Our Comprehensive Royal Panda Review

*Important Notice: Unfortunately, Royal Panda is no longer available, we will update this space with the latest developments regarding this operator. Check out the UK’s best betting sites for alternatives.

Royal Panda is an online casino and sportsbook operator that was launched in Malta in 2014. The site now belongs to LeoVegas, having been acquired by the group for a reported €60 million fee in October 2017.

The site is licensed by both the Maltese Gaming Authority as well as the UK Gambling Commission, with the primary focus of the site being its online casino – although it continues to grow more into sports betting and even teamed up with BetConstruct in 2017 in order to operate in the UK.

Royal Panda is also well-known for signing a three-year shirt sponsor deal with English football club, Queens Park Rangers.

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In this Royal Panda review, we’ll focus on the sports side of the business, looking at what betting markets they offer, including live sports betting, as well their mobile experience, payment methods, bonuses and security.

Betting Markets and Range of Options

Although Royal Panda is primarily geared to casino fans, the website also boasts a significant range of sports betting opportunities.

The Royal Panda sports betting section is laid out in a fairly user-friendly manner, although it does take some getting used to. Live sports events are primarily displayed when landing on the page, but players can easily navigate through other upcoming events and sports at the top of the page.

On the left side of the screen, players are able to switch between “live” and “pre-match” betting across multiple sports. Indeed, the range of sports betting markets available is extensive, with popular sports such as football, tennis, basketball and rugby available to bet on, right down to more niche sports including alpine skiing, field hockey and lacrosse.

There is a vast range of markets available on any given sporting event on this website too, with popular football matches, for example, you can bet on the match result, goals markets, player markets, handicaps and correct scores – basically anything you can think of related to the match.

Royal Panda Bonus – In Detail

The Royal Panda bonus for new players can vary depending on whether you want to go with a casino or a sports welcome bonus. The sports welcome package includes a £20 matched deposit bonus, meaning if you deposit and bet £20 after registering, you’ll be given a free bet worth £20 to use on any sports bet.

As always there are some conditions that go alongside this, the most relevant of which are that your first cash bet must be at odds of 2.0 (evens) or higher. Once the player’s first bet has been settled, the free £20 bet will be awarded – and can only be used in a single transaction, so you can’t spread your £20 across multiple bets.

Importantly, any winnings from the £20 free bet can be withdrawn, but the original £20 stake can’t. So, for example, if you use your free £20 bet with odds of 2.0 and it wins, returning £40, you’ll only be able to withdraw £20 of that.

It should also be noted that players depositing with Skrill, Neteller or Paysafecard are not eligible for the free sports bet.

Odds and Pricing of Bets

As Royal Panda is not one of the leading sports betting websites – unlike its online casino – it isn’t particularly competitive when it comes to the pricing of odds or special bets. The good news, though, is that lots of markets are available across a variety of events.

If you are a sports betting fanatic, this probably isn’t the site for you and you can find better value on other more focussed sports betting sites. However, if you’re a fan of online casino and like betting on your favourite sports on the side, the Royal Panda sports betting experience is more than adequate.

Mobile Betting

As a modern online casino, Royal Panda is well-known for the excellent mobile experience it provides – and that extends into the sports arm of the website too. However, somewhat unusually for online casinos and sports betting sites, the Royal Panda mobile experience is only available via your mobile browser and not as a standalone app.

Don’t worry though, this website perfected the mobile experience for users – despite the lack of an app. Indeed, the mobile experience on the sportsbook is so good, that it is considerably more user-friendly than the desktop version and is considerably more intuitive – especially for new players.

So, despite not having a mobile app, Royal Panda have brought players an outstanding mobile sportsbook, with the same vast range of sports betting markets available to players as there is on desktop.

Royal Panda Live Betting and Streaming

As we previously discussed, live betting is very much the focus of the Royal Panda sportsbook. Whatever event is currently underway is exactly what will appear on your screen when you head to the sports section, and you’ll have to do a little digging to find pre-match markets.

Also, as part of Royal Panda live experience, players are able to watch live streams on certain sporting events and bet as the action unfolds. Live sports betting can be extremely exciting and this website is also excellent for live events as they are very quick to process bets and winnings – so you can see bets come in while the action is still going on.

Payment Methods

There are a vast number of payment methods available at Royal Panda, with a minimum deposit of £10 required across the board. Players are able to top-up with debit cards (VISA, MasterCard and Maestro) or with Skrill, Neteller, Paysafecard, AstroPay, ecoPayz, ePro, Euteller, ewire, giropay, bank transfer, Instadebit, sofort and Trustly, among others – most of which are instant.

Withdrawals are a little more restricted at Royal Panda, with players only able to take their money out via bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller or by their debit card. The bright side is that there are no minimum or maximum withdrawal limits. Roughly it takes 1-5 days to process them, but transactions via Neteller and Skrill are almost instant.

Safety and Security

Royal Panda is a highly-respected online casino and sports betting operator and boasts licences from both the Malta Gaming Authority and UK Gambling Commission. These licences ensure that the company is fit and responsible enough to operate, will protect players’ interests, has no links to criminal organisations and will keep players’ fund separate and secure from other operational costs.

The website is hosted on certified, secured HTTPS servers, and also uses an Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificate, to ensure the highest level of authentication. All data on the site is secured through 256-bit encryption – protecting your personal details from third-party hackers.

Information About the Company

Little is known about the origins of Royal Panda, other than that it is a private company that was first licensed and launched in Malta in March 2014. Operating as a subsidiary of the larger LeoVegas Group, Royal Panda is headed by CEO Mark Podd, a former journalist in the video game industry.

While the company’s online casino was launched in 2014, it wasn’t until 2017 that they added a sportsbook to the site, signing a three-year shirt sponsorship deal with Queens Park Rangers to help promote their latest offering.

The company is still based in Sliema, Malta, with customer service reachable via live chat, phone or email during the hours of 09:00 and 00:30 (CEST).

Conclusion

There’s no doubt that Royal Panda remain one of the best up-and-coming online casinos, and although their sportsbook is still very much in its infancy, it’s certainly a great addition to the website’s range of products.

Let’s not kid ourselves: Royal Panda betting isn’t market leading. So, if you’re a sports fanatic, this probably isn’t the place for you. But if you’re more of an online casino fan that likes the odd flutter on the golf or tennis, there’s certainly nothing wrong with doing so on this website – especially if you like in-play betting, as the Royal Panda live experience on sports is very good, with live streams and odds available 24/7.

What’s more, new players can enjoy the special Royal Panda bonus on sports, which comes in the form of a £20 deposit bonus – so if you deposit and bet £20 (at odds of 2.0 or higher), you’ll get a free £20 bet to use on sports. All-in-all, this website scores 3.5/5.0 in our Royal Panda review. Royal Panda is a decent, trustworthy operator that casual sports fans can enjoy wagering with. Looking for more trusty operators? Check out our variety of reviews on the latest betting sites, here.