casino provider how they tailor the offer to new players.

Reload Bonus: This is available to all players when they make follow up deposits after their first visit. It's mostly also a deposit match bonus, and the casino typically awards it on a specific day, or they can make it a weekend reload bonus.

Free Spins Bonus: This is the perfect bonus for pokies players and offers a set number of free spins on the slots.

No deposit bonus: It's mostly given as part of a new player welcome to the site and much smaller than the standard welcome bonus, but it's free. You don't need to deposit to claim it, and it's a brilliant way to check out new pokies before you commit to it with a real money deposit.

As long as the payment systems offered by the online casino are trusted brands, you can rest assured that your online payments will be safe. The top banking institutions won't integrate with unsafe platforms.

Gaming

Our favourite part of compiling a review is undoubtedly rating the games portfolio. The online casino must have a good selection from reputable software developers on its site. The games variety should offer something for all players. The most popular types of games we look for are: Pokies (classic and more modern five reel slots), Video Poker, Bingo, a solid table game collection with Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat and Poker variants, Live dealer games, Sportsbetting (not all sites offer it, but it's a bonus if they do).

We look at how user-friendly the site is and if it's easy to navigate to your game of choice. It's added points if the site has a search bar where you can narrow down to games per name or developer. Whatever the site offers to make it easier for you to find your favourite game means added points from our team.

Pokies

It should be a large variety of classic and video slots from trusted developers. If the games are from the top names in the industry, you know that the casino operator is serious about offering you the best experience, no matter the cost. The biggest names in the business we love to find on sites include Evolution Gaming, Pragmatic Play, Ezugi, Yggdrasil, Microgaming, Spigo, BetSoft Gaming, Booming Games, Red Tiger Gaming, IGT, iSoftBet, Play'n GO, Quickspin, Rival Gaming, Real-Time Gaming, Saucify.

Support

Last but not least, we look at how available an online casino's customer support team is. It should be easy for you to get in touch with a real person when you have a pressing question. Most top pokies sites have efficient live chat features which is the preferred method of communication at the moment. It means you can have a real-time conversation when you need to.

The online casino should preferably publish a customer support phone number and email as well. The more ways for our players to get hold of the casino, with fast response times, the higher the score. The customer care team should be knowledgeable about the site, games and banking methods. It's also imperative that they can speak fluent English when you communicate with them via live chat or over the phone.

A comprehensive FAQ on its website will also earn the provider a positive response from our team. We look at the type of questions they answer and make sure that it's relevant information that you may need along the way.

Fast Payout Casinos

Although most online pokies sites focus on deposit options and how quickly you can start playing, it's equally vital that they pay out fast and offer you a large variety of payout methods. You'll find that many sites have an extensive list of deposit methods with minimal ways to withdraw. Try to find the online sites that make it quick and easy for both.

Credit cards are still amongst the most popular methods of payment. The problem is that there's a new trend developing amongst the more prominent names in the online industry to exclude credit cards from their lists to help players avoid playing with a line of credit.

E-wallets such as Paypal or cryptocurrencies are the way forward, and it's an excellent time to consider signing up for one of these.

Top Payout Casinos

Each online pokies site has its unique overall RTP rate and audit rates. It indicates the overall payout percentages and amounts vs the total revenue generated by bets on the site. Most online casinos are trustworthy and licensed.

Unfortunately, there are also a few fly-by-night chancers online that are not fair in their practices. Independent third-party firms regularly audit reputable online casinos. Therefore, it's vital that you only place bets with well regulated online casinos to ensure fair payouts.

An excellent place to start is to look for logos from UKCG, MGA or CGC accompanied by independent auditing firms such as eCOGRA on an online site.

New Casinos

When new online casinos hit the scene, we make sure to be first in line to test all it offers. The fact that we love online casino games makes our job effortless. As we mention in our ‘how we review casinos’ section, we put every aspect of a new online casino to the test. If we recommend a new casino on our site, you can rest assured that everything has been checked out, and you can play it with ease of mind.

The wonderful thing about new online casinos is that there'll be exciting new bonuses and promotions for you to enjoy, so don't be hesitant; enjoy all it offers. If anything drastic changes on a new casino site, we'll be sure to update the review.

Real Money Casinos

There are hundreds of real money online casinos with excellent pokies selections and bonuses. With 80% of the Australian population playing casino games, it's understandable that many providers offer their services to Aussies. It can be a daunting task to choose the best real money casino from a wide variety.

Our extensive and in-depth reviews are here to help you choose the perfect online pokies site. Each one offers a unique experience, and you'll have to take some time to try out a few to find your ideal match. The welcome bonuses will help you stretch your bankroll as you try out new games and everything else a provider offers you.

Aussie Online Casinos

We spend a lot of time making sure that the Aussie online casinos we list here are trustworthy and reputable service providers.

Our main aim is to provide you with up to date and simple guides to the best casinos for you to enjoy. It saves you the time to try and figure out whether a casino accepts Australian players, and whether it accepts AUD. We highly recommend that you only play at casinos geared towards serving the Australian online community with localized payment options and currency.

Many online gamblers are loyal supporters of their favourite developers and search for online casinos based on their love for a specific software provider. It's essential to keep in mind that you should take the entire package offered into consideration, and not only the games collection.

As we review online casinos, the same goes for the top producers of games. Our expert review team tests each online pokies developer's products. We make sure that they develop their games using the most innovative technology to give you the best possible gaming experience.

Software developers determine the way you play the games, and with technology always reaching new heights, it's easier than ever to enjoy your favourite games. There are three ways gambling software is developed today to enable players access from most online devices.

HTML5

Although it's considered to be a young technology, HTML5 has genuinely revolutionised the way you see and experience games on all devices. When the developer uses this advanced tech, you don't need to download a native app to enjoy it, as HTML5 enables you to access it directly from your mobile browser.

The main advantage of this tech is that it allows the game to adapt to any size screen without losing features and functionality. The best part of HTML5 is that it's compatible with all types of operating systems such as Android, iOS, Mac computers, tablets, notebooks or mobile devices. If your device can access the internet, you can enjoy the game.

Flash

Flash made it possible for developers to offer players choice. If you had it installed onto your device, you could enjoy certain games instantly without downloading it. When the tech hit the market, most online developers started creating two versions of each game, one to download and one instant play using flash. With HTML5 hitting the scene, the need to develop two versions are now quickly replaced by one universal format.

Download

In the infancy stages of online gaming, it was the only way you could access casino games and sites. Each online casino had an application that you had to download and install separately on each device you wanted to use. Although many online casinos still prefer to create native apps, it's slowly being replaced universally by the easy access granted through the use of HTML5 tech.

How We Spot a Good Software Developer

As with every individual online pokies site, it's equally important to know the software developers on its site are reputable and trustworthy. Each game is powered uniquely, and it's the software developer, not the casino, that determines essential aspects of the game such as RTP and fair play.

Trustworthiness & Reputation

The software provider must be licensed and well regulated by all the necessary authorities. It ensures that an independent party test and approves each game they create to deliver a fair gaming experience.

Pokies games all have an RTP rate that indicates the percentage of the house edge. If the game is tested and approved, it means that these figures are correct and accurate. It's essential to compare reviews with what the online community has to say, and it will always give you insight into a software developer's overall reputation.

Graphics & Sound

There's an era of gaming that the new generation of online casino players will not fully grasp. All you have to do is take a look at Pacman graphics to appreciate how far it's come. From analog to digital to CGI animations.

Developers create today's computer graphics in High Definition with 3D animations bringing every symbol and character to life on your screen. The top software developers immerse you into the game by using only the best graphic designs, animations and sound effects to entertain you. It should be visually appealing, using all technology has to offer for an exciting gameplay experience.

Variety

Although every developer has a niche, they must offer a substantial variety of games to the industry. Quantity over quality is essential, but the best in the business has an exciting portfolio catering to all types of players. Evolution Gaming is an excellent example of a world-class developer with a diverse offering. They excel in every kind of casino game imaginable, including slots, table games and are world-renowned for their live dealer games too.

Fun

You must never lose sight of why casino games came into existence in the first place. It's supposed to entertain you and be a fun experience. Software developers that offer a fun and interactive experience are at the top of our list and will get added points for a job well done. Bold and exciting colours with HD and 3D animations that offer an overall gameplay experience and theme are important to add to your list of favourites.