This review was added to the online casino reviews directory here in February 2010, a time of transition for Purple Lounge as the acquisition by Media Corp PLC was recent and as such, there were a few teething problems that you'll see mentioned - such as the website certificate error and banking system - that may well have been tweaked by the time you read this. Purple Lounge casino uses Microgaming software and like it's stalwart competitors 32Red casino and the lesser known, but popular, Roxy Palace casino comes in two flavours: download and flash (suitable for MAC).

Games

It's Microgaming...so games choice is the biggest but at a cost. With over 350 casino games in the download version of Purple Lounge casino, the software tends to run quite slowly after installation while all the games are being installed. You can still play, but for an hour or three the games might be jerky. That said, it's worth the wait, especially if you play video poker or slots where the choice is massive.

Because I am so familiar with online casinos running on Microgaming, I know the games that I like (slots mainly) feature in the Flash no-download casino, so I signed up to Purple Lounge casino this way and played the Flash games in my browser. The registration process was confusing - for some reason it didn't recognise me after I registered and tried to log in so I ended in a loop where it kept asking me to register but then turning down my request because - surprise, surprise, I was already registered! Wouldn't even let me see the Login screen. Sometimes, software tries to be too clever for it's own good. Wonder how much money that's cost Purple Lounge so far?

If this happens to you, the answer (I discovered by trial and erro) is to download the main casino software, sign in once, then sign out and (optionally) uninstall it. Takes about 5-10 minutes. That seems to set the cookie needed for the flash version of Purple Lounge to recognise the fact you actually already registered - so log in, and off you go. Although a pain in the ar$e I have to be fair and say that I don't think the fault for this lies with Purple Lounge - it's very much a Microgaming thing as I've had the sanme loop again since at another Micro casino.

Support & Service

I requested a deposit limit from support via email and had a positive response a little over 3 hours later to say it was done - pretty decent. Where my main concerns are is in the banking system which covers both poker and casino. It's a convoluted and confusing process, clearly running on slow servers and I found it got so frustrating at times. To cashout for example, it's not clear that you have to cash out, transfer the money from games to your "wallet", then request a withdrawal from there. You visit about 8 screens in the process! But...and it's a big plus in my book, once you cash out you cannot reverse it! Perfect - it saves you chasing losses.

Better still are the speed of cashouts at Purple Lounge. I made 3 withdrawals to a bank card for $3,000, $1,000 and $1,000 and these were processed in as little as 4 hours after the request to a maximum of 16 hours. I'm guessing 24hrs is the max and that cashouts are processed once a day. Even more interesting was that despite withdrawing $5,000, I wasn't asked for ID. That probably varies from person to person but a) I am from the UK and b) I don't ever play with bonuses. Both of these probably help my cause.

Conclusion

While initially I was frustrated by the slowness of the Purple Lounge banking system and confused by the looping registration process and the all important cashing out process, once I had it sorted it was worth the hassle. It's rare to find a Microgaming casino that has no reverse pending time - Ladbrokes casino is the only other one I have reviewed here at Online Casino UK - and the cashouts are very fast. There was no hassle at all beyond the slowness and that's what I like in a casino. Hopefully Media Corp will sort out the issues mentioned and assuming they leave things as-is when it comes to cashouts and stuff, Purple Lounge casino has the foundations laid to be right up there with the top UK brands.