Ice36

Ice36 is a classic casino with an ice-cool theme. It’s been around for a few years now and has the benefit of being operated and owned by Skill On Net Limited directly rather than being run on a white-label basis like so many of the Ice36 sister sites. As you’ll have seen while reading the above mini-reviews, though, direct ownership isn’t a guarantee of quality. Is there enough at Ice36 to compete with the likes of PlayOJO? Read on, and we’ll tell you.

Ice36 Welcome Offers

The welcome promotion at Ice36 isn’t up there with the best that this family of casinos has to offer. When new players make their first deposit with Ice36, they get a matched deposit at 100% up to a maximum of £25. The minimum qualifying deposit is £10, and bonus funds must be wagered x10 before anything can be withdrawn, with only slots counting towards it. The maximum bet that can be made using bonus funds is 10% of the bonus or £5, whichever is lower, which works out at £2.50 if you claim the full £25.

There’s a second element to the welcome promotion, which isn’t advertised on the Ice36 homepage. It’s the fact that the matched deposit bonus is accompanied by 136 free spins on one of the casino’s top slots. The slot was Big Bass Bonanza at the time of writing, but that’s subject to change at any time. Anything won from the spins is subject to the same x10 wagering requirement as the bonus funds, but you’ll need to enter the code ICE136 when you make your first deposit to get them.

Ongoing Promotions

The long-term promotion at Ice36 is the casino’s VIP club, which promises exclusive offers, outstanding perks, and chances to win great prizes. As with other Skill On Net Limited casinos, there are six VIP ranks. Membership is by invitation only, and members start at the Bronze level until they’ve accrued 401 VIP Points in a month. At that point, they join the Silver club and then progress through to Gold at 1001 VIP points and Platinum at 2001 VIP points. There are two levels beyond that – Diamond at 20001 points and Red Diamond at 80001 points – but they’re out of reach for all but the biggest spenders. Points are accrued at a rate of one per £20 spent on online slots, but exchange rates for table and live games are worse. Bronze-level players don’t get any additional perks, but Silver-level players receive tailored monthly bonuses, and Gold-level players get higher deposit limits. At Platinum level and above, perks include faster payouts, VIP account managers, birthday bonuses, invitations to exclusive real-world events and more.

Players who aren’t on the guest list still have a few things to look forward to. There are daily slots tournaments, with free-to-enter freerolls as well as buy-in events, and anyone who deposits on a Tuesday gets a free spin of the Prize Twister. Every spin wins something, whether it’s free spins, a bonus or cash, and the top prize is £25,000. The Daily Picks section is where you’ll find it, along with whatever other offers the casino has lined up for you that day.

What are the Pros and Cons of Ice36 Casino?

Featured Slots and Casino Games at Ice36

The size of the games portfolio at Ice36 isn’t as big as we’ve seen at some of the Ice36 sister sites, and the range of options is narrower. You have just three categories to choose from; slots, live casino, and casino. Under the casino tab, you’ll find non-live versions of blackjack, roulette, poker and scratch cards. The “most played” section of the Ice36 homepage is made up entirely of slots these days. Here are the top three as of the time of our visit.

• Book of Books: It’s a sign of how crowded the book-themed corner of the slots market has become that one of them is now simply called Book of Books. This one comes from Peter & Sons, and it sticks closely to the formula, with five reels, ten lines, high volatility and free spins with a win multiplier. It’s the most played game at Ice36 right now, which is a little surprising, because the version on offer here has an RTP of just 94%.
• Big Bass Splash: The sequel to the slot below sits in second place, and it’s the Big Bass game for players who like a little more going on. Pragmatic Play has kept the fisherman collecting the cash values attached to the fish during free spins, but it’s added random modifiers that can fire before the round starts, and every fourth fisherman bumps up the multiplier on his catch. Ice36’s version pays an RTP of 94.6%.
• Big Bass Bonanza: This fishing-themed slot from Reel Kingdom is the focus of the Ice36 welcome bonus in terms of free spins, so it makes sense that it would be one of the most popular slots at the casino. Big Bass Bonanza is already considered legendary despite being a December 2020 release, which tells you everything about how much players love this slot and its simple “catch a fish, win money” mechanic. With a 94.02% RTP in the version Ice36 offers and above-average volatility, you hopefully won’t have to wait as long for a prize catch here as you would if you were sat by a riverbank.

Those RTPs are worth dwelling on. All three of Ice36’s most played games run at less than 95% here, which is lower than the versions you’ll find at plenty of other UK casinos, and it’s the kind of thing that only shows up if you open each game’s information page. Elsewhere on the homepage, the ICY Games row picks out old favourites such as Book of Dead, Bonanza and Rainbow Riches, and Slingo games have their own tab in the slots lobby.

Deposits and Withdrawal Methods

Ice36 has a payment options page, but it amounts to little more than a row of logos, and the terms and conditions of its transactions are so simple that it doesn’t really need more than that. You can make deposits into an Ice36 account using Mastercard or Visa debit cards, Apple Pay, a Paysafecard voucher, PayPal, or instant bank transfers via Trustly. Paysafecard and Apple Pay are the only two of those options that aren’t also eligible for withdrawals, and all withdrawals are processed within 24 hours of request so long as the customer’s account is verified. The terms say that the casino aims to process them within a few hours, and there’s no charge for withdrawals to cards or e-wallets, although wire transfers of less than £500 cost £10.

Payment Options & Speeds

Customer Support and Licensing

Live chat at Ice36 is available between 6am and midnight every day. That’s a wide enough window to cover almost every player. If you’re a night owl (or early morning owl) and find yourself in need of help outside those hours, your only option is to send Ice36 an email. There’s no telephone support at this casino. You’ll need to log in before you can open the live chat, and the email address is support@ice36.com.

In terms of licensing, Ice36 is one of the many casinos covered by the licence that its parent company Skill On Net Limited holds with the UK Gambling Commission. This same licence covers all of the Ice36 sister sites. It’s considered clean now, but that hasn’t always been the case. In May 2023, the UKGC carried out a regulatory review of Skill On Net and found that the operator wasn’t compliant with licence conditions regarding anti-money laundering and minimising risk to customers. Instead of proceeding to formal disciplinary action, Skill On Net paid £305,150 to settle the matter and divested itself of a further £105,650.

Ice36 Casino – The Verdict

If it weren’t for all the negative reviews, we’d say that Ice36 was a high-quality casino. It has thousands of games, it processes withdrawals quickly, and the terms of its promotions are broadly fair. The VIP program also offers fair rewards if you have the budget to climb through the rankings. The lack of telephone support hurts the casino a little, though, and there has to be a reason why so many players feel compelled to write bad reviews.