Golden Lion Casino

Golden Lion Casino claims to be certified by top gambling authorities and also promises to deliver the best online gaming experience possible. Bold words that have nothing to do with reality, unfortunately. The truth is that this house is neither regulated nor capable of providing safe and quality gaming services.

As a start, its statements of being Curacao licensed turned out to be words full of hot air since there is not even one evidence that can prove that. That’s why we have all the reasons to doubt its credibility and authorisation.

Secondly, the services offered certainly don’t seem like something to brag about. There’s a small range of welcome bonuses with high wagering requirements, no variety of payment methods, average gaming library, and some rather unfavorable payment conditions. To be exact beware that this casino requires high amounts of minimum withdrawals and has an unfair maximum win rule based on the total amount of deposits.

There’s more, but let’s go one by one, starting with the promotional campaigns.

Bonuses

As you can see, there’s no diversity of promotions either. As a matter of fact, the offers seem rather boring and uninspiring. To be precise there’s only a welcome package that consists of five different welcome bonuses upon your first deposits and that’s all! No weekly or weekend bonuses are available here, nor any cash-back or even Tournaments. The latter is quite unusual for an online gambling house nowadays so we guess Golden Lion didn’t try its best in order to deliver more attractive offers and entertainments.

We also couldn’t find any VIP Club or Loyalty Program even though the casino claims otherwise. To be exact, at the bottom of its homepage Golden Lion states to have a special VIP program and that even new members and casual gamblers can also take advantage of low-cost admission choices, in its own words. Sadly, no such thing was actually available throughout the website.

And to top it off, some of the bonus conditions also happen to be more or less unfavorable like the high wagering requirements for instance. To make things even worse, note that in order to benefit from all of the welcome bonuses, you have to make the relevant qualifying deposits within 7 days of the first deposit, which is quite a tight deadline. Here’s some more data:

The Welcome Bonus 1 is actually your first deposit bonus. It’s meant for all newly registered players and only on your first investment, as we pointed out already. This offer features 400% up to €2000 and 100 free spins on the game Dead or Alive. Definitely an impressive and just mind-blowing reward mainly because of the huge multiplier. The maximum cash bonus and the added free spins are also pretty satisfying, we have to admit that. Still, we would like to remind you that Golden Lion Casino has questionable regulation and for this reason you should take every word it says with a grain of salt. In this case, the multiplier seems just too good to be true, since even the best online casinos don’t tend to provide such generous prizes. Apart from that, in order to claim this bonus just enter the bonus code LION1 and make the qualifying investment. To be precise, the latter is absolutely standard and features at least €20. The same cannot be said about the wagering requirement though. In order to perform any payouts you need to make at least 50 turnovers of your deposit and bonus, which is higher than the usual amounts for the sector – between x30 and x40 wagers to be exact. In short, you’ll probably have a harder time completing the rollovers plus that the amount here is actually against your interests. In addition, the house fails to explain how much time you have in order to use your reward and make the wagers. Usually most of the enterprises tend to leave you from a couple of days to a week, or in the best case – up to a month, in order to meet the wagering requirement. Yet, we managed to find some data in the Terms and Conditions, and it seems like you have 30 days in order to play through your bonus, or it will expire and will be voided.

Now is the time to highlight an additional bonus condition that is quite essential but also rather unfavorable and that you have to take into consideration beforehand. According to the casino’s Terms and Conditions, the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth deposits must be made within seven days of the first deposit in order to qualify for their respective bonuses. This means that you don’t have any time at all – as a beginning you need at least a couple of days to use the first deposit bonus and complete the wagers in the first place. And to make additional four deposits and take advantage of the respective rewards in just a week seems almost impossible, at least to us. Also remember that you have to complete at least 50 turnovers on each of the Welcome deposits and bonuses, which is not a small amount at all. This being said, let’s have a closer look at the rest of the offers.

The Welcome Bonus 2 comes with 200% up to €1000 and 50 free spins for the game Book of Vikings. You can claim this offer on your second deposit and only after you have already used and completed your first deposit bonus. Again, the minimum deposit is just fine and features at least €20 and the wagering requirement is said to be 50 times your deposit and bonus. The promo code you have to use is LION2.

The Welcome Bonus 3 can grant you a 150% reward up to €1000 and 25 free spins on Bee Hive Bonanza. It also has an affordable entry point of just €20 and is subject to x50 wagering requirement, so nothing new here as well. Just remember to use the relevant bonus code LION3.

Making your fourth deposit here will unlock the Welcome Bonus 4. To be precise you just have to invest at least €20 and enter the promo code LION4. As for the reward itself, it’s said to be 100% up to €1000 with no free spins included. Still, the prize seems rather attractive since it practically doubles your investment. But most importantly, don’t forget to complete the wagering requirement of x50 since otherwise no withdrawals will be allowed.

The Welcome Bonus 5 features the exact same reward as the previous one – 100% up to €1000. Everything else remains the same as well. You need at least €20 in order to unlock it and at least 50 turnovers of your deposit and bonus so that your funds can become withdrawable. The only thing that differs is the bonus code – LION5.

As we mentioned already, there are no Tournaments, at least at the time of writing, nor any VIP Program. Apart from that the lack of any regular promotions that can be claimed every week or every weekend makes the selection of bonuses quite lackluster and disappointing.

License

Golden Lion Casino claims to be owned and operated by Goldengenie LTD with a registered address in the Netherlands. The company is also said to operate under Master License issued by CEG, which is in fact Curacao eGaming, one of the four Master License holders authorized by the Government of Curacao. All of this would be great only if it was true. To be honest we have all reasons to doubt this casino’s credibility and to consider its regulation as rather questionable. Here’s why:

Usually most of the reputable houses regulated in Curacao tend to post a dynamic seal looking like the regulator’s logo. Clicking on it leads to the license itself – this is one tried and true way to verify your new casino’s trustworthiness. In this case however there is no digital seal or whatsoever so we were unable to confirm its statements.

The casino also claims that top gambling authorities have certified Golden Lion Casino, but as we already made clear, this is hardly the case.

Dealing with an authorized enterprise is key if you want to benefit from safe and secure gaming experience, but also to enjoy fair games and trustworthy conditions as a whole. That’s why, even if you have the slightest doubt about your new casino’s credibility, we suggest looking for a rock solid alternative.

The first and foremost advantage you can get when using the services of a regulated house is your safety of use. Licensed e-gaming companies are obligated to take good care of your personal data and banking details by incorporating advanced encryption technology to safeguard that information. Furthermore many anti-fraud measures must also be put in action in order to prevent money laundering or identity theft. Golden Lion Casino also claims to be fully safeguarded by 128-bit SSL encryption technology, but given its questionable regulation, we would take this statement with a grain of salt.

Furthermore, all licensed enterprises must also provide responsible gaming tools such as deposit limits, session limits, and self-execution options. All games must also be provably fair. In order to achieve that the houses must use random number generators (RNGs) whose role is to ensure the fair and unbiased outcome of each game.

Another positives of dealing with an authorized house happens to be the reliability of the banking options. You can always expect fast and smooth transactions with no troubles, as well as payment systems that are up-to-date. The customer support services must also be up to standards. In this case you seem to have a live chat and email option but we really can’t guarantee the quality of the services provided.

You can open this website in several different languages, take a look:

Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish

On the other hand, there are some countries that are restricted, so if you are a resident of any of them you won’t be allowed to open an account and gamble here. This is the full list of banned territories:

Restricted countries: Afghanistan, Bahamas, Botswana, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Israel, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Serbia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, United States, Yemen

Deposit and Withdrawal

Currencies: Australian Dollar (AUD), British Pound Sterling (GBP), Canadian Dollar (CAD), Euro (EUR)

Golden Lion accepts a small range of payment methods but this isn’t the most disappointing aspect of it. In fact only two of the alternatives are available for making withdrawals, so the selection seems even more limited.

To be precise, the house works with credit/debit cards like Visa and Mastercard, bank transfers, several online payment solutions such as Neosurf, CashLib, and CashtoCode, as well as crypto transactions. As we already said, not all of the options can be used both for making deposits and withdrawals, so this is one thing to consider. The second one is the unfavorable withdrawal conditions.

Let’s have a closer look, starting with the deposits:

As you see, in order to add funds to your account you can count on a decent amount of banking options. And even though you have several different types of payments at your disposal we still don’t find the range to be satisfying enough. At least the minimum deposit is fixed at €15 for all of the options, which is a reasonable amount and also a standard for the sector. The maximum you can invest isn’t specified though, nor if there are any fees applicable.

When it comes to the withdrawals however things seem much more discouraging. Firstly, the cash-out methods are much more limited to bank transfers and crypto transactions only. Secondly, the minimum you are allowed to withdraw is said to be at least €100 and that’s certainly a lot! Just to make it clear, most of the reputable houses tend to ask for around €10 or €20, so as you see the rule here is quite disadvantageous at least to say. In addition, note that payouts via bank transfers require some personal documents to be uploaded, while, as it seems, crypto transactions can be requested right away.

Nothing is mentioned about the execution time of cash-outs, nor if there are any processing fees, so be on guard just in case. The only thing we managed to find in the Terms and Conditions is that apparently withdrawals are processed from Monday through Friday, following up to a 48-hour pending state and may be subject to processing fees at the discretion of the casino.

Another important detail is that there happens to be an unfair maximum win rule based on the total amount of deposits. In other words, if a player's accumulated lifetime deposit is not greater than €200, then the player will be allowed to withdraw only up to x10 his last deposit. Furthermore, any excess amount will be forfeit. This is not just unfavorable, but also quite tricky and unfair.

In addition, in its Terms and Conditions the casino also claims that if a player’s single withdrawal or cumulative lifetime withdrawals total five times or more than the value of their lifetime deposits then the withdrawal will be issued in increments of €5000 credits per week. The remaining amount will be returned to the player’s account until he/she is eligible for a further withdrawal. Again, a pretty unusual and restrictive requirement we are not happy about.

And speaking about withdrawals, note that before requesting a payout, you have to play through any deposit made at least one time. This is a standard rule that many casinos tend to implement in order to combat money laundering.

And finally, the Inactive Account policy states that any account that has not been used or at least logged in for 12 consecutive months shall be considered inactive and a monthly fee of €5 shall be charged. If the casino is unable to contact you and your account remains inactive for 30 days it will be closed. All in all, the rule is another golden standard for the sector, so nothing to worry about here. Just keep an eye on your account activity. And here’s the full statement:

Games and game suppliers

Golden Lion actually partners with around 35 game suppliers which is not that much at all. In fact it’s even below average since most of the houses usually collaborate with around 80 or even 100 software developers. As for the selection itself, it’s not that bad to be honest. In fact the casino works with some quite popular brands such as Pragmatic Play, Wazdan, Play’n Go, Playson, Yggdrasil, Spinomenal, and NetEnt. So there might be some trendy games here but overall don’t expect the broadest gaming library. This is the full list of gaming studios this house partners with:

Game providers: Amatic, Apollo Games, Betsoft, Booongo, EGT Interactiv, Hacksaw, Igrosoft, IGTech, Vivo Gaming, Merkur, Microgaming, NetGame, NetEnt, Nolimit, Nucleus, Platipus, Play'n GO, Playson, PragmaticPlay, Wazdan, Yggdrasil, Playtech, Push Gaming, Quickspin, Red Rake, Relax Gaming, Retro Gaming, Smartsoft Gaming, Spinomenal, Spribe, Tom Horn

This being said, Golden Lion also claims to provide an unrivaled and extensive selection of top online casino games, but this can’t be the case either, apparently. The small range of game providers is proof that the content here won’t be outstanding let alone unrivaled.

Anyway, the gaming lobby seems straightforward and simple, with several different categories to choose from. There are All games, Featured, Hot, New, Slots, Jackpots, Megaways, Live games, and Table games. There’s a search engine of course, but no additional filters or themes are to be found here.

The Slots menu is not the best out there, but you can still find a lot of popular titles here thanks to the iconic game providers that power them. For example you can enjoy game such as Wild West Gold, John Hunter, Wolf Gold, Big Bass Bonanza, Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza, The Dog House, Buffalo King, Sugar Rush, Book of Dead, Legacy of Dead, Reactoonz, Elvis Frog in Vegas, Gonzo’s Quest, Starburst, Starlight Princess, and Double Dragons.

The Table games are nothing to write home about, really. There are around 103 titles in total so if you are looking for a more expanded gaming library, this is not the place for you. On the other hand, there are some rather interesting titles such as Jacks or Better, French Roulette, Caribbean Poker, Pontoon, Oasis Poker, Single Deck Blackjack, Triple Edge Poker, Zoom Roulette, European Roulette, Baccarat Mini, Baccarat VIP, Andar Bahar, Roulette Royale, and Montecarlo Baccarat to mention some of them.

The Live Casino category is even more disappointing since it boards barely 55 live activities in total! So it definitely isn’t worth much attention, especially if you are a big Live Dealers fan looking for an extensive selection of games. Still, here are some titles you can find here – VIP Blackjack, Macau Baccarat, Spanish Roulette, French Roulette, Auto Roulette, Galaxy Roulette, Las Vegas Baccarat, Andar Bahar, Casino Hold’em Poker, and Singapore Baccarat for example.

The Sportsbook seems decent enough and well organized. There are many different types of sports like Football, Tennis, MMA, Volleyball, Formula 1, Baseball, Horse Racing, Snooker, Darts, Rugby, Motorsports, Badminton, Boxing, Lacrosse, and Ice Hockey to mention a few. There are also some popular leagues such as Australian Open, US Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, and French Ligue 1. So overall, this section seems up to standards.

Conclusion

As you may guess our final verdict is mostly negative for a couple of reasons, the main one being the questionable regulation and the lack of any actual license that can prove this casino’s credibility. But even if it wasn’t for the doubtful authorisation we still wouldn’t recommend this house. As you saw already, the promotional campaigns are just too limited and the same applies for the banking options. Not to mention the unfavorable and even unfair payment conditions. When it comes to the gaming library, we find the Slots and Sportsbook to be rather decent, however the rest of it is just below standard at least to say. That’s why we suggest looking for an alternative instead.