Hugo Casino
3.1/5
Very Good
Hugo Casino is one of the newest, crypto-friendly gambling sites to emerge. Launched in 2023, the casino offers games from eighty-five software providers, giving you thousands of titles to choose from. Operated by GBL Solutions NV, Hugo Casino is broadly available in many countries but specifically faces Aussie, Canadian, Norwegian, and New Zealand-based players.
The online casino utilises a fluffy, furry, and admittedly rather adorable chick as its mascot. However, there’s more to Hugo Casino than its seemingly Angry Birds-like theme. Hugo Casino provides a plethora of promotions, supports mobile-optimised gameplay, is crypto-friendly, and holds a Government of Curacao-issued i-gambling licence.
We’re going to talk about each of those features in turn throughout our Hugo Casino review. However, we should first introduce you to the extensive welcome bonus that you can snap up when you join. Let’s dive straight in, then.
Hugo Casino bears no bones about the size of its welcome bonus. The casino is geared up to offer you a combined cash match and free spins when you sign up and start depositing as a newbie. Those spins are released daily, and you can top up your tank by claiming a second deposit bonus offer to boot. A third deposit can see you claim the final part of what amounts to a welcome package at Hugo Casino, ensuring that your balance is boosted for long-term sessions or quickfire high-stakes gameplay, whatever your preference happens to be.
Of course, we’re not going to recommend snapping up any bonus where we have yet to explore the terms and conditions first. At Hugo Casino, the welcome bonus comes with straightforward T&Cs, including a minimum deposit limit of $20 and wagering requirements of 45x. Those are a little on the high side but not totally unreasonable. You’ll have seven days to clear the playthrough rate, which is on par with what you’d expect to see elsewhere.
At this moment, Hugo Casino doesn’t support no-deposit bonus codes for new players. As always, we’ll try to work a bonus deal with this operator. Should we come to an agreement and if we’re able to provide you with no deposit bonus codes for you to make use of, we’ll update this section accordingly.
The goodies continue to roll at Hugo Casino long after you’ve signed up and claimed the three-prong welcome bonus. Firstly, there is a weekly cashback deal. Every Monday, you can potentially claim a 20% match, which is worth up to $300. The amount of cashback is tied to your loyalty level. For instance, Level 1 members can claim 10% back up to $300. However, Level 5 members can snap up 20% back. Wagering requirements of 30x are in place with the weekly cashback bonus.
Every weekend also sees another promising promo come into play. With Hugo Casino, you can receive a 40% bonus boost worth up to $200 each weekend. All you’re required to do is deposit $20 or more during the week to be eligible for this offer, which comes with 45x wagering requirements and is valid for seven days. Bets with bonus funds are capped at $5 per stake, which is again on par with what you’d expect to see elsewhere.
Alongside its weekly bonuses, Hugo Casino is also notable for its achievements, loyalty rewards, and its “shop”, and we should touch on these.
By depositing and playing games at Hugo, you can unlock achievements. These bring exclusive rewards, which can vary depending on the challenge you complete. The casino also supports a loyalty rewards scheme, where you can work your way up five levels, bagging cashback, free spins, birthday offers, increased monthly withdrawal limits, and comp points as you go.
Those comp points are offered at an increased rate when you work your way up Hugo Casino’s loyalty ladder. If you’re wondering, they can be spent in the casino’s loyalty shop on goodies, which include free spins, bonus funds and more.
Tournaments are also a great way to get your hands on loyalty coins. However, while those prizes are given to the also-rans and close-by-no-cigar finishers, the winners can expect to pocket real money cash prizes. Prize pools can range from $50,000 to $1,500,000. The smaller prize pot is usually available for Hugo Casino’s weekly tournament, while the larger one is generally available through a month-long tournament.
As the terms and conditions and entry requirements, not to mention the eligible games, change regularly for these promotions, we recommend that you check the tournaments page for specific details. However, most tourneys and competitions work in largely the same way, so once you’ve grasped it, you should be good to go whatever tournament is in play.
Now for the important stuff – is Hugo Casino legit? Well, we can certainly tell you that Hugo Casino is licensed and regulated (licence 8048/JAZ2020-074). Of course, it is a licence issued by the Government of Curacao, and the level of regulation associated with Curacao-licensed casinos is much less than that of MGA and UKGC sites. However, that has its perks, too, as it ensures that Hugo Casino can offer a broader selection of bonuses and, sometimes, games.
A quick look at the games you can find at Hugo Casino showcases them to be trustworthy. They have fair RTP rates in comparison with what we normally see elsewhere, and there don’t appear to be any issues surrounding payouts. It’s pretty straightforward, but there are some key things that are worth noting. For instance, your withdrawals are capped at three at a time, you must wager each deposit total three times before withdrawing, and the cashout limits are a touch on the light side. There is also a complaints procedure you can go through via the site’s support team. Of course, Hugo Casino is fully transparent about all this, so we wouldn’t hold it against them.
When it comes to responsible gambling tools, Hugo Casino could certainly do better. The casino really doesn’t have much in the way of responsible gambling tools at all. Instead, it offers you a reminder that you should keep tabs on your activity and ensure that you don’t become a problem gambler. We didn’t spot any affiliation with well-known or established problem gambling programs, either. There are casinos out there which are doing a lot more.
The library of games available at Hugo Casino is easily one of this site’s most endearing aspects. We’re talking about more than lots of games or even plenty of games. Hugo Casino is packing virtually everything you’d want to play, with over eighty-five of the world’s most recognisable brands kitting out the site with titles. This naturally includes a selection of top-tier game developers but also many relatively unknown ones, allowing you to find a few diamonds in the rough potentially.
After entering the casino, you’ll find yourself in a lobby of sorts. This can be used to navigate the gaming library. At the top of the homepage is a search menu, which will make short work of finding something you wish to play – assuming you already know what that is. Below that, you’ll find genres which include popular, hot, new Drops & Wins, slot machines, live casino, table games, roulette, and blackjack options. These will obviously make perusing such an extensive library so much easier.
So, which developers are involved in dishing out the games at Hugo Casino? Well, we’re not going to go through all eighty-five of them here, that’s for sure. However, we can definitely touch on a dozen or so of the mainstream ones, so you get an idea of what’s up for grabs. Software providers commonly associated with this casino include 1×2 Gaming, Amatic, Bally, Blueprint Gaming, Evolution Gaming, Ezugi, Hacksaw, Iron Dog, No Limit City, Play ‘n Go, Playtech, Pragmatic Play, Quickspin, Spinomenal, Thunderkick, Wazdan, and Yggdrasil Gaming. As you can see, there’s no end to the top developers involved, and we’ve barely scratched the surface there. It’s also worth noting that some game providers may only be accessible to those in specific countries due to licensing agreements.
Over in the live casino games section, you’ll find nothing but the biggest and most popular titles from Evolution Gaming and Pragmatic Play Live. Money wheel games such as Crazy Time, Sweet Bonanza: Candyland, Monopoly Live, Dream Catcher, and more await you. Video Poker Live, Crazy Coin Flip, Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt, Treasure Island, and Crazy Pachinko make up some of the more baffling and barmy releases you can choose from. Conventional live table games based on casino classics include XXXtreme Lightning Roulette, VIP Platinum Blackjack, VIP Roulette, Sic Bo, Speed Blackjack, First-Person Craps, Live Baccarat, Dragon Tiger, Teen Patti, Salon Privé Blackjack, Immersive Roulette, and others.
Most of the casino classics can also be played as RNG table games. These give you more time to structure your bets, as no live dealer is involved. VIP tables can see you wager larger sums, while most have agreeable wagering ranges to begin with. They don’t just span blackjack, baccarat, and roulette, either, with numerous table poker options available. If you fancy something different, you can always play Hugo Casino’s crypto-friendly releases, some of which are based on the popular crash format, such as Spaceman and Aviator.
Then, of course, we have slots, which form the lion’s share of all the games found at Hugo Casino. With so many to choose from, we won’t name-drop them all. However, let’s give you a taste by saying that some of the top slots available at Hugo Casino include Gates of Olympus, Starlight Princess, Sweet Bonanza, Big Bass Bonanza, Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead and more.
Upon exploring and testing this casino, we noted that the RTP rates in games seemed fair. We didn’t notice any major discrepancies with payouts, which would make us think otherwise. Games (save for live dealers) were available to play as free demos and with real money stakes, and some were even optimised for crypto gameplay. All titles were mobile-friendly.
Mobile gameplay is perfectly possible at Hugo Casino and offers a minimum-fuss approach. For instance, the entire casino is HTML5-developed. Therefore, it doesn’t require a downloadable iOS, or Android mobile casino to play. Instead, you merely need to load the casino in whatever web browser you prefer for everything to run smoothly and flawlessly. Most of the games at the casino are optimised for this type of gameplay anyway.
By sticking to an instant play interface and platform, Hugo’s mobile casino is compatible with Windows, iOS and Android casino players alike. No dedicated hardware or software is necessary. It very much offers a fire-up-and-play approach to mobile casino gaming. Again, we appreciate this, but we should say that most of its counterparts do the same, so there are no brownie points awarded here.
Hugo Casino is very much a crypto casino. Does that mean that you’re required to deposit, wager, and withdraw using crypto currencies, though? Not one bit. If you prefer to stick to FIAT options, you can certainly do that. However, if you prefer crypto gameplay, Hugo Casino has you covered. Some of the notable cryptocurrencies accepted at Hugo Casino include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Tether.
If cryptocurrencies aren’t your forte, there’s no need to panic. Australian dollars, Brazilian reals, Canadian dollars, euros, Japanese yen, New Zealand dollars, Norwegian krone, and Polish zloty are all accepted.
Amongst the FIAT payment options at your disposal are AstroPay, bank transfers, CashLib, Cash Code, eZeeWallet, Flexepin, Giropay, Google Pay, Interac, Jeton, Klarna, MasterCard, MiFinity, MuchBetter, Neosurf, Neteller, Pay N’ Play, Payz, Qiwi, Revolut, Skrill, SticPay, Trustly, VISA, and Zimpler, alongside the cryptocurrency options already listed. Note that some payment methods, such as Interac, are reserved for players in specific regions – Canada, in this case.
Deposits at Hugo must typically be worth at least $20 using most payment options. However, if you choose to deposit using CashLib, you can get that down to $5. Maximum deposit limits vary based on your payment provider. On the upside, there are no fees when depositing at Hugo Casino, and you should expect instantaneous transaction times.
Cashouts are relatively speedy at Hugo Casino, but the withdrawal limits in place don’t fill us with enthusiasm. For instance, withdrawals are capped at $500 a day, rising to $15,000 a month, at least on the basic level. These limits can be raised if you work your way up Hugo Casino’s loyalty ladder. Any withdrawals you make should be worth at least $20 (the equivalent is $50 with cryptocurrencies), and we’d say that’s average with what you can get elsewhere.
If you’ve not verified your account through the KYC process, you can experience a 24 to 72-hour delay while this step is completed. Once done, your cashout timeframes will vary from under 24 hours to five business days, again, depending on your chosen Hugo Casino payment method. The casino does try to encourage you to use the same option for both deposits and withdrawals.
If you haven’t been through the KYC step at Hugo Casino, you’re required to provide documents that include identity, proof of address and proof of payment. Live ID (a selfie with those documents) may also be required, and you can submit those using a dedicated KYC e-mail address (kyc@hugocasino.com).
Accessing an FAQ page at Hugo Casino is very much a possibility, but we wouldn’t say that it is particularly extensive. It only touches on the most basic of questions and doesn’t go in-depth with its answers. Fortunately, there are ways to obtain more rounded and helpful support from Hugo Casino’s team.
If you click or tap Hugo’s “Contact Us” page, you’ll be redirected to a customer support centre. There, you can choose to make use of the casino’s live chat service, enter your query into the e-form on this page, or fire off an e-mail of your own by writing to support@hugocasino.com. Again, we recommend going through the proper support channels rather than using the FAQ, as it’s basically useless.
There are many ways we can carve up our Hugo Casino review to try and get to a conclusion about what the site offers and where it is heading. In some ways, particularly relating to its game library, crypto-friendliness, VPN acceptance, and its ability to provide ample rewards, Hugo Casino is one of the better casinos we’ve seen catering to a wealth of members.
It’s also worth considering that Hugo Casino’s bonus wagering requirements could be lower, its FAQ is a bit devoid of useful info, and it doesn’t offer much when it comes to responsible gambling tools or withdrawal limits.
On balance, we’d say that this evens out rather fairly. Hugo Casino is a new site, so we can’t expect it to get everything correct on day one. However, from what we’ve seen, the good outweighs the bad, and that convinces us that for the moment at least, Hugo Casino is an average to above-average casino which is worth exploring, especially if you want access to thousands of games.
If you decide to give this online gambling site a try, we’d appreciate your feedback. Tell us all about your Hugo Casino experience in the player section!
Please note: New Hugo Casino customers Only. 18+. T&Cs and wagering requirements apply. Game contributions may vary.
