Intertops Review

Welcome to my review of Intertops! To be honest, I have been looking forward to this review for a long time. This is a brand that comes with a lot of history, and the ownership has changed several times. The big question I want to solve during this review is whether or not the issues you can read about on gambling forums have been cleared up and if this is a site worthy of my recommendation.

As I sat down to spend several hours with this company, I wasn’t sure what I was going to find. However, as with any of my reviews, I went in with a completely open mind. My only goals are to provide comprehensive, honest reviews of gambling sites for my readers, and this one is no exception. Read on to see what I found.

Ratings Breakdown

Overall

As you will be able to tell as you read through this comprehensive review, the optimist in me is challenged on many fronts by Intertops. The overall feeling that I get is that while someone felt the brand still had value, they didn’t decide to fully spruce up the company, leaving me with the sense that it just has a fresh coat of paint covering up some of the issues.

Game Variety

I am very pleased with what I found from a product perspective. While I don’t think it warrants having two completely different casinos, I do appreciate that I get the full suite of games from WGS and RealTime Gaming. Having a poker site, no matter how small, means one less account you need to have. A full suite of products makes Intertops a great spot for anyone who likes to spread their gambling dollars across the board.

Banking

High marks here for having many banking options, including recently adding Bitcoin into the mix. Low marks for having a terrible waiting period for some forms of payment, and for the large number of document you must produce to actually process a payout request. This doesn’t give players the best feeling when it feels like a company is stalling in sending them money.

Bonuses

Okay, this one was tough for me. On the one hand, I love that the site has taken the time to add multiple promotions in each of its product lines. This is no small effort, and the team should be acknowledged for its work. However, the bonuses and promotions come with far too many T&Cs, including very high rollover rates, making many of the offers useless for the small to the midsized gambler.

Customer Service

The reason the score is lower than I might normally give is due to the historical issues that players have discussed online. For what it’s worth, my interactions were very positive, but I will need to read more proof of positive support to increase my rating.

User Interface

The site gets good scores for the navigation in each section of the site, and the casino lobbies are easy to filter so that you can find the game you are looking for with relative ease. What I cannot explain and cannot stand is that each product or click opens a brand-new window, which left me with a clogged browser navigation bar. This does not appear to be an issue exclusive to my PC, so I would like the company to address this ASAP.

Sportsbook

The sportsbook covers the majority of larger sports, and I like all the promotions that are offered to bettors. There is an in-game betting option, although I would like to see those live odds on the front page of the sports section. I like the fact that the site displays the most popular bets on their site, but I am left a bit stumped as to why they haven’t added esports into the mix. There are some small fixes here that would improve the site’s score in this area.

Mobile Compatibility

Given the fact that the only mobile products for Intertops are browser-based, this is about the highest score I can give the site. Overall, the mobile platform is satisfactory, and you shouldn’t have any issues using it for any of the products. However, these days, mobile accessibility is a high priority for most online gamblers, so not having a native app even for those in regulated jurisdictions is disappointing.

The Basics About Intertops

If the name Intertops sounds familiar to you, this isn’t much of a surprise. The company was founded all the way back in 1996 at the start of the online gambling revolution. At that point, it was primarily a sports betting company, but as you will see, it has expanded its product offering over the years.

The company has changed hands over the years, and the current owner is listed as a company called Thinkquick Ltd., which is based in St. Kitts. While the changing in ownership always causes some concern, there isn’t much information I can find out about the current ownership, either positive or negative, so I’ll just leave that be for now.

The company has had a love/hate relationship with the US over the years. At its launch, the company accepted American players, but then after a change of ownership and the introduction of the UIGEA, it stopped taking them. Now, the company is once again open to US players (at least for the time being).

Sportsbook

As I mentioned, Intertops started out as a sportsbook, and in fact, they lay claim to having accepted the first ever online sports bet. Today, while they have a multitude of other products, sports continues to be front and center for the company.

The interface at Intertops shows its age in some spots, but overall, for an in-house product, it gets the job done. When I clicked on the sports section of the website, I was brought to a screen which featured most of what I am looking for in a sportsbook. There are highlighted odds in the middle of the screen and a list of the most popular bets on the right-hand side of the screen. You can choose from these sports on the left-hand side of the page:

• American Football
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Ice Hockey
• Tennis
• Aussie Rules
• Biathlon
• Boxing/UFC
• Cricket
• Darts
• Golf
• Handball
• Motor Sports
• Non-Sporting
• Politics
• Rugby
• Snooker
• Soccer
• Stock Market

I will admit I was a bit surprised not to find any esports betting at Intertops. It is another way the site let me down a bit – these events are becoming very popular with a younger gambling demographic, and they present an opportunity for the site to bring in new players.

The Casino

The casino product from Intertops is where I can see the most changes from years ago. First off, let’s talk about the way the casino page is laid out. There are actually two casinos: the Red Casino and the Classic Casino. Each is brought to you by different providers, which means you, in theory, have two times the games available to you. I won’t review each separately except when it comes to the slots catalog, but I have to say that in this day and age, it should be easy enough to put both casinos into the same lobby.

Software

For the casinos, Intertops uses two different suppliers. The Classic Casino is powered by WGS, which, for those of you who know your history, is actually the old Odds On software that used to power English Harbour Casino. The Red Casino has a license of the RealTime Gaming software, which has been taking US-facing clients for over 20 years. Together, these companies provide you with a full set of different games…not the best games I have ever played, but considering how few options there are, I am pleased that the company chose to go in two different directions with the brands.

Slots

I will start with the slot machines even though they aren’t my favorite games. Here is where you will find the biggest differences between the two software providers, and also the difference in size of each vendor. Both casinos offer progressive slots games, but the RTG network slots have far larger jackpots, stretching into the seven-figure range.

Both casinos’ slots catalogs feature games with great graphics and sounds. Rather than list out tons of games for you, I will just highlight a few of them here for you.

Video Poker

By now, many of you already know how much I love video poker. Thankfully, with two different vendors to choose from, I have found a casino that offers me as many games as I want to play! The game is so much more fun than slots in my opinion, and I always encourage my readers to give the game a try if they haven’t before. There is a little bit of skill required, and you can read all about the different games and strategies in our guide to video poker.

As for the titles in the lobby, here is what you can expect to see from video poker.

• Aces and Eights
• Double Jackpot
• All American
• Jacks or Better
• Bonus Deuces Wild
• Double Bonus
• Double Double Jackpot
• Sevens Wild
• Pick ‘Em Poker
• Loose Deuces
• Double Double Bonus
• Deuces Wild
• Joker Poker
• Bonus Poker Deluxe
• Table Games

Here is where things get interesting at Intertops. The look and feel of the games from WGS and RTG are different, which means that you are likely to gravitate to one or the other. For me, the RTG games still win out in the end, but when I am looking for a change of pace, then I try out the WGS tables. The fact that I can switch between the two with one central account and balance makes me very happy, and it should make you feel the same way.

Here are some of the table games you will find at Intertops:

• Baccarat
• Bingo
• Blackjack with Perfect Pairs
• Caribbean 21
• Caribbean Hold’em Poker
• Caribbean Stud Poker
• Casino War
• Craps
• European Blackjack
• Face Up 21
• Keno
• Let ‘Em Ride
• Match Play 21
• Pai Gow Poker
• Pontoon
• Red Dog
• Roulette
• Scratch Cards
• Sic Bo
• Super 21
• Texas Hold ‘Em Bonus Poker
• Tri Card Poker
• Vegas Three Card Rummy
• Poker

Intertops is a full-service gambling site with the addition of the poker site to the mix. This game can be downloaded as a separate piece of software on your PC, or it can also be played from within your browser. However you decide to access it, you will find that there aren’t that many players in the system at any given time. You should still be able to find a small cash game table or two running 24 hours a day, and there are a series of scheduled tournaments every day which give you a chance to win some cash without having to wade through hour after hour of play like you do in some of the larger sites.

For me, the poker software is just a nice addition if I feel so inclined while playing other games, but ultimately if I am looking for proper poker action, I will probably head elsewhere to find it.

Banking Options

After reading many of the player forums, it seems that a recurring theme of complaints against Intertops was in regards to their payments department. Now, it is difficult and costly to process payments, especially those from the United States. However, some policies, like a minimum of $150 cash-out and the sheer volume of documentation you need to send the company, seem a bit much for 2018. At least the company has recently picked up Bitcoin as an additional form of payment to go along with the ones I have listed here.

Deposits

Withdrawals

Bonus Promotions

The promotions department seems to be very busy at Intertops, given that I see different bonuses and offers for each of their products. This can also be a bit chaotic, so I want to focus on just a few of them for this review. And remember, having a ton of promotions isn’t worth it if none of them are compelling – let’s see if the site can keep me engaged.

Welcome Bonuses

There are multiple welcome bonuses across the Intertops platform. Here are a couple that caught my eye:

Sportsbook Welcome Bonus

I like this bonus because it gives players four options to choose from, depending on how much they want to receive in bonus dollars. Here is how the site breaks it down:

• ROOKIE200

200% up to $50 bonus The bonus code must be redeemed immediately after the deposit and before any wager has been placed The bonus and the deposit need to be rolled over 8x at min. odds of -200 (1.5) before a payout is possible Max. $50 of every bet count towards the rollover

• ROOKIE100

100% up to $100 bonus The bonus code must be redeemed immediately after the deposit and before any wager has been placed The bonus and the deposit need to be rolled over 6x at min. odds of -200 (1.5) before a payout is possible Max. $100 of every bet count towards the rollover

• ROOKIE50

50% up to $200 bonus The bonus code must be redeemed immediately after the deposit and before any wager has been placed The bonus and the deposit need to be rolled over 4x at min. odds of -200 (1.5) before a payout is possible Max. $200 of every bet count towards the rollover

• ROOKIEBTC

100% up to $1000 bonus, only valid for customers from the US and Canada. The bonus code must be redeemed immediately after the deposit and before any wager has been placed Only valid for a customer’s first-ever deposit, if Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, or Litecoin are used as the chosen deposit method. The bonus and the deposit need to be rolled over 8x at min. odds of -200 (1.5) before a payout is possible Max. $1000 of every bet count towards the rollover

As you can see, each bonus comes with a different max that helps earn the bonus. However, the rollover terms are extremely high compared to other sites, so you need to bear that in mind when you choose your offer.

Rookie Raise Casino Bonuses

This is a series of welcome bonuses from Casino Red, which is meant to entice you to stick around longer in the product. If you have already made a deposit and claimed a bonus elsewhere at Intertops, then you cannot take this offer, but here is how it breaks down for you over the first four deposits you make:

• Deposit #1 100% up to $100 bonus SIGNUP100
• Deposit #2 50% up to $100 bonus WELCOME2
• Deposit #3 75% up to $150 bonus WELCOMEBACK
• Deposit #4 100% up to $200 bonus WELCOMEHOME
• Extra #5 $25 free bonus sent by email in the following month*

I like the idea of the extra $25 at the end of the four deposits, but waiting up to a month for it seems a bit excessive. I also had a look at the terms and conditions of these bonuses and found that the wagering requirement is 30x the sum of the deposit and bonus, which again is high compared to industry standards.

Overall, while the company has several promotions across their sports, casino, and poker products, I have to say that I am left a bit underwhelmed by them as a whole.

Mobile Compatibility

These days, players are accessing their gambling products (and pretty much everything else in their lives) more often from a mobile device. The gambling world is varied in its quality of mobile products, and this is even more cloudy for sites that operate in grey markets like the United States.

Mobile Sports Betting

The Intertops mobile sportsbook gives you the chance to make all the same bets that you can from your PC. This is accomplished by using the browser on your phone or tablet. There is no native app for the sportsbook product currently, but that doesn’t affect the quality too much. Yes, there will be some lag time if you are on a weak signal, but the betting interface worked just fine when I tested it, and I was able to bet during live matches right from my phone.

Mobile Casino

The Intertops Casinos are available for download on your PC, but if you are going to play from your phone, then you will be using your browser to access the games. Never fear – both RTG and WGS have done a decent job making their games compatible with the screen sizes of most mobile devices. I prefer playing with an app myself, but considering none of them are available for download either for iOS or Android in the US, I’ll be fine using the current options from Intertops.

Customer Service

I have read many complaints about the quality of service that players have been given by Intertops over the years. Now, when I read these complaints, I am often looking for a timestamp. The internet can be harsh, and nothing ever goes away. A company that has been in business for 22 years is definitely going to have some people who are angry, and if those are people who feel they are being slow-paid, they show no reservation in expressing their frustrations.

I like to give each service department a try myself, and I did so with a couple of simple questions that I asked an agent through the live chat feature on the website. Not only did I get an agent to answer me quickly, but they also seemed to do so quite courteously as well. Now, I know this is a small sample size, but I feel that if you are polite and calm, you should have no issues with the support department.

While there are several contact points offered on the Intertops website, I would like to see the company work on a comprehensive FAQ section to assist people with general concerns.

Summary

At the end of several hours of playing, testing, and researching, I have to say that I am for the most part pleased with what I found at Intertops. However, just being “pleased” isn’t a resounding response, at least not in my head. This brand has been around since the inception of the online gambling industry, and I would like to see the current owners treat it with a little more detail. I’d say there are a few things that the site could do to improve the overall relationship with the players, and if the company makes some changes, then maybe I will be able to be more than just “pleased” with the site.

Verdict

While the company has had its fair share of issues, the bottom line is that they accept US players and offer a full suite of games. I think my American readers should definitely give these guys a try – just be careful about the bonuses you accept. Any of my readers from other jurisdictions may want to read some more of my reviews to see if there is anything better for your gaming needs.

FAQ