Aspire Casinos – A Player’s Guide
- Who are Aspire?
- Are Aspire casinos all the same as each other?
- What’s good about Aspire casinos?
- What’s not so good about Aspire casinos?
Who are Aspire?
Aspire Global was founded in 2005. They specialise in the European iGaming sphere and this includes the UK. The company is based in Malta and also has offices in Tel Aviv, and is publicly listed on the Swedish Nasdaq. They have over 200 employees worldwide from more than 30 different countries, and the Aspire Global platform powers more than 60 sites, with licences in the UK, Malta, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland and Sweden. It is a fully featured casino solution with payment processing, age and ID verification, customer service via phone, email and live chat in multiple languages and other management functions handled by Aspire. As well as the B2B casino platform, Aspire have some of their own casinos; probably the best known of these was Karamba (following a transfer in ownership of Aspire’s B2C operation, it’s now moved to a different platform).
Karamba is actually where it all started way back in 2005. It originally specialised in scratchcards and instant win games and it wasn’t until many years later that the range of slot games from different providers that you see at Aspire casinos today was added. Prior to the platform change Karamba still had a sizeable selection of scratchcards, most of which can also be found at other Aspire casinos (but nowhere else).
Aspire is not just a casino platform – they now also offer sportsbook, which comes complete with an exciting tournament feature (although not many Aspire skins have the sportsbook add-on). Aspire have had a UK licence for online bingo for some time now, but have yet to launch a bingo product. The bingo project reached the point where “Karamba Bingo” was being publicised at industry conferences as the next big thing, but nothing has been heard since; word is that they were going to go with Microgaming bingo but this was scuppered when Microgaming decided to phase out their bingo network. It will be interesting to see whether the bingo plan is indefinitely shelved or whether they eventually go with different software. Aspire bought a share in Argentinian bingo platform provider end2end a couple of years ago and for a while it looked as if they would bring that platform to the UK, but reportedly this has not come to fruition and if Aspire do add bingo to their UK facing casinos it won’t be courtesy of end2end. The obvious alternative would be Pragmatic Play.
Aspire Global was bought by Aristocrat Technologies in 2024 as part of their acquisition of NeoGames. This hasn’t yet made any difference to players, but the Aspire Global website now redirects to Aristocrat Interactive.
Are Aspire casinos all the same as each other?
Operators who decide to open an Aspire casino can choose from many options; for instance, they can have a bespoke lobby design or use an off the shelf template. They can also choose which management functions (e.g. player promotions, VIP scheme) they want to carry out themselves and which they want Aspire to provide. There are even some operators that have their own licence and just use Aspire for games content via Pariplay. This means that Aspire casinos can look quite different from each other, as well as not all having the same games.
Aspire work with a pretty comprehensive range of slot suppliers and even own one (Pariplay). However, not all games from all providers are available at all their UK facing casinos. For example, at one casino we visited Golden Goddess and Pixies of the Forest are available from IGT but Cleopatra isn’t, and there’s even a few omissions (Gemix for instance) in the line up of the Play’N’Go slots they do so well. The reason for this is that only the Pariplay slots actually come with the platform, with 3000 third party games available (at a cost) as extras – so it’s up to the operator to pick and mix.
One thing that is reportedly very much the same from casino to casino on the Aspire network is offers & promotions; these are all handled by the network leaving little scope for skin operators to tailor offers to individual players. Customer service is also centralised.
What’s good about Aspire casinos?
- With 3000 third party games to choose from, most Aspire casinos have an excellent selection of slot games.
- The Live Casino area at Aspire casinos is powered by Evolution Gaming and is well appointed, with many gameshow titles such as Deal or No Deal, Crazy Time and Mega Ball as well as a big selection of blackjack, roulette and baccarat tables.
- The wagering requirements, at 35x, are low compared to some other casino networks.
- In early 2025, Aspire revised their list of exceptions to wagering requirements. What used to be an extremely long list of games that only contributed at 50% (therefore turning the 35x wagering requirement into an effective 70%) has been replaced with a considerably shorter list of games that don’t contribute at all. What’s more, you no longer need to check this list before playing as if you open an excluded game, your bonus won’t be available to play with (only your cash balance). This is a much better experience for users than before.
- Aspire’s approach to responsible gambling is informed by their experience as both an operator of their own sites and as a platform provider. They have a suite of responsible gambling tools including time limits, deposit limits, reality check and 24 hour cool off as well as the usual self exclusion facilities.
What’s not so good about Aspire casinos?
- The promotions page at Aspire casinos is often out of date as they don’t seem to be very good at removing promotions which have expired.
- There don’t seem to be many progressive jackpot slots.
- Aspire casinos have a clause in their terms and conditions which says you are not eligible to claim a welcome bonus (whether it be casino or sports) if you’ve previously done so at any other Aspire casino. We’ve been given to understand that this is rarely enforced.
- There are also various anti bonus abuse clauses which it’s advisable to read before starting to play, to ensure you don’t inadvertently fall foul of them. For example, betting more than £4 a spin or 50p a line while a bonus is active is not allowed.
- The Return To Player on some slot games at Aspire casinos can be dismal – Book of Dead for example had its RTP set at 87.25% when checked during 2024. Always check the game help files for the most up to date RTP.
