Online casino branding can be repetitive. I think it is safe to say that we are running out of creative ways to package table games and slots, although I will give credit to the marketing departments of these operators for giving it a good try. These days I seem to be regularly reviewing sites with VIP Vegas themes or with some sort of animal on the home page (who knew there were so many lucky animals out there?!).

Every once in a while, I come across a new casino that is a bit of a headscratcher…like Joe Fortune. At first, I assumed there was someone with a unique name that was willing to be the front man for this casino like Chris Moneymaker and PokerStars. As it turns out, this is just a fictional character designed to be an online casino magnate. OK then…whatever floats your boat I guess. I did manage to wrap my head around this type of branding to complete a detailed review of what really matters, the casino itself.

About Joe Fortune Casino

Joe Fortune is new to the online casino scene, having opened in 2016. A quick peek into the background of the casino reveals that it is owned by Haydock Sports Limited, and operated by a sister company Betting Partners. This spider web of businesses gets a little more complicated, but the quick and dirty on the corporate background is that Haydock is also listed as the owner of Bodog88, which traces back to Bovada, Bodog.eu and Slots.lv. The bottom line – Joe Fortune is backed by one of the largest online gambling conglomerates in the world.

Joe Fortune is licensed by the jurisdiction of Curacao. Curacao is one of the more popular places for online casino operators to acquire a license as their licensing board isn’t exactly the most strict when it comes to oversight. This isn’t really an issue when it comes to Joe Fortune because, with the backing of a company like Bodog, players can rest assured that their balances are going to be safe.

Who Can Play at Joe Fortune Casino

This is where it gets fascinating. Typically when I write a casino review, this section is dedicated to me listing a whole bunch of countries that are restricted from playing at the casino being reviewed. In the case of Joe Fortune, it is easier for me to tell you the countries that ARE allowed to play at their site.

Ok, are you ready? Here’s who can play:

Australia.

Just Australia.

Yes, you read that right. Joe Fortune is reserved only for Australian gamblers. I will admit that this one confuses me a bit. The gaming laws in Australia make it illegal for offshore operators from accepting play from its residents. It’s clear that Joe Fortune is a foreign entity, so they could theoretically take action from anywhere. I actually like the position they have taken here – perhaps by ring-fencing the casino to only allow Australians will help them at some point when applying for licenses in that country. At any rate, until something changes, unless you live in Australia, you are given permission to skip to my next review.

Software Suppliers

It’s a shame that players from all over the world can’t play at Joe Fortune because they have amassed some of the best casino software out there to offer at this casino. When you create an account at Joe Fortune, you are greeted by titles from Microgaming, Real Time Gaming (Bodog owns a standalone license of these games), Rival Gaming and iSoftBet. Bringing together the best of all these vendors means that players at Joe Fortune are going to be able to see many different looking games, which enhances the full casino experience. No one is ever going to complain about too much content at an online casino, that’s for sure!

The games at Joe Fortune are designed for browser-based play, which means that players are not required to download software to their own machines. Also, the games (for the most part) are mobile-friendly, giving players the ability to get in some action at their favorite pokies (Australian for slots) while they are on the go!

The Good Stuff

So. Many. Slots.

If you are a fan of the pokies, then you are going to love playing at Joe Fortune. It’s pretty clear right from the homepage that slot machines are where they are focusing a significant amount of their attention, and we say Bring It On!

The casino features the best slots from Microgaming, Rival, and RTG, including the detailed iSlots games that Rival have recently released. These “storyboard” games feature ongoing character development and excellent second screen games.

Jackpot Games

You will also find many of the slot machine games have progressive jackpots, giving players a chance to walk away a huge winner if their spin of the reels is the lucky one! I will never question a casino that has a ton of progressives, especially one that promotes their winners; no one like to see a huge jackpot that it seems no one ever wins. Some of the current jackpot slots titles include:

• Money Magic
• Major Moolah
• Major Millions
• Shopping Spree

• Food Fight
• Lots A Loot 5 Reel
• Mega Moolah
• King Cashalot

• Fruit Fiesta 5 Reel
• Cash Splash 5 Reel
• Strike Gold
• One Million Reels BC

The Bad Stuff

YOU CAN’T PLAY THERE!

Joe Fortune casino is as much of a tease as a stripper on your lap; as close as you think you can get, there is still no touching. All jokes aside, I love basically everything this casino has to offer, but the bottom line is unless I move to Australia, or am diligent with a VPN and a friend’s address in Sydney, I am stuck looking at the goods from the outside. Now, I am not saying you should invest in VPN software and give it a try yourself, I am just saying that it can be done…

Weak Ongoing Promotions

I am stunned by the choices that the Joe Fortune marketing department have made with regards to their ongoing promotions. The Bodog brand was built on aspirational marketing; they would run contests that would reward players with items and trips usually reserved for the fortunate few. This style of marketing has not transferred over to the Joe Fortune brand, deciding instead to focus on more standard deposit bonuses. Even then, there isn’t much creativity on their promotions page – I am hopeful that this will change shortly.

Live Dealer

Surprisingly, at this time there are no live dealer games available at Joe Fortune. Given the increase in popularity of these games by players and the success this organization has with Live Dealer games on their other brands, I can only assume that there will be an announcement coming that Joe Fortune will be adding Live Dealer options shortly.

Promotions

While there aren’t too many promotions available at Joe Fortune (see the Bad Stuff section of this review), the promotions they do offer are robust.

Welcome Bonus

Joe Fortune offers its new players up to $5,000 in Welcome Bonus dollars, which is an excellent aggressive promotion to try to convince you to make your first deposit. What I like the most about this promotion is the way it is administered. As opposed to making a huge offer to players on only the first deposit, this welcome bonus is split over the first 9 despots you make. Here’s how it works:

• 200% bonus up to $1,000 on the first deposit
• 100% bonus on the next 8 deposits to a maximum of $500 per deposit

This type of promotion is effective because $500 is a reasonable amount of money at the high end to expect someone to deposit in a casino. Other online casinos have promotions that are offered up to deposits of $1,000 and higher; there aren’t too many people making those types of transactions.

Whoa, look at this! An old school Refer-a-Friend promotion! This used to be the only way that an online gambling site would market to their players; simply asking them to invite their friends to come join them by giving up their email address to the casino. Nowadays, you don’t have to offer up that private information, as the casino will give you the text and links to send to your friends so they can click and create an account.

I personally like this type of promotion, because it rewards players who know other gamblers. I fall into that category so I can see how I would make a lot of money using this Mates Rates promotion. Here is how it works: for every player that you refer to Joe Fortune, you will receive a $100 bonus once that player makes a deposit of $20 or more and actually plays in the casino. On top of that, referred players get an extra $10 in chips above and beyond the Welcome Bonus.

All in all, I think this is a great promotion especially for people who happen to know a lot of wild Australians! If you want to read all the Terms and Conditions of this promotion, you can click on this link:

Banking

The banking options at Joe Fortune aren’t as expansive as the ones found at other online casinos, but the standards are there. You can make your deposits via Visa and MasterCard, and also by bank wire.

The casino, however, really wants you to use Bitcoin for your banking purposes. In fact, there is a separate, more inviting bonus for players who choose this method – their Welcome Bonus increases to 300% on the first deposit and 150% on the next 8, meaning a player can make up to $7,500 in bonuses if they max out the promotion. Bitcoin accounts don’t take all that long to setup, and with that kind of bonus, it seems like a worthwhile reason to use the cryptocurrency! For those of you that want to learn more about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, you can head to our Cryptocurrency Explained page.

VIP Program

The Joe Fortune VIP Program is called Ripper’s Rewards. It is primarily a comp program, allowing players to get cashback on a daily basis once they sign up and make a deposit. Once a player makes a qualifying deposit and is enrolled in the Ripper Rewards program, they are eligible for 10% cashback on their deposits on a daily basis.

There is only one extra level of the Ripper Rewards program. To reach the VIP level of the program, you need to earn 50,000 points in a month and have over $25,000 in lifetime deposits. This seems a bit much for me; they should consider opening up some levels in between to give people a small taste of what loyalty can give them. As a VIP member, you will get an increase in cashback from 10% to 15%, along with a Birthday Bonus and faster, free withdrawals.

Customer Service

Customer Service is available at Joe Fortune Casino via email, live chat, and a toll-free telephone line. All the customer service options are available 24/7, and while I personally didn’t test the system, I did get some insight from an Australian friend of mine. He said that when he called their line, the agent answered right away and was very thorough in solving his deposit problem.