Big Fish Casino Review

Big Fish Casino Seems to Do Everything Swimmingly.

Over the past 10 years we have undoubtedly seen a change in the casino industry. Although numerous real money casinos continue to rake in millions from players, and new casinos continue to be launched, a whole new category of casino gaming has emerged.

The "social casino" was born out of increased engagement on social platforms such as Facebook. Nestled among the multitude of farming and vocabulary games were slot machines, card games, and poker, all offered in a digital format like the other interactive diversions. Surprisingly, these gambling games achieved a level of popularity that seemed at odds with their overall intent and functionality. I have spent over 15 years in the online gaming industry, and despite my long-standing bias against the viability of enticing users to gamble in a digital format, I was baffled by the apparent success of these sites.

Today I have the pleasure of reviewing one of the largest social casinos. Big Fish Casino has been in business since 2002 and since then has generated an impressive number of valued, loyal customers.

The games are what make a social casino a social casino. Most online casinos offer a number of different types of games - table games, card games, even (some of them) virtual sports. But these are just the games you'd find in a real casino, so a social casino needs something more to fulfill its promise of being social. That something is: 1. Social media connected games. 2. Games that are hooks to get you to use the actual social media platform.

Okay, enough of me going on. It’s time to jump right into the review of Big Fish Casino!

About Big Fish Casino

One of the largest and most successful social casinos that you will know of is owned and operated by Big Fish Games, a game developer based in Seattle. The casino I am talking about is clearly the largest of Big Fish's offerings, but they are quite famous in the social gaming realm, with over 400 games on Facebook and another 3,500 PC games to their credit. And you have to understand, social gaming has grown rapidly. It is no longer a niche fad.

Founded in 2002, Big Fish Casino predates Facebook's foray into social gaming. The game began as a play-for-fun casino option and has evolved significantly over the past decade. Today, participants enjoy a variety of gaming experiences.

In the last 5 years, the company has experienced two sales. In 2014, the horse racing giant Churchill Downs acquired the company for $885 million. Then, in early 2024, the company was sold to Aristocrat Technologies for $990 million. This latest transaction gives Big Fish Games access to the second largest slot machine supplier in the world.

Social Casinos vs. Real Money Casinos

The primary difference between a social casino and a real money casino is monetary. At a social casino such as Big Fish Casino, players engage with the same type and caliber of games as those found at, say, Casino Fortune. The key difference, however, is that no matter how many virtual chips a player accumulates, they can never exchange them for real money. Anything a player might accomplish in the game is for show, and only enhances the player's status among other players. The real attraction of a social casino is that it allows players to experience the kind of gaming they would find in a real casino, while allowing them to play in a virtual wonderland atmosphere.

I have to say that this baffles me. This is not something a player wants to hear, but it seems to be the case: you can pay for chips, but you can never convert them back to cash. Still, I understand that people have all sorts of entertaining diversions. So, if you are reading this review, congratulations on opening up a whole new category of gaming!

How to Start at Big Fish Casino

Like most social casinos, Big Fish Casino was designed with Facebook and mobile devices in mind. If you're on a PC, you can search for the casino on Facebook or go directly to the site. Either way, the non-download interface is clearly designed to fit into the Facebook platform.

If you would like to play this casino on your mobile device, you can download a dedicated app from the iTunes App Store or Google Play. In my experience, the app is much faster than playing in a mobile browser, and appears to use the same interface and functionality as the browser version.

To create an account, simply log in with your Facebook account (or you can use a regular email account). You will be prompted to choose a username, and then a password. Then an image. You can upload whatever you want, or choose from a number of pre-loaded avatars.

When you are finished creating your account, it will be loaded with 100,000 chips. You can then go to the lobby and start playing. You will see all the games available to you and others that can be unlocked by reaching certain play levels.

Immediately upon arrival, you will be inundated with attempts to get you to buy more chips. The best strategy for dealing with these offers is to ignore them. This way, you can set a limit and decide whether or not you want to spend more money, which, let's not forget, is the whole point of these games. As you play, you earn achievements that give you bonus chips and gold bars. These gold bars will take you to the VIP levels and help you unlock even more games. You can reach many levels, each of which gives you more access to the casino.

It is clear that most games can be played by anyone, while a few are reserved for certain groups or private play. I'm not sure which way to go here. I think the best option is to just pick one of the games you know and feel comfortable with and sit down and play it.

Game Selection

All right, let's move on to an area of the casino where I can lend my support. The Big Fish Casino runs on proprietary software, and a quick glance at the lobby shows that there are a good number of games available to players. Of course, this is just like a real-money casino - but unlike a real-money casino, there aren't nearly as many choices in this social casino. Let's take a closer look at the game categories.

Slots

The Big Fish Casino slots catalog contains over a dozen titles for players to choose from. Most of these games will be unlocked when you first start playing, although a few won't be unlocked until you reach level 38. The Slots Lobby has two tabs: All Slots and VIP Slots. When I clicked on the VIP tab, a pop-up informed me that I could access these games by spinning until I became a VIP or by paying $9.99 for access. I decided to just spin the reels for a while to see what would happen.

Both 9 payline and 25 payline games are available, and there is even a progressive jackpot on the Jackpot City slot machine. Slots tournaments are offered to players, which is something I really like no matter where I play. Competing against other players is much more interesting to me than the solitary behavior of hitting the spin button over and over again.

As far as titles go, here is what you will find without any VIP status:

• Jackpot City;
• Money Rain Deluxe;
• Crazy Money Deluxe;
• The Hidden Forest;
• Delicious Layered Cakes;

• Sherlock Manor;
• One Armed Bandito;
• Stars 'N Sevens;
• Treasure Trove Grove;
• Baywatch;

Seeing the Baywatch slot was a pleasant surprise. It shows that the management at Big Fish really understands the value of cross-brand content. So I take it as a very good sign that this casino wants to be competitive in this area.

Table Games

The way the table games section works is slightly different from the slots section. There are no limited games. However, the minimum bets at each themed table are different. So if you want to play a certain game, you have to have the money to play it. Let's take Blackjack as an example to show you the different limits.

• Atlantic City: 100 of 5,000;
• Caribbean Cruise: 1000/50,000;
• Las Vegas Strip: 10,000/500,000;
• Illumination of the City of Light: 50,000/2,500,000;
• Mansion in Monaco: 250,000/12,500,000;
• Dubai Tower: 1,000,000/50,000,000;

Imagine a player basking in the glow of having earned the honor of even sitting at the table in Dubai. This accomplishment, as simple as it may seem, could easily push a player over any imaginary threshold they had for how much they were willing to spend in chips.

In terms of gameplay, I was pleased to see that the game maintains a standard look and feel. The public blackjack table I played at was a five-player setup. Since the game is designed to be a more social experience, I was glad to have some other players around. The actual play also felt much closer to a live game, as I had to wait for other players to take their turns.

Unfortunately, the game selection at Big Fish is limited compared to real money online casinos. They offer three casino-style games: Blackjack, Roulette and Burn 3 Poker. Burn 3 uses a standard 52-card deck and is played with 5 cards. I imagine some Big Fish supporters will tell me to just be thankful for what I have, but damn it! Where is Caribbean Stud? Where is Pai Gow Poker? Both are great games for an extended session. And unlike B3P, neither requires a second job to cover the buy-in.

Video Poker

Absolutely! I love video poker. So to see it get its own category was pretty fantastic! What was even more fantastic was that when I opened the lobby, I discovered that there were three versions of the game available.

• Jacks or Better;
• Deuces Wild;
• Joker Wild:;

When you sit down at a machine, you will see the names of four other players on the screen. They are at different machines, of course. But when one of these players hits a big win, you can bet your bottom dollar that the sound effects are designed to carry over and make you feel like you're in an actual casino. The gameplay mostly mirrors that of the actual video poker machines I've spent time in front of over the years, which is to say it's good and entertaining. But I wasn't a big fan of the hold suggestions.

In general, I am very pleased that Big Fish offers so much for someone who enjoys video poker, especially considering the limited number of table game options.

The Shop (Payment Options)

In addition to the free chips you get at the start (and, it seems, whenever you click on anything in the casino), you can also go to the Big Fish Casino Store. This is crucial for players who want access to higher levels and new games. Unlike many casino games, Big Fish Casino requires you to either invest a significant number of hours or accumulate a ridiculous number of chips if you want to get past the initial content.

Accessing The Shop is simple; you can get to it from the Lobby. Once you enter The Shop, you will be greeted by an array of alternatives for purchasing chip and gold bar packages. These bundles tend to come with different VIP levels attached. These levels, of course, give you the kind of instant access to the games that should theoretically make The Shop a sensational monetization opportunity for the kind of game developers who saw fit to include such a feature.

When you get to the point where you want to purchase chips, the process is fairly straightforward. For Facebook players, payment is facilitated by the purchase of Facebook Credits, which serve as the medium for the chip transaction. If you're accessing the tables through a mobile app, the system simply asks if you want to charge the purchase to your app store account. After a few clicks, you can resume play with credits or chips in hand.

Remember that while it costs real money to buy these chips, you are never, ever allowed to redeem them for real money. This site is for entertainment only.

Promotions and Rewards (VIP status)

Similar to the other areas of this casino, the promotions offered at Big Fish are primarily designed to give you more free chips and entice you to buy more chips with real money. This is the extent to which the site tries to persuade you to play. The overall goal of Big Fish is to get you playing so much that you are forced to buy the chips you need to get to the next level.

It's quite annoying how many advertising pop-ups there are when you first log in to the game. The last time I tried to log in, I was greeted by no less than 5 different screens that I had to close before I could access the main lobby of the game. And yes, I understand that this is how the casino has chosen to market itself.

Sale! Sale! Sale!

It seems that the chips in the store are almost always discounted. The discounts seem to rotate (or at least occur) with some regularity (at least once every 48 hours). Here is an example of a discount I came across:

• 6.7x Vendita: 4,5x Vendita sui Chips, più un Bonus VIP di 1,5 applicato a tutti gli acquisti.

First of all, I had not played a hand or made a purchase at this point, so I am not sure what qualified me for the VIP bonus. However, the breakdown of chip purchases was as follows:

• 135,000 chips - $2.79
• 371,500 chips - $6.99;
• 810,000 chips - $13.99;
• 16,875,000 chips - $139.99;

In fact, you got that right. There is a level of chips that can be purchased for nearly $140 REAL DOLLARS. This interesting situation, which probably unlocks every table for you, raises the question of whether any game is really worth spending that much in a single transaction when the transaction itself cannot be undone.

This sale also applies to the Gold Bars that are required for certain VIP rewards and to purchase virtual items for the table.

When it comes to promotions, this is very similar to a land based casino. Just like a land-based or online casino, poker sites sometimes reward your loyalty with reload bonuses. For many, using a bonus without any restrictions is premium play.

Would I Play at Big Fish Casino?

I have to admit that when I started this review, I was not very optimistic about what I was going to find. I mean, the concept of playing casino games without the ability to actually win any real money seems like a monumental waste of time - especially for a person with my pedigree.

After spending some quality time at Big Fish Casino, I am beginning to understand what all the hype is about. I know that many people are in love with the exciting table games and slot machines, but not with the prospect of risking their hard-earned money on a single bet. The player experience at Big Fish seems pretty well put together. There's an impressive number of games, and even when you can't cash out, the animations that accompany a win are stunning.

I like the whole idea of "groups" on the site. You take a casino and you make it social, and that aspect alone makes it a lot less boring than a regular casino.

After all, I still have to get used to the concept of paying real money for chips I can never cash out. If you have no hope or interest in playing for real, but want a taste of the allure and excitement of gambling, social casinos are the place to go. And if you go to one, be sure to experience the charm of Big Fish Casino!