Casino Treasure Review

Many of the casinos and poker rooms I visit for Online-Casinos.com are fairly new. However, occasionally I am asked to review an 'old-timer' and Casino Treasure certainly sits within that category. As many readers of Olnine-Casinos.com will know, I've been playing online since around the year 2000 and many of the casinos and poker rooms available now just didn't exist back then. However, the Grand Virtual-powered Casino Treasure certainly did. It's gone through a few changes since the year 2000 though and so I headed back to Treasure to see what experience a person playing their today could expect.

Although Casino Treasure has been kicking around for a long time it's perhaps not as well knows as many other online casinos. However, this is because Casino Treasure, as with all the casinos owned and operated by Grand Virtual, has never accepted by US Players. As such, Treasure has been quietly building up a European and Asian following during the years that other casinos were fighting over US players. This operating model has proved successful for the group, however, particularly in light of new US regulation that has caused havoc amongst US-focussed online casinos.

People that have played at casinos powered by Grand Virtual before will know that only a download experience is possible and this is true of Treasure. As such a player firstly needs to visit the install page of the casino's website to obtain the required software. Treasure's software comes in the form of s 200k installer and whilst this program is tiny in size (and therefore will take seconds to download), it does then request further files from the internet to complete installation. A great bonus for non-English speaking players is that Treasure can be installed using a variety of both European and Asian languages - again a reflection of the market Casino Treasure is operating within.

Within a few minutes a player should be within the casino lobby - a nice fact about Treasure is that very few games are installed by default. As such, players don't have to wait for games to install that they will never play. Similarly, games do not automatically become available - rather the casino downloads and installs a game once a player has chosen to play it for the first time. This will be appreciated by those on slow connections where the frustration of waiting for endless casino updates can be enough to spoil any session of gambling.

Once within the casino lobby a player is able to play and of the games for free without registering an account. However, for real play action a player needs to sign up. This is a straight forward process with a player choosing a username and password and completing a sign-up form to create a new account. Bizarrely, although Treasure is a no-US players casino the playing currency at Treasure is the US dollar. I do think that this should be changed at some stage or at least the casino should introduce options for the player - it just seems odd that not one player at Treasure will be playing in their native currency!

Account funding is also a simple process with players able to used a variety of funding techniques to get the account balance in the black. A great touch at Treasure is that most deposit options only require minimum deposits of $5 or $10 - great for those on tight budgets. I used NeTeller to purchase $100 although the usual selection of credit cards and e-wallets are also available.

As somebody that had made a purchase for the first time I was immediately rewarded with a 100% match deposit bonus (available up to $100). This is a generous bonus although players should note they are only allowed to claim one sign-up bonus from the Grand Virtual group. Usually I say that I don't like automatic bonuses because they tie a person in to wagering requirements. However, whilst this bonus does come with wagering requirements a person is actually able to withdraw their own funds at any time. A player attempting to withdraw without meeting the requirements will be told that they will forfeit any bonus money (and any money won with the bonus chips) and would then be given the option to continue with the withdrawal or not. This is great as some players might like to place an initial big Blackjack bet (e.g. $50 of their $100 deposit) and should that win they would be able to withdraw their $100 deposit and the $50 winnings without any hassle!

The different games available at Treasure are listed in a lobby-style format allowing a person to navigate to a specific game via a category structure. For example, Jacks or Better would be found within the Video Poker section. This makes game-finding an easy task and with a nice 'preview' functionality built in to the lobby, it's even possible for a person to see the rules of a game or view a game preview even before they decide to play. This again is a nice way of working and highlights the attention to detail that's gone in to creating the latest version of this software.

Although Treasure has a wealth of available games, I decided to start my play on the old favourite - Blackjack. Actually though, the decision to play Blackjack is complicated thanks to the wealth of different BJ games available. A number of Blackjack varieties are available allowing players to match a game to their tastes and with micro-games also available (offering bets from as little as $0.01) even low-rollers should be able to find a game that suits. The standard tables at Treasure allow bets on up to three spots at once with betting limits ranging tom $2-$150 per spot.

When it comes to quality of game presentation, I have to say I really didn't have much to complain about. I don't think the graphics are a match with absolute top quality competitor sites (e.g. Intercasino or 32Red). However, the graphics are certainly respectable enough and when combined with the sound effects and animation found within Treasure, a player should still find they have a good playing experience. The game speed is also decent and with a intuitive user interface, most players should be able to pick up a game within a matter of seconds.

Another thing I liked about Casino Treasure is that there are some games available that are nearly impossible to find elsewhere. For example, this casino allows players to bet on Casino Solitaire. This is identical to the game found on most Windows PCs, but with this version a person is able to bet and win money for performing well in the game! Game inclusions such as this makes it easy to see how Treasure has been able to build up a loyal following over the years.

Sadly I wasn't really a winner on the table games and so decided to try my luck at Treasure's Video Poker games of which there are a number. Multi-hand fans will certainly appreciate the selection and again a good number of games are found here that are not elsewhere - many of the games, for example, allow bets on up to 500 hands at once! It doesn't take much imagination to realise the potential for massive wins that games such as this have! I specifically had fun playing the Deuces Wild game, particularly since those lovely deuces seemed eager to keep making an appearance! Having said that, I still found my bank balance heading in the wrong direction and by the time I hit the slot games I was down to a $60 bankroll.

The slot selection is decent at Casino Treasure and in general Grand Virtual's slot games have come on a long way since the company first started making casino software. Now players can choose from a variety of games including classic-style three-reel games, multi-line video slots and games which offer massive progressive jackpots - at the time of writing the combined total of all of Treasure's progressive games stands at over $17m! Of course this is the sum of all progressive games but individual jackpots of many thousands of dollars are still winnable - certainly not to be sniffed at!

I had fun playing the World Tour 500 game although the $17,000 jackpot remained elusive! I also enjoyed playing the simple Butterfly Wings game. In fact most of Casino Treasure's games are fun, although actually sometimes I found the animations and graphics a little overbearing. Generally though the games are decent and again, although the graphics are not amazing, they are certainly good enough for a player to keep on betting!

In fact, this is exactly what I did and the result was the usual - a bank balance of zero! However, I know from experience that if I had won at Treasure the cash-in would have been efficiently processed. Casino Treasure doesn't have pending periods and doesn't send a million emails to a player with withdrawal 'updates' before processing, rather Casino Treasure simply process all withdrawals on a rolling 24 hour basis. As such, most players should find their cash-ins are processed within 1 business day - a great turn around time.

Sadly Casino Treasure's support function is not quite as efficient. Support are only contactable via email / webform and as such no 'real time' help is available. Also, I found that emails can take a while to be dealt with. I liked the fact that multi-lingual support is available, but I think generally this is an area that could be improved. Don't get me wrong, support here still works well with problems sorted out efficiently, but I do like casinos that are able to offer real-time help and assistance.

In conclusion Casino Treasure is a casino that has stood the test of time. The casino offers a good selection of games including a few unusual gems. The games are not of the best quality but are certainly acceptable and with nice features such as the easy-to-use bonus system and lobby preview function, I still think a lot of fun can be had here. Financial handling works like clock work and although support are not the easiest to contact, players can rest assured that any problems will still be dealt with. If you've not tried a Grand Virtual casino before and want to experience something different, I'd certainly have no problem in recommending Casino Treasure. Perhaps there's some treasure waiting for you?!