Lotus Asia Casino Review

Lotus Asia online casino wears it heart on its sleeve, and this is clear from the moment the home page loads up. The a flash of the future, and burst of neon light and Manga colors, we’re in the Far East, the world’s most technologically advanced region, and immediately you feel excited at how good this experience is going to be.

Or at least that’s how this should feel, but the actual landing page is less inspired than you might hope for when it comes to the theme of the casino itself. There’s only an average-sized banner image on the page, with the rest appearing in a rather morose shade of green, giving the impression of the dated website for the conference suite at an independent hotel in dire need of an update.

OK, OK, that’s pretty harsh. In truth it just looks, well, a little drab. But it’s not utterly off-putting, and thankfully up against many other casinos you don’t have to spend too much time in this area of the site. Nevertheless, it pays to do so, because a quick scan over the options reveals the following about Lotus Asia- members are well rewarded, there are supplementary promotions up for grabs, live chat is a support option, and there seems to be some really fun looking games being advertised on the banner.

Online or on Desktop

Lotus Asia certainly lives up to the reputation of its namesake continent when it comes to high tech ways to play. From the home page you have the option to download for Windows, Mac, or smart phone/tablet, which offers a more streamline, or at least smoother gaming experience that many more regular visitors will definitely want to opt for.

If this is your first time, and you’re still in the fence about whether or not to make this a regular stop off thanks to that awful shade of green, then we’d probably recommend just choosing the Instant Play area, which then takes you through to a game archive that resembles and old school console platform menu screen, as oppose to anything else. Or perhaps that’s just the tutorial speech boxes.

Tutorials

The word ‘tutorial’ might be over-egging it a little, but basically Pacific Asia excels at making new visitors feel at home. You can’t access any games without the site showing you what to do, or trying to. If this isn’t for you, hit the standard Close Window X button in the top right of the speech bubble.

We recommend taking the tour, though, as there are some things that may be unfamiliar, and it’s always good to get properly acquainted. For example, there are multiple ways you can select a game to play, some of which involve dragging and dropping, others clicking or scrolling, and this alone may be disorientating if you accidentally combine different methods without knowing what any buttons or gestures do.

Let the Tournaments Begin

The tutorial also alerts people to the many ways in which you can compete against others. Tournaments are regularly held, across all the different disciplines on offer. So you can win big and beat the world at Video Slots, Table Games, Classic Slots, and Video Poker, to name but a few.

The game choice screen also has a News/Promotions section in the top right, which is a rolling ticker that shows ongoing winnings from other users, but also offers you bonuses for playing particular games at certain times, and other offers.

Choose Your Weapon

This is a little overwhelming, if you can say that. There’s just so much choice on Lotus Asia it beggars belief. One handy detail is the Featured Slot on the right hand side of the screen, which shows animations for select games that are currently hot and pulling in plenty of attention.

This is how we discovered Small Soldiers, which was one of the best games we played whilst testing this casino out. Don’t worry if you’re looking for something more serious than a cartoon-themed 5-reeler, though. There are reels and reels of serious card and table games to sink your teeth into, so get out and get gambling seems to be the overall message.

Bodyguards on the Go

It stands to reason that, with ultra-modern games, and great overall functionality in the site, you will be well protected when using Lotus Asia, and this is certainly the case. The small print boasts 128-bit SSL encryption for all transactions, which correlates to the highest possible standard for online purchases and transfers.

This also counts for mobile, which is something we’ve been waiting to come to. Almost like a completely different site (well, it is), there’s none of the death by swamp-green that came with those first impressions in desktop mode, although one mistake on the developer’s part here is immediately going to the sign up screen when you click Play Now, rather than showing off the games on offer before you hit the part where many people turn back- filling in a form.

Still, at least if you do have any concerns there’s online message-based support on offer, which is handy.

Blink and You’ll Miss Them

None of this should be forgetting the Hot Promos section. With bonus codes offering ‘SUNDAYLOOT’, and other tempting propositions, it’s definitely undersold in terms of Lotus Asia’s design, although they did manage to do a good job promoting the £1,000 introductory offer. These aren’t just afterthoughts, and stuff we forgot to mention before, but great examples of what the shortcomings are here.

Ups and Downs

It’s a mixed bag, really, and as such you can’t help but feel that Lotus Asia is also a missed opportunity. There was a lot of potential in making this the most futuristic site on the web, but the initial experience really doesn’t live up to those banner pictures- it looks tired, if you want all that in short.

Once you get to the games, though, things quickly pick up, and the whole offering really starts to come together. The games are up to date, and there are simply stacks of ways you can win mountains of cash- far more than we’ve seen in many contenders for our own coin. The experiences themselves when playing obviously differ, some are really new, others not so, but on the whole the selection is strong and the standard impressively high.

Whoever built this website has done an excellent job functionally, but it’s so easy to lose or miss many of the best aspects, or at least the offers, promotions and other deals. Thankfully, this is redeemed by a great, informative game menu, where you don’t need to click through to get the fundamentals on a game you might want to play- for example the number of reels, pay lines etc on a slot. All of which poses one question- would you judge a book by its immediate cover, or are you partial to lifting the pages open and seeing what it says under the hood?

The answer is also the answer to whether or not this is a casino for you – we say go with it, but others would argue that there’s little point in not experiencing the best from the first page load.