Yebo Casino is a ZAR and Bitcoin-only online gambling website launched in 2014. Promotions are often restricted to players in South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland & Angola in order to maximize the operator’s incentives and rewards budget.

While the site absolutely focuses on the SA region, players elsewhere are also welcome to join and the cashier system is Bitcoin-friendly. The three main bonus offers that are only available regionally include introductory free spins, daily slot tournaments, and a refer-a-friend bonus. The welcome package does not seem to be restricted to certain locations.

Mobile and desktop web browser play is fully supported in HTML5 and PC/Windows users have access to a desktop download client with a larger catalog of games including legacy titles not yet converted for instant play.

Look for over 200 games on the Realtime Gaming platform with all new releases (more than once each month) being available on all channels at the same time.

Since online gambling is not specifically authorized under national laws, and no federal regulator is tasked with consumer protection at online casinos players must do their own due diligence before deciding whether or not to play at any given site. The legal situation makes that difficult because operators are in fact forbidden from offering services so they simply aren’t as transparent as they might be in another market. This is most likely why the site’s ownership and license status is unknown and unknowable.

That leaves the player community as the only real bellwether, so we’ll look at Yebo’s reputation for avoiding conflict as well as how complaints are handled as they inevitably arise.

The good news is that we do not find them on any blacklists and we don’t find many complaints about a concern that has been serving Mzansi for nearly a decade. We find less than a handful of potentially valid complaints but none of the issues were “cut and dried”. Inevitably, more than half of them are related to what appear to be misunderstanding bonus terms (no deposit bonuses with max cashout conditions, etc.) or a player feeling entitled to bonuses after a string of losses. 

One complaint from 2016 centered on what the operator deemed to be “bonus abuse”. This is the only instance we can find where the operator seems to have consulted a “negative player database” among RTG operators, found a pattern of smart bonus play, and refused to pay the player over R100,000.00, which was 40x the player’s deposits over the course of a year.

We find that to be rogue operator behavior. If your bet is accepted and you have not committed fraud or used a bot, or sold your firstborn to Merlin in order to outguess a random number generator - the player must be paid. While this is the only time we find that the operator welched on the basic gambling contract of a bet laid is a bet paid, it does appear to have occurred so all players should know about it, 6 years ago, 100 years ago, or yesterday.

Before we delve deeper into the games and software options, payments, and bonus terms, and come to a conclusion on player value here I’ll list a couple of terms that rub me the wrong way as a player. With this knowledge, you should be able to make a fully-informed decision and avoid any unpleasant surprises, especially if you are a novice at online gambling.

All players are different, so if you are not bothered by having one month to prove your identity and you don’t expect to withdraw R100,000 per week, the following pet peeves might not matter to you.

 In a nutshell, players only have 4 weeks to prove their identity and confirm all documents. There is no valid reason to impose such a term, it’s not like the currency fluctuates greatly or players are paid interest on their balances. 

Per the terms and conditions, no more than R10,000.00 (+/-$650) can be withdrawn in any transaction. While the frequency is not stated, a pending period of 24 hours is mandatory and payments may take “5-10 working days to process”. This means that it could take a full year to withdraw a Random jackpot of $17,000. 

No accommodations are made within the terms and conditions for players who might win a jackpot.

I would consider this limit to be draconian and predatory as it is far more likely that a player would play back winnings and lose them than steadily increase their balance at a low potential average withdrawal rate.

On the bright side, certain other terms such as withdrawal limitations based on deposit-to-withdrawal ratios have been removed. However, the term “player class” still exists and the maximum withdrawal amount is stated as “up to” and depends on that ambiguous distinction.

Lastly, the operator maintains the right to seize any and all funds in your account if it remains inactive for 180 days. There is no viable reason for this - even a maintenance fee is unfair. Money on the books just sits on the books. If they need to ringfence player funds for internal accounting purposes, by all means, they should, but they should not steal a player’s balance simply because they haven’t played.

There you have it! That is all the balance we can find. So let’s take a look at the upside. If you just want to grab a bonus and go, there’s some low fruit dangling right up there at the top of the page. A lot of folks simply love this place and now you know more than most people about any potential drawbacks. I can say with 99.9% certainty that if you follow the rules (bonus “abuse” notwithstanding) and you win, you will be paid.

If you just want to explore the site, you’ll find a lot of entertaining and valuable information on the pages. There are blog entries specifically for players in Namibia, Kenya, Angola, and Botswana. Look for a TST/GLI testing Random number generator certificate, a layman’s guide to understanding theoretical return to player percentages, a beginners guide, and even a site map with links to some of the most important pages on the website all in one place.

Here we go..!

Software and Games

We established earlier that the site runs on the RTG platform. The instant play version doesn’t need any additional plug-ins or apps, it runs right in your web browser. The package has a slight glitch in not reporting browser configuration correctly, so you may see a page telling you that your browser is not HTML compliant. Ignore it. The good news is that the framework still functions, this is just one line of code they haven’t gotten around to updating.  It affects nothing except delivering an irrelevant page.

For those who prefer a desktop client, the software package (Yebocasinoinstaller.exe) is certified under Chancers Technology B.V. by Digicert and all of the bonafides check out. Unlike most operators, they even provide a helpful page on uninstalling the software, but it’s the same process as removing any other program. 

Some other text on the web pages has not been updated. It still refers to Flash instant play - ignore that as well, this is all HTML5 cutting-edge tech and it operates masterfully on every browser we tested: Apple Safari, Amazon Silk, Oculus browser via Immersed agent for VR, Firefox, Explorer, Opera, and of course, Chrome. However, if you’d like to test your browser’s compatibility yourself, you can visit HTML5 Test to see how it stacks up against the benchmark standards. 

Yes, you can play Yebo Casino in your Oculus Quest 2 or other VR headset. That is accomplished with the help of another VR app. I use Immersed agent to run the client. All it really does is create a new environment where you can play slots and other games on a seemingly 50-foot-tall wrap-around screen. Whatever your PC screen displays, in this case, the lobby and games, will be magically projected onto the virtual screen.

No matter what sort of device you use, the user interface is virtually the same. Simply signup through the secure Inclave registration page, reply to the verification email (your code is good for one hour), and return to the lobby by clicking the logo (upper left). This will bring up another step, SMS verification. Return that 6-digit code and you will have a super-secure gateway to a sizzling hot RTG casino wherever you go.

Since I signed up from a desk in the USA, I wasn’t offered the introductory free spins package our African friends get, but there were other nice offers.

A quick trip to the cashier's cage showed I had three options for depositing - BTC, Mastercard, and Visa. Taking a circuitous route behind the scenes I was able to determine that bank wire and Bitcoin were my options for cashing out.

Navigating the site, features

I neglected to check if it was possible to play in practice mode prior to logging in but it is an option once you create an account.

The lobby presents a few featured games, and just below those, I found a free spins offer for one of the newer games. “Claim your 50 FS. No deposit needed.” There was also a deposit bonus available that included FS.

Below that were jackpot games followed by 4 recently released titles and finally a few recommended games.

Along the left is a menu that includes:

• Lobby 
• My Favorites
• Online Slots
• Table Games
• Video Poker
• Specialty Games
• All Games
• Promos

Clicking on Promos a new page popped up that listed several more options than were found in the cashier’s promo section earlier. Along with the two already mentioned there was a campaign for the newest game that offered a 100% bonus and 50 FS as well as the 120% no max cashout bonus we saw earlier.

Deciding to check out the slots I clicked that option and the page was filled with 16 game icons listed in the reverse order of their release dates with the most recent release first. 

This theme was repeated after clicking “view more” with the next most recently releases SPin Logic games followed  RTG Asia, and finally legacy Aussie slots (RTG studios).

Going back to the top of the page, we find the filtering and sorting options. Sort by several parameters (date, alpha, popular, biggest jackpots, etc.) or filter by themes with a few more than a dozen options.

I opted for the biggest jackpot size and found a few network progressives with jackpots in the double-digit millions of rands followed by games with juicy fat random jackpots. If you are not familiar with the Real Series random jackpot games I’ll just mention briefly that the jackpots grow until they are won and they can be taken down with any sized bet - even a few lines at a few cents each can do the trick - it’s kind of like winning a lottery - the more you bet, the more ‘tickets’ you get for that split second of random possibility.

Normally, I would highly recommend finding the lowest volatility games with the highest random jackpots and making those your friends for a session. However, without written assurance I would be paid with a quickness were I to hit a random, I would not do that here. I wouldn’t actually avoid games with big jackpots, I simply wouldn’t seek them out. If the rare random falls my way, great - but I won’t execute a strategy to win one if I’d be paid less than $5000 per week like I can some other places. But that’s just me.

Table games

I like the fact they don’t commingle the video poker with tables here. Yes, some bars in Las Vegas have video poker built into the table but for the most part, it’s a cabinet game just like slots. But I digress…

Suit 'em Up Blackjack, Perfect Pairs, and Classic blackjack are all in here along with Let ‘Em Ride and Tri Card Poker. The smallest chip I saw in the basic blackjack game was R2. That’s great because some operators set the minimum bet to $5 or just a little under R80.

Video poker

If it’s been a few years since you played RTG video poker, you might like the revamped Spin Logic versions. The gameplay is smoother, graphics and animations are better, the paytables have remained excellent and you don’t have to respawn the screen to change coin size like the 1990s versions. Look for

Jacks or Better, Joker Poker, Double Joker Poker, Loose Deuces, Sevens Wild, Bonus Deuces Wild, Deuces Wild, Aces and Eights, All American Bonus Poker, Bonus Poker Deluxe, Double Bonus Poker, Double Doule Bonus Poker, and Double Double Jackpot Poker.

Note: Aces and Eights uses the ultra-high-paying 25/50/80/50/250 paytable.

Specialty games

There's a fish shooting game in here and a board game called Banana Jones. Look for keno, roulette, and two Caribbean poker games.

Bonuses and Promotions

Players anywhere can participate in the bonus program here, but locals get special treatment with invitations to tournaments, a refer-a-friend reward, and free spins before they deposit.

The basic bonus terms state that wagering on deposit bonuses is 40x bonus but in the next breath the maths are given stating that it is actually 40x deposit plus bonus [40 x (d+b)]. So a 100 deposit with 150% match (100+150) would create wagering requirements of 10,000 (100+150 = 250 x 40).

We don’t find any max cashout restrictions on any of the match bonuses currently available - that doesn’t mean some ridiculously generous offers won’t come with such in the future.

All free spins, comp points, no deposit chips, tournament winnings, etc are considered bonus money, and as such the most that can be cashed out from any of them are 10x the amount given or R1,000.

There is no monetary/coin limit attached to max bets when playing after a bonus is given. The max bet is set at 30% of the bonus value. 

Players who log in from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and Swaziland can currently claim 50 free spins, but I wouldn’t touch them with a 10-foot pole thanks to a horrible condition placed on cashing out any winnings derived from them.

In order to claim your winnings you will need to make a qualifying deposit to your account, the free spins winnings will then be transferred to your available balance. At that point, you will need to wager the deposit amount plus the free spin winning amount together 40x.

Assuming you generated R100 in ‘winnings’ from the spins and deposited R100, you would need to wager R200 x 40 or R8000 - and - there is nothing in the terms specifically stating that those free spin winnings are free from the 10x R1000 max cashout ceiling.

   10.2.3) ...Before a withdrawal request can be submitted, the Player will be required to wager the deposit amount, plus the free spins winnings amount a minimum of 40 times.

The no deposit bonus, when offered, is just as ‘attractive’. You get R100 and have to wager that 60x for R6,000 in wagering and the most you can cash out is R200.

Cashback is not cashback any more than comps are comps here. Comps are treated as free chips, not earned cash. Cashback is determined after backing out everything from comps redeemed, bonuses accepted, tournament winnings, and any cashouts from your deposits and then applying a coefficient, usually 15% but sometimes 13% to the balance. The amount of ‘cashback’ depends on “player class”.

In this section, there are a few unclear terms such as ‘up to’ 10x wagering or in another part, the potential seizure of funds for not wagering at least 1x.

If you have placed 30% or more of your bets on table games you won’t be able to claim the complicated bonus funds referred to as cashback.

Note: “If the personal details, banking information, or general gaming behaviour closely resembles the profile of any blacklisted Players, fraudsters or the security team considers it high risk…” your funds can be seized and account closed. What?

Banking and Customer Service

Payment methods may vary depending on player location. In the US I had credit/debit cards and BTC as options to deposit and bank wire or BTC for withdrawals. Generally, I see Visa, Mastercard, EasyEFT, ecoPayz, and Bitcoin listed.

While the terms state a mandatory 24 hour holding period and up to 5-10 business days for withdrawals, player feedback indicates those are failsafe terms, as in worst case examples. We are seeing bitcoins paid out in 24 hours, eWallets paid in 2-3 days, and wire transfers taking 3-7 business days on average.

The max withdrawal per transaction is R10,000 depending on player class. 

Customer care

Live chat is available, phone and email support are available 24/7. There is also a brief FAQ page. Responsible gambling is addressed through customer support ho will set account limits for players or allow self-exclusion for pre-determined periods of time with all marketing halted until expiration.

Pitfalls

• Single game provider RTG/Spin Logic
• Single fiat currency (ZAR + BTC)
• Low max cashouts
• Historical spirit of the bonus violation
• Comps and cashback are considered bonus money

The Final Word

There’s a lot to like here and I shouldn’t let my personal pet peeves bias this conclusion for others who may not share my overall displeasure with operators who run a tight ship, so to speak. I just find it somewhat mercenary for a well-established and assumedly well-funded operation to restrict payouts based on what I can only imagine to be the local/regional economy. However, it is their casino and they can set the rules however they like. 

People can choose to play or not, just as they can choose to encumber their time and funds by taking a bonus if they want to. What I simply can’t wrap my head around is the “up to” R10,000 depending on “player class”. A more respectable term would be worded something like, 'All players may withdraw up to R10,000 per week at their discretion. Bitcoin depositors and rated players (VIPs) may ask for larger withdrawals which will be determined at management's discretion on a case by case basis'. 

I love the games here, and going by player feedback on several message boards, customer service is very helpful. Unfortunately we don’t see an active representative at any of the major forums, but we also don’t see complaints - so that’s always a good thing. I guess there’s no sense in parking an ambulance at the bottom if you have a strong fence at the top of the hill.

I had never played here before because I always assumed with ZAR-only banking that players from my area were either not welcome or would not be welcome to bonuses. It was a pleasant surprise to find I could register and was offered a generous welcome package as well as 50 free spins. I especially appreciated the easy two-factor authentication of email and SMS confirmation because I appreciate a casino that takes security seriously.

Perhaps there’s an implied sense of community here. I would imagine with such a specific market the staff would be comfortable establishing a deep level of rapport.

Personally this operator just doesn’t fit my scheme. If I were to deposit about 100USD to get the max bonus at 150% (R2,250) I would have a bankroll of R3750, a very steep hill to climb at 40xd+b wagering (R150,000) and the ability to cash out less than $700 BTC per week (R10,000) if I were successful. 

However, it is nice to know I can play here… and someday, I might.