No. 6 on AceHoyle.com’s Top 10 Online Casinos list, Mansion Casino is a prime example of how out-of-the-box thinking in the online gaming and gambling industry can appeal to both players and investors. How it achieved this almost impossible synergy is a far more complicated story than the Ace Hoyle crew cares to relate. But the long and short of it is that Mansion simply avoided targeting the U.S. market.

Instead, Mansion’s parent company, Mansion Ltd., modeled the site’s ambiance on that of authentic brick-and-mortar UK casinos. They even launched the site in 2004 with the tagline “The finest English-style casino on the Web.” Consequently, while many of its competitors were scrambling to convert their online Las Vegas casinos to more Euro-centric offerings, Mansion easily circumnavigated the maelstrom the U.S.’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act kicked up with nary a scuff in its sails.

Today, Mansion admittedly has its faults. (Its Playtech software suite, for instance, could offer quite a bit more in terms of ground-breaking game concepts.) But, for all that, its distinctive play environment based on some of the most famous UK casinos is still more than attractive enough to earn it a place on AceHoyle.com’s best online casinos list.

Mansion Casino’s Atmosphere

We might be able to gainsay several aspects of Mansion Casino, but we certainly can’t criticize its look. Based on exclusive UK casinos like the Clermont Club, it is far more low-key than all the run-of-the-mill online Las Vegas casinos out there. Its gaming tables, for instance, all adhere to a tasteful tan-and-olive color scheme with only a bit of gold trim around their rails. And its main menu is the definition of simplicity with only a background picture to set off its highly intuitive options list.

Other facets of Mansion in keeping with this tasteful décor include nearly nonexistent load times and a lack of the glitzy graphics typical of most online Las Vegas casinos. To appreciate how important these two details can be you only have to compare Mansion to an online casino like Ruby Royal Online Casino, which launched last year with a Vegas-inspired façade despite the UIGEA.

Like Ruby Royal Online Casino, Mansion offers both full game downloads and a browser-based version of its free casino software. But this is as similar as the two get. Whereas Mansion’s browser-based offering comprises nearly 150 games, each of which takes less than 30 seconds to load; Ruby Royal Online Casino offers a mere 83 no download games that, according to our watches, can require more than a minute to load. This is a big difference on both points, and we can’t help but feel Mansion got it right cutting the glitz in favor of providing a much more fluid gaming experience.

Mansion Casino’s Game Selection

Mansion casino does more than most online UK casinos to keep its game selection fresh. Yet there are some differences between its full game downloads and the browser-based version of its free casino software. Namely, you can only play its progressive jackpot games and the games in its real-time gaming, or “RTG,” online casino’s library in real money mode. And, considering that these two game types comprise roughly a quarter of Mansion’s overall selection, it’s safe to say the site isn’t an ideal destination for casual players.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Mansion only offers its best content to paying customers. Original play-money Mansion games are just fewer and farther between. There’s much to be said for, for instance, Mansion’s “Dolphin Paradise” Pachinko game and its “Around the World” and “Genie’s Hi-Lo” arcade games. But having three interesting play-money games can’t even begin to make up for the site’s smorgasbord of standard fare.

Ultimately, then, if you want to play Mansion’s most exciting games you’ll have to make a deposit and, with one of the full game downloads of its free casino software, access its RTG online casino’s games. These games not only give Mansion more of a brick-and-mortar feel, but also turn the otherwise solitary activity of online gambling into a social one.

What’s more, because of their insanely high limits—one European Roulette wheel has a maximum outside limit 10,000 times its minimum—Mansion’s RTG online casino’s games are ideal for system players who approach gambling as a hobby. As a result, it’s clear Mansion prefers true aficionados over less serious players. And, while this might be consistent with its overall theme, alienating scads of players is never good for a site’s ranking.

Mansion Casino’s Playtech Software

At this point you’re probably wondering why, with all the good we have to say about it, we decided to rank Mansion Casino No. 6 on our 10 Best Online Casinos list. Naturally, it might appear the decision was completely arbitrary. But from our standpoint Mansion misses the mark, despite its RTG online casino’s strong library, because even its most original games are too traditional for us to call them “ground-breaking.”

This is the main problem with all Playtech online casinos, which by and large, focus too much on collecting vigorishes when the trend is to create more skill-based online gambling games. Perhaps it’s strictly a matter of taste, then, but we here at AceHoyle.com feel the best online casinos have games that combine online gaming and gambling games into a totally new, far more exciting genre. Mansion doesn’t have any games like this, and accordingly, we have no choice but to rank it lower on our leader board.

AceHoyle.com’s Final Verdict on Mansion Casino

Overall, Mansion Casino’s game library offers a lot of variety, and its ambiance is far more attractive than your typical Vegas-style online casino. That said, Mansion isn’t as cutting-edge as it once was. And the many UK casinos that are currently pushing the envelope with games that incorporate aspects of both online gaming and gambling are just more exciting.

In the end, then, we would definitely bump Mansion up if it (or Playtech, really) put more emphasis on interactivity. But the fact that the site seems focused on developing its RTG online casino’s library means it will likely remain No. 6 on our list for the foreseeable future.

Updated :Sat, 10/07/2010 - 6:06

 

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