King Billy came onto the scene in 2017, bringing a variety of online casino games to players all over the world. But like most royalty, the king didn't just appear out of nowhere overnight. Rather, the concept and player interface was the result of evolution and a quiet revolution within the interactive gaming sphere.

The gaming site is operated by Direx N.V., of Curacao. You may be familiar with the games offering and stable platform if you've played at any of their other well-known virtual properties.

BitStarz, Das Ist, Oshi, Playamo, and mBit are among the 30 or so sites owned or operated by the SoftSwiss holding company. All of the sites seem to operate under Curacao master license holder, Antillephone N.V. (8048/JAZ).

SoftSwiss was the most important pioneer in delivering Bitcoin casino gambling over the internet. While digital currencies are still the best way to play (if you want instant cashouts and higher withdrawal limits) there's no requirement to use alt-currency or play the games in fractional coins. All major currencies are accepted.

Software and Games

Not all Direx NV sites are built the same. Some are easier to navigate than others and some offer more filters than their counterparts. This site strikes a nice balance between form and function. In fact, while exploring the site it seemed the designers had found the "sweet spot" for the most part.

It's simply not possible to get lost even with dozens of providers and three live dealer casinos to choose from.

The site is mobile friendly with games from most providers optimized for whatever environment or device you access from. No iOS or Android apps are needed as all games play right in your web browser whether you are playing a High Definition Endorphina slot, spinning in landscape or portrait mode on your handset, or playing on a tablet sitting at a bus stop.

The Games

The main gaming categories are New, Jackpots, Slots, Table, Live, and Bitcoin Games.

Players can also choose to display only games from a specific provider or titles from all providers.

The New section contains slots as well as table games. Unfortunately, when we visited, only Yggdrasil games were emblazoned with the developer's logo. That's nice, but sometimes sorting new games by the provider would also be helpful.

Jackpot slots are often overlooked by players who consider the lower immediate return to player percentage that results from jackpot contributions to not be worth their while. We are of the opinion that if you don't play, you can't win!

If Microgaming progressives are available in your locale, why not take a few spins on Mega Moolah, Cash Splash, or even the low-roller dream, Tunzamuni after picking a nice win on one of your go-to games? Microgaming progressive jackpots are paid out in one lump sum soon after the winning spin has been authenticated.

Look for jackpot versions of Betsoft titles like Slots Angels, A Night in Paris, and Enchanted if you prefer tens of thousands rather than millions of dollars for personal reasons!

iSoftbet makes an appearance in this section as well with Kobushi, and you'll find some of their progressive video poker titles in this section too. Be sure to check the paytable on iSoftbet VP games, as they can be a bit whacky from game to game.

The Slots section is where you'll find most of the treasures in this kingdom. The newest games are listed first, followed by some of the most popular games on the site.

The secret treasure chamber here is found under the Quickfire heading. Microgaming has signed on dozens of independent development labs since they launched the aggregation service in 2010, changing the landscape of the online gaming space.

You'll find titles from Iron Dog Studio, MGS partner Triple Edge, Plank Gaming, Ainsworth, Foxium, and uncountable other gems hidden in this suite of games!

RNG Table Games

There is a great mix of cards, dice, and table games in this section including the Provably Fair Rocket Dice and others from BGaming. The developer is the in-house gaming lab of SoftSwiss, the folks who pioneered BTC gaming and eventually spun off the studio under a separate name.

Rocket Dice is an "over-under" game that has a theoretical return to player percentage (RTP) of 99% and a 50/50 doubling game called, "Risk". Skip the double or nothing game and put it in Auto Play Mode with a set number of rolls or no limits at all and shoot the moon!

Live Streaming Games

Look for live dealer games from Ezugi, Portomaso, and Vivo Gaming.

Ezugi offers nearly 20 games from 9 studios in various parts of the world located on three continents. The company was launched by industry veterans in 2012.

Portomaso Gaming is a smaller company located in Malta and streaming from the Oracle and Royal.

Vivo brings a decade and a half of experience with about half of that under the company name.

All games are available for play on any device and most are optimized for mobile play via the HTML5 framework with no need to load or access a Flash player.

While table limits are not easily seen from the multi-software live lobby on the KingBilly page, once you launch one of the games you will be able to take advantage of all the innovations each provider has honed to near perfection.

Bonuses and Promotions

You may not need a code to take advantage of the welcome/first deposit bonus, but you can opt out if you'd rather not encumber your wagering with playthrough requirements.

Swedish players are prohibited from all bonuses and promotions.

Wagering requirements are on bonus only, rather than bonus+deposit.

Cryptocurrency deposits are not eligible for the weekly cashback program. No wagering is required on this cashback.

11.1.2 ...[D]evelopment of strategies aimed at gaining of unfair winnings [is prohibited]. We have only seen this term enforced when players try to load feature value when playing with a bonus and then return to collect the value when no wagering requirements are in effect. However, caveat emptor with any term this vague.

Banking and Customer Service

All deposits and withdrawals are processed free of charge. If a deposit isn't rolled over at least 3x, they reserve the right to charge fees, at their discretion.

All payouts are processed "instantly" once an account has been verified. This should take no more than 3 days.

Multiple currencies are accepted. Cryptos accepted include Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Dogecoin (DOG). The website FAQ offers a comprehensive primer with detailed information for those with BTC or altcoin questions.

Customer service is available around the clock. Contact via telephone, email, or live chat.

Pitfalls

• 11.16 [Must wager a deposit] at least 3 times prior to withdrawal due to a higher risk of fraud. This procedure is in line with anti-money laundering practices... [Otherwise fees could result].
• No Bank Transfer for USD payouts

The Final Word

King Billy is a serious operation with professional and competent staff. The backstory/theme is brilliantly executed. Be sure to read the Blog from March 17, 2017, forward to get a feeling for the evolution of the mascot/host. You are likely to become enamored of the narrative.

The game selection is stunning and constantly augmented with new releases thanks to the vast number of providers on board.

After a full day of deep research and review, I would certainly play here myself.

It should be noted that the Direx white label (WL) model works differently than some others. Whereas, with some WL, you will experience the same terms and conditions, customer service representatives, and infrastructure across all of the properties. In the case of Direx N.V. operations, many venues are run by their own teams rather than the SoftSwiss holding company.

With that in mind, we recently noticed an uptick in complaints against some other Direx N.V. sites.  So, we examined all readily available open, rejected, resolved, and otherwise settled complaints raised against this specific operation.

Here's why...

If any random player is unable to know if one WL is run by a team like you will find at BetChain, Oshi, BitStarz, or Lady Hammer, it's important that we hold their feet to the fire for you in order to fully review them.

Significant issues:
In one instance a player had won 125,000 and complained that they weren't paid because they missed a 7-day window to provide further documentation (selfie, holding a picture of ID). The person was proven to have multiple accounts, violated another term, and had been notified of the violation prior to filing the complaint which didn't mention these issues.

A few months later, "another" player made a complaint about a significant 5-digit sum with almost the same story on another forum - except that in this case, the representative simply stuck to their guns on the 7-day deadline for the player to provide additional documents. However, she made a good point in stating that "no honest player" would wait 10 days to check the status of a cashout that large or need more than 7 days to respond to a request for additional documents.

• The player never returned to pursue the case in public
• We no longer find the 7-day term on the website

We do find many glowing reports of instant payouts (15 minutes to 1 hour) for other quite significant sums.

It would seem two lessons can be learned from those two, seemingly different bad situations:

• 1. It's possible to win a lot of money at King Billy Casino
• 2. Be prepared to meet the terms and conditions ASAP if you do