Online Casinos > Reviews > Gala International Casino

Positive

Gala Group owns 20% of all UK casinos and 24% of all UK bingo clubs. Gala's flagship International casino can be found crowning 'The Rock' overlooking the Bay of Gibraltar. Gala International Casino offers the player a high-end gaming environment with exceptional graphics and a good user interface. The menu system is easy to navigate and everything about this casino performes flawlessly. The games are lightning-quick and bug-free. Supporting sites like Casino.com and Casino Wire extend player services to gaming information, tips and news. Gala International Casino uses Boss Media casino software which has long held a policy of zero-tolerance when it comes to licensee mismanagement of player accounts. We are not aware of any player who has felt that he's been cheated by Gala International Casino. Gala International Casino offers low ($1 minimum) Multi Player Blackjack, Progressive Slots Jackpots, 25¢ min. slots and Video Poker. Payments are quick and reliable. Everything about this casino indicates class. Gala International Casino's nice graphics and smooth 3D game play gives you an extremely realistic experience. It stands out because of their multiplayer feature which lets you see, chat and play with other real people around you. You can join a private table should you wish not to be bothered with others. On a pure entertainment level, we really recommend Gala International Casino. For great games, a distinct ambiance, the possibiliy to play together with your friends and really fast service.

Bonuses

Initial Deposit Bonus: $20 bonus when you make your first deposit for at least $20. Refer-A-Friend Bonus: You can refer a total of 5 friends during a 30-day period to earn a total bonus of $50 ($10 per friend). You have to wager at least 10 x bonus (not deposit + bonus) in order to be eligible to cash out your bonus amount. If there is more than one bonus coming to a player, they award the highest and cancel the rest (which isn't stated explicitly). Your deposited money will be registered into a account. All bonus money will be located in a separate account (bonus account). No money can be withdrawn from this bonus account! When you are betting at the tables, the money will primarily be taken from your bonus account until it is empty. If you win, the money taken from the bonus account will be returned to the bonus account; and the winnings will go into your account as normal. If the bet is lost, the bonus account stays empty until you are rewarded future bonuses.

There may be negative features

We suggest that you also read this review of "Gala International Casino" from NoNuggets.com before playing.

Supported languages

•

English

Financial Info

Gala International Casino's payout percentages are audited by trustworthy auditing firms and reach a hight of 99% for some months. Gala International Casino is financed by (as all Boss Media casinos are, since Boss Media does own ). You can count on to send your checks out and process a bank wire request really fast. You must wait for a security code to arrive by regular mail though before you can deposit more than $500 at Gala International Casino, or request a withdrawal. You can now withdraw your winnings directly to your Credit/Debit card. Withdrawals to Credit/Debit cards are NOT limited to your original deposit and it is FREE.

Software

Gala International Casino was developed by Boss Media casino software developer. Boss Media is running on Windows and required a download. The download size is about 11 MB (11.4 MB - Full Version / 4.85 MB - BlackJack and Roulette only).

Licence

Gala International Casino is owned by Gala Interactive LTD. Gala International Casino operates under a gaming licence granted by the government of Gibraltar. To have a gaming license means that a casino is able to 1) deposit enough money yearly as a financial backup for players (approximately US $50,000 up to US $100,000 per annum), 2) pay the taxes (of about 2,5% up to 5%), and hence 3) is subject to the control of the government that issued the gaming licence in case of any disputes.

Games

•	Blackjack [Super 7]
•	Craps
•	Keno

•	Poker [Caribbean]
•	Poker [Pai Gow]
•	Roulette [European]

•	Sic Bo
•	Slots
•	Video Poker

Blackjack (Super 7)

Super 7 Blackjack Review

Game: The Super / Lucky 7 Blackjack at Gala International Casino of course is played the same way as usual blackjack. The difference here is that you can wager on the Super Seven's side bet. When the game starts and you have placed the $1 wager on Super Seven's, if the first card in your hand is a seven (or more 7s), you're a winner.

Odds: The set and rules and odds are the same as at their multi-player blackjack version. The difference here is that you can wager on the Super Seven's side bet. When the game starts and you have placed the $1 wager on Super Seven's, if the first card in your hand is a seven, you're a winner. If your next consecutive cards are sevens your winnings are even greater. These awards are not cumulative, in other words if you get three sevens you don't get paid for one and two sevens as well. If the dealer has a Blackjack and your first card, or first two cards are seven, the game ends and you will be paid according to the pay table below (at some casinos if the player has two sevens and the dealer gets a blackjack a third card will be dealt to the player for the chance to get three sevens). The house edge for this side bet is 12.61% and the expected payout to the player is 75.29%. That's by far not good enough to place that side bet.

Set: The set and rules are the same as at their multi-player blackjack version. You can chose tables with table limits of $1-$100, $5-$500, and $25-$1000 which is excellent

Summary: This isn't a very good blackjack game. But it offers an interesting side bet. Betting limits are excellent.

Super 7 Payoffs
*First Cards*	*Suit*	*Payout*	Return**
One 7		3:1	$21.37
Two 7s	different	30:1	$21.02
Two 7s	same	100:1	$02.92
Three 7s	different	500:1	$00.39
Three 7s	same	1500:1*	$02.27
1500:1 usually is 5000:1 in land based casinos. *Return = Your total winnings after you've spent $100.

Craps

Craps Review

Game: In Craps two dice are thrown by a player. If he rolls a 7 or 11, he wins. If he throws a 2, 3, or 12, he loses. If he throws any other number (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) he continues throwing the dice and hopes that the same number will be thrown again before the 7 comes up. When the 7 comes up first, he loses. You can bet on the player or the house.

Odds: Gala International Casino offers 3x odds: if you bet $10 on the pass-line (bet, that the player will win), you can increase your original bet after the dice have been thrown by 3x the amount you bet. This is called "wagering behind". And to wager behind is what a good craps player will do and a criteria of a good craps game is how many odds the casino offers you to wager behind. Because as the amount of allowed odds increases, the house edge decreases considerably. The house edge is 0.85% / 0.68% (pass-line / don't-pass-line bet) when offering 1x odds - as many online casinos do, 0.61% / 4.5% when offering 2x odds - as some casinos do, and 0.47% / 0.34% already when offering 3x odds - as Gala International Casino does. (Land-based casinos sometimes offer up to 100x odds).

But Gala International Casino does not exactly offer the 3x odds the way land based casinos do: 3x usually means that you can wager behind 3x the amount you could win. So if you bet $10 you could win $20 and hence wager 3x $20 = $60 behind. Because Gala International Casino does not follow the real rules - as almost no online casino does - the basic house edge stays at 0.47% for pass-line-bets but grows to 0.45% for don't-pass-line-bets.

A good strategy for craps is to always wager behind.

Set: You can chose a table with a $1-$100, $5-$500, or $25-$1000 table limit. The table with $5-$500 limits on one roll for example, has a hardways minimum of $2 and a maximum of $50 though.

Summary: Gala International Casino offers one of the best craps table with great odds and great betting limits. You'll find similar and better online craps tables in our Best Craps List.

Keno

Keno Review

Game: There are 80 numbered balls. You pick some numbers. 20 balls are drawn. You win of course as more of your picks match the numbers that were drawn.

Odds: Usually there are two types of keno: a) paying you good already when you match only a few picks (therefore decreasing the payouts for matching many picks) and b) paying you good only when you match many picks (therefore decreasing the payouts for matching only a few picks). You have to decide where you prefer to play. I'd play only the a) type. Gala International Casino is none of both: neither when matching little nor many numbers do they pay out good. The average payout here is nearly 68%. This payout ratio is below standard for both land-based and online casinos, since they pay back 70% - 75% on average. There even are online casinos paying up to about 95%.

You are offered better payouts when playing for $2 instead of $1 or $5. The best bet here is on pick 6 offering a return of 70.64%.

Set: You may pick 1 to 10 numbers, bet $1, $2, and $5 per pick and play 1, 5, or 10 games at a times.

Summary: Overall, Gala International Casino offers lousy returns, so do not waste your time at this keno machine.

	Pick
Match	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1 ($1)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	-	5	2.5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	-	-	25	5	2	1	0	0	0	0
4	-	-	-	50	10	8	5	4	2	0
5	-	-	-	-	600	50	15	8	5	2
6	-	-	-	-	-	1500	250	40	20	30
7	-	-	-	-	-	-	5000	400	80	100
8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10000	2500	500
9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15000	3000
10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15000
Payouts	0%	68.04%	69.38%	58.2%	67.57%	70.64%	69.56%	67.47%	64.53%	69.61%
1 ($2)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	-	10	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	-	-	50	10	4	2	0	0	0	0
4	-	-	-	160	20	16	10	8	4	0
5	-	-	-	-	1200	100	30	16	10	4
6	-	-	-	-	-	3000	500	80	40	60
7	-	-	-	-	-	-	10000	800	160	200
8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20000	5000	1000
9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	30000	6000
10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	35000
Payouts	0%	68.04%	69.38%	67.39%	67.57%	70.64%	69.56%	67.47%	64.53%	69.64%
1 ($5)	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	-	25	12.5	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	-	-	125	25	10	5	0	0	0	0
4	-	-	-	80	50	40	25	20	10	0
5	-	-	-	-	3000	250	75	40	25	10
6	-	-	-	-	-	7500	1250	200	100	150
7	-	-	-	-	-	-	25000	2000	400	500
8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	50000	15000	2500
9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	50000	15000
10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	50000
Payouts	0%	68.04%	69.38%	67.39%	67.57%	70.64%	69.56%	67.47%	65.8%	69.55%

Poker (Caribbean)

Caribbean Poker Review

Game: In Caribbean Poker you place an ante (bet before game starts) and after having received five cards decide whether to compete against the dealer or not. You simply compare cards. The better hand wins.

Odds: The basic house edge for this game is 5.21% which doesn't make it look competitive compared to other casino games. American Roulette has a slightly worse house edge though.
Anyway, Gala International Casino makes this game interesting because it offers you a side bet of $1 for which you will receive an additional payoff for certain paying hands (flush or better). This extra win is based on the value of your own five-card hand, not on the hand of the dealer. So even if the dealer beats you or does not qualify you still get the bonus payoff. Only when the jackpot is very high the house edge decreases enough to really make this side bet worth a try. When you review the payoff chart keep in mind that some online casinos offer you a 999:1 payout for a Royal Flush.

The strategy for Caribbean Poker is quite simple: you should raise on any pair or better and fold on anything less than ace/king.

Set: You can chose tables with table limits of $1-$100, $5-$500, and $25-$1000 which is excellent, especially for high rollers.

Summary: Very good betting limits and the option of the side bet are positive. There certainly are online casinos with much better Caribbean Poker games though.

Caribbean Poker Payoffs
*Hand*	*Payoff*	*Bonus Payoff*
Royal Flush	100:1	100% of Jackpot
Straight Flush	50:1	10% of Jackpot
4 of a Kind	20:1	$500
Full House	7:1	$100
Flush	5:1	$50
Straight	4:1	4:1
3 of a Kind	3:1	3:1
2 pair	2:1	2:1
1 pair	1:1	1:1

Poker (Pai Gow)

Pai Gow Poker Review

Game: Pai Gow Poker is a card game based on poker where you and the dealer get seven cards and have to split them into five and two cards, each of them containing a better hand than the dealer's in order to win (your five card hand has to be better than your two card hand).

Odds: In Pai Gow Poker usually each player gets the chance to be the banker. Actually only a Pai Gow Poker game where the casino alternates the turn of the banker is good because in the event of an exact match between hands, called a "copy", the tie goes to the banker. It would set the house edge to 1.46%. (The probability that the two-card hands ("front hands") will copy is 2.55% and the probability that the five-card back hands ("back hands") will copy is 0.32%.) When it is your turn to be the banker the house has only an 0.08% edge over you. Because both the turn of the banker and the 0.08% edge alternate you end up with the aforesaid 1.46% house edge. At Gala International Casino the dealer is always the banker though which sets the basic house edge at 2.86%. Almost every online casino lets only the dealer be banker. So does Gala International Casino.

Set: Usually a progressive jackpot is paid out if any 5 cards of the 7 cards you are dealt make up a royal flush. Gala International Casino does not offer such a jackpot.
You are paid even money on all winning hands less a 5% commission (some casinos take a 2% commission only). You can chose a table with a $1-$100, $5-$500, or $25-$1000 table limit.

Summary: A little worse than standard pai gow poker. Find an online casino that offers you the option of being banker.

Roulette (European)

European Roulette Review

Game: A wheel with pockets numbered 0 to 36 is spun in one direction. A ball is spun around the wheel and as the ball slows, it drops into one of the pockets of the wheel. You bet on which pocket the ball will drop into.

Odds: This is an 'European' single-zero roulette (with only one zero on the wheel) which sets the basic house edge to 2.7%. That's actually far better than the American roulette version which usually has an incredible basic house edge of 5.26%. But Gala International Casino doesn't use any additional rule to put you in an even more favorable position, so the house edge stays at 2.7%.

If you prefer to bet on one of the inside bets once in a while, you really should play European roulette, since the house edge is 2.7% on all bets. But if you are an outside bettor, who likes to bet on high, low, red, black, odd or even only, you should play an American roulette version offering the "la partage rule" since it offers slightly better odds for those bets (2.63%).

Consider that inside bets offer far better payouts than outside bets, so bet the middle 12 once in a while. Generally the best idea is to bet on the streak that is running at the moment (e.g. if the last number was red, bet red).

Set: You can chose tables with betting limits of $1-$100, $5-$500, and $25-$1000 which is excellent.

Summary: That's a standard European roulette version. The betting limits are very bad. There are better roulette tables in our Best Roulette List. If you would like to bet big, go to Global-Player Casino. You can bet up to $6,000 on a spin there.

Slots

Slots Review

Game: Slots are machines with three to five wheels with symbols on them, spinning downwards when you pull a lever at their side or similar and coming to a stop after a few rounds of spinning. If the symbols align you win.

Odds: It is difficult to calculate the payout probabilities of slot machines without knowing how many times a certain symbol appears on each real. You could sit in front of the slot machine, pull the lever 1,000,000 times and write the results down or rely on the information that Gala International Casino gives you. They do not give information about their payouts.

Set: The multi-player slot machines allow you to chat with other players while playing or observing others play without playing yourself. The progressive slot machine offers a bonus game. The bonus game is all about collecting pieces of the pirate’s map. The jackpots do not get very big at Gala International Casino. The Killer Whale slot is a five deck slot poker game. There are only four slot machines available but Gala International Casino is adding new ones once in a while. The betting denominations are $0.25, $1, $2, or $5.

Summary: Small choice of slot machines. Jackpots don't get huge. You'll find much better slot machines in our Best Slots List.

Slots Payoffs
Slot Name	Reels / Lines	Winning Comb.	Wild Symb.	Bonus Screen	*Denom.*	*Top Prize*
Killer Whale	5/1	12	No	No	25c - $5	10,000
4 Reels Drive	4/1	13	No	No	25c - $5	10,000
Super Stocks	3/1	9	No	No	25c - $5	5,000
Gold Pirates	3/1	9	No	Yes	25c - $5	Jackpot

Video Poker

Video Poker Review

Game: In Video Poker you receive five cards and decide which ones to change (only once) in order to make a good poker hand. As better your hand as better the payout gets.

Odds: Gala International Casino features only one video poker machine (a Jacks or Better machine), but with a 99.9% payout.

Set: You can choose to play with coin values of 25c, 50c, $1, and $5. The multi-player video poker game allows players to chat with one another while they play online. You can observe others play video poker without playing yourself.

Summary: The one video poker machine Gala International Casino offers is quite good.

Video Poker Payoffs
*Name*	*Type*	*Max.Pay*	*Max.Coins*	*Min.Coins*
Jacks or Better	7/5	5,000	99.9%	96.1%