In the past couple of years, I have watched the online gambling scene grow from a few upstart outfits to a massive industry which was estimated to be worth $3 billion in 2000. One of the names that kept popping out throughout was a place called Intertops Casino and Sportsbook, which claims to be the world’s #1 online sportsbook and casino.
I won’t spend too much time on the casino operations itself – standard Microgaming fare, high-quality software and graphics as usual. Notable perhaps is the CashSplash progressive slots, as well as a custom slot called International Soccer Slots which has a 5-line jackpot game similar to other Microgaming casinos. And as usual, they play quite well.
What surprised me most about this operation is that, through the Microgaming software itself, you cannot deposit or withdraw money! You must deposit money into your Intertops Casino and Sportsbook account, which is easily done through the website – after which you can use the money in the sportsbook, or transfer an amount into casino chips. After I figured this out, I transferred $40 of my account into casino chips, started up the casino software, and lo and behold the money was instantly available! Needless to say, that impressed me somewhat.
On to the sportsbook – although I am not much of a sports bettor, I have been researching this on behalf of some potential investors I have in a combined operation. I do know enough about how they work and operate to separate the wheat from the chaff – and let me tell you of the 10-15 types of sportsbooks I have seen, Intertops Casino and Sportsbook stands out far ahead of the rest – so far that I would never even consider using another sportsbook. They have betting lines on just about everything, both long and short range – and they have real parlays, not the silly teasers you see at other sportsbooks. This sportsbook is probably as comprehensive as any real land-based operation, and is extremely simple to use.
There are only two complaints that I have, and both are fairly minor. The first one is that the Intertops site can be a bit sluggish at times – I have yet to verify if that is a problem on their side or mine. The second is that they don’t offer any option for receiving winnings – credit card balances are reversed and the remainder is made into a bank draft and sent by courier – but even then Intertops shines through – balances less than $1,000 will cost you only $15 for express service – but balances above $1,000 they will send express at their expense! You do have an option to get small balances for free by registered mail, but they warn that it sometimes takes 25 days for that kind of mail to be delivered.Editor’s note: Since this review was originally written, Intertops have added a slew of payment options, both for deposits and withdrawals – in fact Intertops may now have the most comprehensive payment options available!
Intertops is a unique combination of their own proprietary sportsbook and Microgaming casino software – and both products are at the top of the market. If you’re a sports bettor, you won’t go wrong here. If you like Microgaming casinos, this is a good a place as any. And if you like both… this is probably as close to Nirvana as you’re going to get… for now.