Spark

Spark Casino is a brand new online gambling house. Usually, whenever a new house launches that means its services are more competitive, and that it offers better bonuses. However, that does not seem to be the case here. In fact, Spark has a lot of issues.

The payment policies of the house are where it is at its worst. The house only accepts crypto, which is needlessly restrictive. Furthermore, the number of digital assets you can use to cash in is also somewhat low, at least compared to what other houses have to offer. There is an incredibly low maximum withdrawal limit, to top it all off, and all that makes the casino incredibly annoying to actually cash out or in to.

There is not really a versatile enough collection of games either, and in general, Spark does not really have much of a theme, or anything which could make it stand out from the competition. On the other hand, the casino has some advantages too, like its regulation. It seems that we need to examine the house in a lot more detail, in order to determine whether we can actually recommend playing here. The following review does just that, so check it out if you are curious:

Bonuses

Firstly, let's examine the bonuses of the casino. We did mention they are underwhelming and stand by it. There is a fairly low Welcome bonus, followed by several identical Recurring promotions, which are fairly boring and unrewarding. There is also a VIP program that the house allows players to participate in to get certain rewards.

Here is an outline of all of these promotions:

Let's go over each of these promotions in a bit more detail:

• The Welcome Bonus can be claimed upon first cashing in to the casino, and features a 100% multiplier for the relevant deposit. This means that the casino will be doubling your cashed in sum, up to a maximum of €250. As far as initial deposit bonuses go, this one is does not really have such a high maximum, and most other houses are able to offer more to their players. The wagering requirement for the promotion, which signifies how many times you need to bet the bonus cash you've received, is also higher than average. It sits at 45x, while the majority of Spark's competition has such requirements set to just 30x-40x. The minimum deposit of €20 and the cash out limit of 10x the received bonus are the only aspects of the promotion which are in line with what we expected to see.
• Secondly, the casino issues a number of Recurring bonuses, but in order to unlock them, you need to have placed at least four deposits. The first of these can benefit from the Welcome bonus, but the other three will have no promotion available to them. This is one more area in which Spark falls behind its competition – not to mention that the recurring promotions are pretty boring, too. Take the Monday Bonus, for instance. It adds 50% of the first deposit performed during the first day of the week to your account, up to a maximum of €300. The wagering requirement is once again set to 45x, which is once again, not competitive at all. The cash out limit and the minimum deposit are the same as the previous bonus' and so, we consider them fine enough.

There are a couple of promotions in our table above which are labeled Thursday Bonus. This is no mistake on our part – that is how they are listed on the website of the casino. The difference tween them is how much you need to cash in to claim each bonus, and how many Free Spins you can get in return. There are several issues here, but the biggest is that we are not sure whether the promotions stack with each other, or whether the player is only allowed to get one per week. The other issue seem to be how underwhelming each of the bonuses is. None of them offer that many Free Spins at all especially not for the asking price! Let's take a look at each of the promotions:

• The first of these bonuses comes from cashing in €25 or more – netting you 20 Free Spins. Once again, the wagering requirement for the winnings from the Free Spins is set to the same 45x amount, which we still consider to be unreasonable. At least the cash out limit for the promotions is 20x the value of the Spins, a higher amount than the Welcome bonus.
• If you cash in €85 or more, there are 80 Free Spins up for grabs. The other conditions of the bonus are the same, and it has an identical amount of times you need to wager it, as well as an identical maximum cash out limit.
• The third and final option is reserved for high-rollers who cash in €220 when the promotion is available. They will be able to get 200 Free Spins, bound by the same restrictions as the other two bonuses. What really annoys us about these three promotions is that the amount of Spins you can get is lower than the required deposit amount. Spark could have at least matched that, and it would still mean that the promotions offer an underwhelming amount of Spins – just not as underwhelming!
• Finally, there is the Thursday VIP Bonus, which seems to be completely pointless. The casino wants you to cash in €650 in order to obtain said bonus, which will then net you just 75 Free Spins. You might be wondering why anyone would try and get this bonus instead of the previous one. Are the Free Spins special in any way? Well, no, as far as the website of the casino is concerned, they are not different from the rest of the promotions. Then is the wagering requirement lower? Also no – the winnings from the Spins need to be wagered 45x. The only difference is that the cash out limit is 40x instead of 20x the value of the Free Spins. This limit is twice as high, but the entry cost requirement is nearly three times as high as the previous promotion's. So, overall, we cannot recommend getting this VIP Bonus.

Confusingly enough, besides its VIP bonus, Spark runs a completely unrelated VIP Bonuses program. Here's how that works: Every €1 you wager gives you one Point. Collect enough points and you can level up your account in order to get exclusive benefits. In total, there are five account tiers with the following perks:

• There are Exclusive bonuses, like a weekly cashback between 5% and 10% of your losses, as well as a Birthday bonus, Custom Deposit bonuses and even Lootboxes you can get.
• The casino also offers accounts Exclusive privileges, like the ability to withdraw larger amounts of money, cash out faster and so on.
• Finally, you can get access to the Bonus shop of the casino where you can spend your Points for exclusive promotions.

Please note that once you reach a new tier of account you need to maintain it by collecting half as many points within the same month – otherwise, you will be demoted back to your previous tier. We don't think this VIP program can save the casino's otherwise lackluster promotions, though!

License

Possibly the only aspect of the services of the house where it truly thrives is regulation. Here is what it has to say about where it is licensed:

This wordy paragraph boils down to the casino claiming it is run under the license of Gaming Curacao (GC), which is one of the four regulatory bodies that are responsible for the egaming sector of Curacao. This tiny country and its four regulators have become the most popular place for casino operators to obtain licenses in nowadays, and Spark is no exception.

But how can we know whether the casino is actually licensed there? Well, every GC-regulated house has to implement the Digital Seal of the regulator within its website, in order for players to be able to quickly verify its regulatory status. The seal is visible in the screenshot above, to the left corner. It is the colorful GC logo, which can be clicked on to lead us to the register of the body:

This is an excerpt from said register which completely confirms the claims of the casino. As for its players, this means they will have access to the following protections, guaranteed by virtue of the license:

• How can you know that a casino's games are fair? Well, with Spark and other licensed entities, that is ensured by the audits they have undergone. More specifically, the complex mathematical algorithms in each game, used to determine its outcomes, have undergone such audits. That way if there is any bias within the games towards the house, it can easily be found out and corrected. You will have access to actual games of chance with Spark and with other licensed casinos!
• Secondly, regulatory bodies like the GC demand that casino operators take problem gambling seriously and undertake measures to combat it. These measures are quite varied, and include offering players with sufficient information so they can both know what problem gambling can look like and where to seek help for it. Furthermore, you can get access to certain self-exclusion measures, designed to allow you to effortlessly reduce your exposure to the casino. These can be deposit limits you can set, or even the ability to close down your account if you need too. Overall, these measures make online gambling safer and more fun for everyone.
• Finally, the information you share with online casinos is also protected, which is an often understated regulatory policy. It is important to be able to guarantee the safety of said info, because it contains a lot of personal details about who you are, as well as where you live. Even a crypto based casino like this one has to perform KYC checks every time you cash in, but any info it collects is encrypted with strict security protocols, as mandated by the regulatory bodies in Curacao!

There are lots of reasons why licensed houses are just better than their unregulated peers, and we are happy that Spark is one of them. But let's get back to our review. Here are the two languages the casino's website has been translated to:

Languages: English, Russian

Additionally, here is a list of the countries from where you will not be able to sign up for its services, as per the Terms and Conditions of Spark:

Restricted countries: Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, Show All, American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, British Indian Ocean Territory, Cayman Islands, China, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Falkland Islands, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Martinique, Mayotte, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands, Pitcairn, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Syria, Tanzania, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, United States, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin Islands, U.S., Wallis and Futuna Islands

Deposit and Withdrawal

Cashing in and out of this casino is only possible via crypto. Curiously enough, though, it only opens accounts in FIAT currencies. This means you will have to pay the conversion fee and deal with the rates of exchange between whatever token you deposit in, and whatever currency your account is in. Here is an outline of the policies regarding deposits, as well as the accepted digital assets and FIAT currencies:

Currencies: Euro (EUR), Russian Ruble (RUB), Tether (USDT), Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH)

In general, we see casinos nowadays try and offer as many different deposit methods as possible, in order to make cashing in as simple as possible! Even crypto-based houses tend to also offer a couple of FIAT options as well. That makes it easier for anyone to cash in there, and not just crypto enthusiasts.

Still, the minimum deposit with Spark is just €20, which is decent. There are no fees by the casino, but any third party charges, like crypto miner fees or conversion fees will be up to the player to pay. As much as most casinos also require you cover such accidental charges, they can be rather high because of the mismatch between base currency of the account and the deposit method we pointed to above.

But what's even worse is the withdrawal policies of the house which are outlined below:

Note that before you can cash out, most casinos require you to have wagered your deposits between 1x and 3x. That might be the case here as well, but there is no mention of the AML policy being adopted by Spark.

The actual issue with the withdrawals is not only that they can only be performed via crypto, but that they are tied to the VIP Bonuses we mentioned. More specifically, the initial maximum withdrawal amount is just €100. It does get higher, but there is no reason why it should be as low to start off with.

The minimum withdrawal amount of €20 and the processing time of up to 24 hours, on the other hand, are pretty good. What's more, Spark does not charge fees, but what we said about third party costs applies here as well.

There does not seem to be a fee for inactivity by the casino either.

Games and Game Suppliers

We counted under 50 Game suppliers in the library of the house, which means they are under what we would consider to be the average amount. Here is a list of who these Suppliers are:

Game providers: Amatic, AvatarUX, BGaming, Belatra, Betsoft, ELK, Evolution, Evoplay, Fugaso, Gamzix, Habanero, Hacksaw, Igrosoft, Kalamba, Mascot, NetEnt, Nolimit City, Novomatic, Onlyplay, Play'n GO, Playson, PragmaticPlay, Push Gaming, Quickspin, Red Tiger Gaming, Relax Gaming, Spinomenal, Spribe, Thunderkick, Turbogames, Wazdan, Yggdrasil

This rather limited amount of game developers means that the casino also has a rather limited amount of games. Still, here's what you can play:

• Slots: There are some pretty recognizable slots, from major developers like Pragmatic Play. They include Money Train 2, Gates of Olympus, Big Bass Bonanza, Elvis Frog, Wolf's Gold and so on. The games are divided in three categories – Bonus Buy, Megaways and Jackpots, based on their mechanics, which is sensible and makes for an easier time browsing them. We only wish we could filter the Slots by their themes as well, for ever easier navigation.
• Table Games: There are a couple of Live dealer versions of  classic table games like Baccarat, Poker, Blackjack and Roulettes. Curiously enough, no virtual dealer tables for them are available, which seems like a misstep.
• Game Shows: The full roster of game shows of Evolution Gaming, like Crazy Time, Boom City, Crazy Coin Flip and so on is available here, as well as other televised casino experiences to tune in to.
• Instant games: The casino features a number of these fast-paced crash games, like Plinko, Aviator, Mines and others. Its collection of these titles is quite impressive overall.

Conclusion

Spark is a pretty mediocre casino with some underwhelming policies. Even though it is fully licensed and provides players with a high level of safety, we cannot recommend the house. Its withdrawal conditions are very much unfair in our view, and its limited payment methods are pretty off-putting. We wish the house made it easier for the player to transact, but that is not the end of the issues with it. We should also point out that the bonuses are very bland and offer pretty bad conditions. Furthermore, the library of games has pretty much nothing to make it stand out, which means that there is no reason to stick with this casino.

Check out one of the reviews of the recommended casinos at the bottom of our article instead, to find a better place to bet, which will be able to offer you a better deal overall!