Pinnacle Casino

Last updated: 5th March 2021

About Pinnacle Casino

Pinnacle is an instant-play casino and sportsbook platform owned by Ragnarok Corporation N.V, a subsidiary of Imperial Holdings Limited, founded in 1998. The operator is licenced for the provision of casino and sports betting services by the Government of Curacao and Malta Gaming Authority, offering more than 1,800 slots and casino games. Pinnacle can be loaded in 17 different languages, including Chinese, Swedish, Russian, German, French, Finnish, and Norwegian.

Although clearly targeting international markets, players from certain countries such as the UK and the USA, will not be able to set up an account with Pinnacle due to legal restrictions. Mobile users, on the other hand, are more than welcome to take advantage of the casino services – the site is fully optimized for mobile devices, delivering an easy-to-navigate casino platform with Slots, Table, and Video Poker games (in addition to the Sports and Live Betting lobbies).

What comes as a bit of an anti-climax is the lack of the welcome bonus – upon registration and placing the first deposit, the new members will not be greeted with a deposit match, but the short-term promotions are available. Another thing missing is the VIP membership or loyalty program. Generally, these are serious oversights, especially for a casino that has been on the market since 1998. Still, after more than two decades in the business, it seems that Ragnarok is doing something right.

The payout rate of games offered in Pinnacle casino is calculated by eCOGRA, an independent and internationally accredited testing agency based in the UK. According to their reports, the average return to the player percentage across all categories is estimated at 97.67%. The RTP values for individual categories are presented in the table below:

Slots	94.93%
Table Games	98.60%
Video Poker	95.61%
Live Casino	97.81%
Virtual Sports	91.33%

A new report is uploaded every month and the members will be able to compare the latest RTP values with the ones from the previous years.

Even though eCOGRA delivers RTP reports, the operator does not use the same entity as the Alternative Dispute Resolution body. The complaints are resolved in-house or forwarded to the regulatory authorities if need be. Before submitting a formal complaint, the players are advised to contact Pinnacle support team or visit the Help page, where extensive information regarding the account, banking, and betting procedures can be found.

• Languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Czech, Polish, Finnish, Portuguese, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Swedish, Italian.
• Restricted Territories: USA, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Singapore, Korea, Denmark, Philippines, Syria, Turkey, Poland, Ireland, Czech Republic, Sudan, Australia, Italy, Iran, Slovenia, Sweden.

Bonuses & Promotions

As mentioned, this is where the disappointment sets in – provided, of course, that you are really keen on having your deposit matched. If, on the other hand, you are not a massive fan of welcome bonuses, you are likely to find the operator’s short-term campaigns satisfactory. At the moment of writing this, Pinnacle offers Lucky March promotion (sponsored by Yggdrasil), Daily Free Spins throughout March Madness supported by NetEnt, and 20 Free Spins on Book of Dead by Play’n GO. Also, the casino organizes seasonal promotions as well, such as Easter Egg Hunt.

It does not seem that the welcome offer will ever be introduced – according to the operator’s official bonus policy, the “reduced margin pricing” model which saves the players’ money and ensures up to 60% better odds, is a far more useful option than any sign-up deal. These are mainly seasonal offers that include cashbacks, leaderboards with cash prizes, and daily cash drops, to name a few.

Software & Game Selection

The RNG games in Pinnacle casino are supplied by 1X2gaming, Booming Games, Betsoft, Endorphina, Booongo, Evoplay, Genii, iSoftBet, Habanero, Magnet Gaming, Pragmatic Play, Leander, Microgaming, Matchbook, NetEnt, Red Tiger Gaming, Quickfire, Playson, Redrake, Realistic, Tom Horn, Yggdrasil, and Spinomenal. In addition to Sports Betting, Virtual Sports, eSports, and Mobile casino platform, Pinnacle has two separate casino lobbies – Favourite Casino and Featured Casino. Clicking on either of the two will reveal the following categories:

• Slots
• Live Casino
• Table Games
• Blackjack
• Roulette

The Slots category is further divided into Jackpot Slots, New Slots, Tournaments, and Promo Games that can be sorted alphabetically.  This is actually where the operator does a sloppy job. Nowadays, the number of available online casinos has made the user experience one of the most important competitive advantages that a casino can offer. Looking at the way Pinnacle is representing itself, it almost seems like they are stuck in the past.

None of the usual commodities is offered to make your browsing experience more pleasant and efficient – there is no filtering option that would allow you to zero in on a specific developer and the demo-play mode is not available to the site visitors. Arguably, these are all minor inconveniences, but crucial if you are trying to deliver an optimal platform for your members.

The diversity of the Table Games category is where the casino makes up for the inadequately arranged gaming platform. Those of you who enjoy card games and roulette will be quite impressed with this section, as it offers more than 50 games, including keno, bingo, Mahjong as well as multiple variants of blackjack, roulette, baccarat, and poker. The Video Poker category features several titles such as Aces and Faces, Bonus Deuces Wild, Joker Poker, or Triple Double Bonus Poker.

• Slots: 1,800+
• Blackjack: 30+
• Roulette: 25+
• Baccarat: 14
• Video Poker: 80+
• Table Games: 50+
• Progressives: 22
• Payout: 96.49%
• Software: 1X2gaming, Booming Games, Betsoft, Endorphina, Booongo, Evoplay, Genii, iSoftBet, Habanero, Magnet Gaming, Pragmatic Play, Leander, Microgaming, Matchbook, NetEnt, Red Tiger Gaming, Quickfire, Playson, Redrake, Realistic, Tom Horn, Yggdrasil, Spinomenal.

Live Casino Experience

Not even the live dealer tables can be filtered according to the provider, although the games are supplied by several different developers: BetGames TV, Ezugi, and Evolution. The tables are categorized as Blackjack, Baccarat, Roulette, Game Shows, and Others (with BetGames.TV games). Streams from the land-based casinos are also available, along with the VIP and native tables.

Evolution delivers its best games, such as Speed Blackjack, Baccarat Controlled Squeeze, Instant Roulette, and Crazy Time. You can also enter the entire Evolution’s game lobby upon registration to find the end-to-end live dealer suite. Ezugi also offers various top-notch games like Teen Patti, No Commission Baccarat, or Dragon Tiger. Just like with Evolution, you can also enter the entire lobby to enjoy at one of 60+ live dealer tables powered by Ezugi. Poker fans will also find a few versions of their favorite game too.

Out of all providers, BetGames TV is probably the one with the most unique offer. There are 9 live games streamed from BetGames TV studios and hosted by experienced live presenters:

1. Lucky 7 – new draw every 5 minutes
2. Lucky 6 – new draw every 5 minutes
3. Lucky 5 – new draw every 5 minutes
4. Dice – new draw every 5 minutes
5. Dice Duel – new draw every 3 minutes
6. Wheel of Fortune – new draw every 2 minutes
7. War of Bets – new draw every 1 minute
8. Bet on Poker – new draw every 5 minutes
9. Bet on Baccarat – new draw every 2 minutes

• Software: Evolution, Ezugi, BetGames.TV
• Live Dealer Games: 50+

Banking

Pinnacle casino provides its members with a wide selection of payment options and accepts deposits in more than 20 currencies. The minimum deposit will depend on the payment method:

• €10 – MultiBanco, MuchBetter, Bitcoin, Boleto, Oxxo, Trustly, EcoPayz, Neteller, Qiwi, Skrill, Sofort, WebMoney
• €20 – Neosurf, Visa, and MasterCard
• €25 – Paysafecard
• €50 – Instant Banking and iDebit
• €100 – Bank Transfer

Most of these options are fee-free, except for Paysafecard (3.45%) and Qiwi (2%). Details regarding the upper limits and processing time are provided for each of the methods individually.

Withdrawals can be conducted via MuchBetter, Bitcoin, Trustly, Ecopayz, Instant Banking, Visa, Mastercard, Paysafecard, Bank Transfer, iDebit, Neteller, Qiwi Wallet, Skrill, and WebMoney. The minimum payout is €10 whereas the maximum is between €2,000 and €50,000, again depending on the selected method. A fee will be applied to each transaction and payouts will be released within 24 hours.

• Deposit Methods: MultiBanco, MuchBetter, Bitcoin, Boleto, Oxxo, Trustly, EcoPayz, Neteller, Qiwi, Skrill, Sofort, WebMoney, Neosurf, Visa, Mastercard, Paysafecard, Instant Banking, iDebit, Bank Transfer, JCB, Bradesco, Boleto, Interac e-Transfer
• Withdrawal Methods: MuchBetter, Bitcoin, Trustly, Ecopayz, Instant Banking, Visa, Mastercard, Paysafecard, Bank Transfer, iDebit, Neteller, Qiwi Wallet, Skrill, WebMoney.
• Minimum Deposit: €10 – €100
• Minimum Withdrawal: €10
• Maximum Cashout: €50,000
• Currencies: EUR, USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, HKD, TWD, BRL, CNY, COP, CZK, JPY, KPW, KRW, MYR, MXN, NOK, GBP, PLN, SGD, RUB, SEK, THB

Customer Support

Pinnacle customer support team is ready to assist you via live chat or email ([email protected]). There is an online form as well. You will find that a lot of useful information is already provided on the Help page, but if you still have questions, you will be able to ask them 24/7.

The same email address can be used for complaints, which can be further escalated to [email protected] or the Department of Judicial Affairs of Curacao.

• Business Hours: 24/7
• Live Chat: Yes
• Email: [email protected]
• Contact Phone: N/A

Our Verdict

It is not difficult to understand how Pinnacle survived all these years – an excellent gaming platform, generous short-term promotions, 24/7 customer support time, fast withdrawals, and a mobile-optimized platform. At the same time, there are a few deficiencies, which is probably why Pinnacle has never been among the top-performing casinos. For starters, a high fee rate is applied to all withdrawals and there is no welcome offer that would dazzle the newcomers. The site visitors will not even be able to test the games, which will almost certainly put off a lot of players and push them towards the operators with a sparkly sign-up deal and fee-free payouts.