There’s nothing sweeter than being rewarded for your loyalty – it’s the ultimate acknowledgement of all the hours and money you’ve invested in a brand.
Of course, it’s standard protocol for many reputable casinos to offer their faithful players some sort of a loyalty program. To be eligible, you simply have to sign up for membership and earn your promotional offers by accruing points or tokens. Then, when you’ve accumulated enough, the casino hands you well-deserved prizes.
VIP schemes offer many of the same perks as a loyalty program, but usually in bigger amounts and with more exclusive perks.
Fancy yourself to be a VIP and looking to eye up the perfect casino for your custom? Read on for our top recommendations on the best VIP casinos in the UK right now.
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A VIP casino typically has reward schemes and dedicated VIP programs that dish out extra perks and exclusive bonuses to players who meet certain criteria. Some people use terms like high roller casino or high-stakes casino interchangeably, but ultimately, they’re all the same thing.
The actual process for becoming a VIP varies from one casino to the other. In some cases, VIP status comes as part of the natural progression through loyalty schemes – essentially, when you reach the higher levels and start to deposit higher amounts and/or more frequently, you can become esteemed as a high roller.
The most common way to become part of an online casino VIP program, however, is by the invitation of the casino itself. VIP specialists within the establishment will monitor your activity. If it’s found that you’re meeting the eligibility criteria through being an active player who deposits moderately large deposits and quite often at that, they’ll likely reach out to you with an invite for their VIP program.
It goes without saying but not all VIP casino bonuses are the same. The offerings vary from casino to casino, but there are generally a few common types you’ll see time and time again, including:
When it comes to bonuses, always keep in mind that VIP players and high-roller players will experience these promotional offers in a different way than casual players. Owing to the privilege of their status, VIP members may be able to access offers with fewer restrictions and rules around claiming them.
Many of the larger VIP casino sites in the UK will have their own app in order to ensure their players can participate from a range of devices, including smartphones.
The main advantage of a dedicated app is that you’ll be able to play all your favourite games, check any notifications from the casino’s loyalty program, and find exclusive casino offers that are only accessible via apps,e.g. bonus spins.
Another advantage is that some casinos go a step further by awarding more loyalty points to those who play via the app. So, in summary, VIP casinos are increasingly focusing on optimising their services for phone interfaces. If you choose to get involved on a smartphone, you’ll get all the benefits of integrated mobile payments for a better online casino experience.
Reaching VIP status, whether through online casino VIP programs or by invitation, comes with a raft of extra VIP perks and exclusive bonuses, wherever you’re playing. VIP benefits can include:
Individual casinos may offer more benefits than this. With significant VIP budgets, high-end casinos have a lot more freedom and creativity when it comes to providing things to their high-roller players.
Finding the best VIP casino sites can often be tricky as not all casinos advertise their VIP programs, but luckily, we’ve done a lot of the grafting for you. Here’s a run-down of our top 10 VIP casino recommendations:
Being a high roller at a casino in the UK means that you’ll need a solid banking option. Most of the larger UK banks such as HSBC, NatWest, TSB and others will have premium accounts available to handle large funds coming both in and out of your account. For example, there’s HSBC Premier, which has a €50,000 minimum, or Lloyds Premier Banking, which starts at €100,000. One thing we’d note is that it’s important to look into additional fees beforehand.
As for getting money to or from your casino account, it’s common to use a third-party wallet as an intermediary, as online casinos often have slower transfer times for going directly to or from bank accounts. Among most casinos, the likes of Neteller, Skrill and PayPal are very common. While VIP systems may remove them, certain fees for withdrawals may also apply.
Many regular casinos have a similar system in place but these usually max out at a relatively low level, whereas VIP versions have extremely high ceilings. Some casinos combine the two, with, for example, three of the system’s eight levels being marked as VIP-only.
The most important thing to look at with these systems is how often the points or credits refresh. Some sites have their rewards building up across an entire month while some wipe the slate clean every week. Rarely, you’ll find ones with a lifetime rewards scheme. VIP status, in general, needs to be maintained as a long period of inactivity would drop you out of the scheme.
Category | Casino |
Best VIP program | Rizk – The most extensive list of rewards anywhere! |
Best for deposits | PlayOJO – No limits on deposits from any payment method |
Best high-stakes games | 888 – Famous for high-stakes blackjack games |
Most personal touch | 10bet – More ways to get in touch than anyone else |
Best rakeback | PokerStars – Big chunks of bets can be paid back to players |
All online casinos that operate within the UK do so under the authority of the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC). While it’s one of the most respected licenses in the casino world, it’s also one of the strictest and that extends to KYC procedures. With VIP casinos, in particular, the bar for compliance is much higher because of the larger amounts of money which is passing through them.
At the most basic level, you’ll always need to provide legal documents to prove your name, age and address to show that you are allowed to play from your location. However, with high rollers and other VIP casino players, the casinos may deem it necessary to request extra documents around proof of funds.
As part of the UK Gambling License agreement, casinos operating in the UK are bound by a strict set of rules regarding issues and disputes. To start with, casinos must provide clear avenues of contact for complaints and issues and are required to resolve these situations quickly, fairly and transparently to the player.
In the event that a casino is unable to settle an issue with a player, they’re required to have an alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Should this still not bring a resolution, UK players have the right to bring legal proceedings against the casino.
As a high-roller VIP, you’ll most likely have access to an account manager who can handle any concerns for you. That said, if the issue becomes a legal one, then they would be substantially limited in their capacity to support you.
One of the most attractive parts of being a VIP player in the UK is that casino winnings aren’t taxable and don’t need to be declared. This is true up to any amount, so whether you’re withdrawing €10 or €10,000, you’ll keep everything you win as a high roller.
We should clarify that this only applies to customers based in Britain; players using British casinos who live outside the country will likely be affected by their own country’s gambling tax laws.
VIP online casinos in the UK are treated the same way as any other conventional casino, as things currently stand. The current gambling license doesn’t differentiate between VIP casino sites with larger bet amounts and low-stakes casinos. However, as of April of this year, the UK government introduced a white paper, which will make significant changes to UK casino regulations.
Most notably, the white paper will introduce a stake limit for online slots for the first time. While it isn’t yet confirmed, this limit could be as high as €15 per spin or as low as €2 per spin. It’s unclear whether this will apply to table games and live casino games as well, but it’ll certainly affect VIP casino sites and VIP players heavily.
You may notice that the VIP sections of many online casinos have started shifting outwardly to loyalty schemes instead. Overall, the same perks will be on offer, but the package won’t have that VIP label on it.
This is down to a cultural and legislative shift in recent years – the British government is trying to actively discourage casino sites from pushing players to bet more. Consequently, many sites have stopped advertising specific VIP rewards. Though there may still be invitation-only programs behind the scenes, those featured prominently on the main pages of casino websites are gradually fading away.
A big plus to the Rizk Casino site is the sleek and intuitive design from both desktop and mobile platforms. This enables you to navigate everything more smoothly. Rizk’s game library is extensive and features games from all of the largest providers, and beyond the slots, there are table games as well as some unique virtual sports titles for something a little different from sports betting. Our only big downside is the lack of a dedicated app, but the mobile version of the site works well anyway.
Our favourite thing about PlayOJO is its simplicity. Between their bonuses, events, and games themselves, they cut away a lot of the restrictions. The lack of deposit limits is really attractive when you’re looking as a VIP, and their motto of ‘no sneaky stuff’ is really reassuring. While it may not apply on the VIP side, please note that there have been a lot of reports of slow responses from support even though they have a 24/7 live chat service.
While PlayUK presents itself with a VIP experience available right from the front page, actual high rollers should take care as their withdrawal limits are much lower than anyone else on our list. While VIPs may get higher limits, they wouldn’t be high enough to compete. Their offering of games and bonuses is good, although their support is also lacking a bit as their live chat support isn’t 24/7 and reply times aren’t reported as being very quick.
Playzee ticks all the right boxes for us – great, around-the-clock support, a huge library of the biggest games and a solid VIP system. When we dug deeper, however, we found plenty of play issues mainly revolving around payments, particularly the 48-hour withdrawal period which applies regardless of the payment method used, and several reported issues with making deposits.
VIP schemes are the next step up from conventional loyalty programs and are reserved only for high rollers and elite-level gamblers in the UK, who play frequently. Getting into these circles is harder, but the prizes and perks are on a different level altogether.
If there’s a standard loyalty program, sign up to this first and foremost. Then show your loyalty by being active regularly in order to meet eligibility criteria for bonuses and promotions. Keep claiming these as they crop up and you’ll be noticed, before too long. For some casinos, you may be able to opt into their VIP programs with the simple click of a button.
Legislation may be shifting and programs may be classified under different names, but variations of loyalty and VIP schemes will still exist. They’ll just be under a different guise!
Based on our expert research, the current top dog is Rizk Casino! Out of all the casinos on the UK market, they offer the most rewards for VIP members.
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