Royal Panda sports review NZ: 2024 insights
This sportsbook no longer offers its services to players in New Zealand. For alternatives, explore our recommended betting sites.
Best sportsbook in your area
Royal Panda sportsbook offers a solid betting experience for both new and experienced punters thanks to its 32 available sports and competitive odds.
This unbiased Royal Panda sports review, carried out by a Time2play expert, details all the pros and cons of this sportsbook to help you decide whether it is the right one for you.
Please note that Royal Panda sportsbook is in the process of exiting New Zealand and, as of 24th July 2023, will no longer operate in the market.
Pros and cons
- Innovative betting markets
- Attractive welcome offer
- 24/7 support
- No horse racing
- No live streaming
- Lack of clarity in terms
General ratings
General info
Launch date | 2018 |
Company behind | LeoVegas AB |
Best alternatives to Royal Panda sportsbook
Expert verdict
We round up all the Royal Panda pros to conclude our Royal Panda sportsbook review. First, there are over 30 sports covered here, each with a myriad of different sporting events and tournaments from around the world.
The sportsbook is also home to various Royal Panda bonuses, such as a free sports bet and a welcome offer. You’re also treated to top football odds with an easy-to-use bet slip.
However, there are some Royal Panda cons, too, including the fact that there are limited live betting markets and no horse racing on the site.
Additionally, the live chat is inaccessible unless you’re signed up. If you want an app, look elsewhere, as Royal Panda NZ doesn’t have one, although the mobile browser site is excellent.
Royal Panda sportsbook bonuses
Getting your hands on the excellent Royal Panda Sports sign up offer is likely at the forefront of your mind. As this is the first thing you will be looking for when you head to the site, we’ll cover the Royal Panda deposit bonuses right here. This means you’ll know exactly what to expect online.
The Royal Panda welcome bonus for New Zealand players gives you a nice boost to your betting from the off. It’s a matched free bet worth 50% of the first real money bet you place, so you can place a bigger bet than you would normally. However, you will need to ensure you don;t exceed any betting limits.
This isn’t the only Royal Panda bonus though. There are other free bet options awarded throughout the year. However, the free sports bet will depend on the sport you’re betting on.
Bonus facts
Category | Details |
---|---|
Welcome bonus | 50% matched free bet up to NZ$50 |
Bonus code | N/A |
Wagering requirements | 1.8 odds or higher |
Minimum qualifying bet | NZ$20 |
Risk-free bets | Yes |
VIP rewards | Yes |
Other bonuses | NZ$20 |
When you do claim any Royal Panda free bets, you do need to make sure you meet the minimum deposit requirement. You will also have to meet the wagering requirements if you want to claim any winnings.
Bonus rating
- Free sports bet welcome bonus
- Additional bonuses awarded
- Unclear if bonuses are in NZ$
So, there’s a lot to be said here about the Royal Panda bonuses. First, at least they offer some, and in NZD, which is more than can be said for other sportsbooks out there. Take for example William Hill, which offers a bet $10 get two $15 free bets, but those dollars are USD not NZD.
But, while I think it is decent, it’s just not as strong as Fansbet with its weekly free bet offers. I’d like to see more free bet offers as part of the Royal Panda bonuses in the future.
That being said, when you do claim the free sports bet, there aren’t too many restrictions on it, which is impressive for free bet offers. For the free bet, there is no rollover requirement, just meet the minimum betting odd applied.
My biggest gripe for this Royal Panda review is that it’s not clear if the matched free bet offer is in US or New Zealand dollars. This is actually an issue for other free bet bonuses on this site and something that needs to be cleared up ASAP.
Sports and markets at Royal Panda
Okay, moving on to the next big section, we always want to ensure that our players have access to the best sports betting markets.
The best betting sites will offer 20 or more sports, and this is when we give them a higher score. Royal Panda NZ has an impressive 30+ sports on its site, which means many options exist.
You can find a range of tournaments and leagues within each of the different sports categories. These come from several countries worldwide, not just domestic fixtures.
Sports facts
Category | Details |
---|---|
Number of sports | 32 |
Betting markets — Basketball | 120+ |
Betting markets — Football | 220+ |
Betting markets — Rugby | 250+ |
Esports | No |
Other markets (politics/event betting) | Yes |
Excitingly, as we will continue to discuss in this Royal Panda Sports review, there are also some more unusual betting options too. These include the ability to bet on political events as well as TV personality of the year awards, the Oscars and more.
Available events
Featured betting markets
Sports & markets rating
- Over 30 sports on offer
- Domestic and international leagues
- Lesser-known sports are limited
I will say that this was a good solid showing from the Royal Panda sportsbook. There are 32 different sports on offer here and these encompass some of the more popular ones for New Zealand players.
Yes, there were a ton of different rugby options (both league and union) as well as a good selection of cricket, which I really appreciated a lot.
However, while this site comes near the top in terms of number of sports betting markets, it still loses out to Sportsbet which, amazingly, has 35 sports to offer.
I did like the fact that there is a very strong live betting section here unlike at Ladbrokes where you can only place live bets over the phone. In fact, live betting is one of the standout features with a strong live betting menu in place where you can find the latest events.
Additional market details: Cricket is, without a doubt, one of the top sports on Royal Panda NZ. You can find a wealth of different betting options for tournaments like the IPL, Big Bash and Super Smash.
Additional market details: Unsurprisingly, rugby is another popular option for the New Zealand market. As one of the nation’s most loved sports, Royal Panda NZ really makes an effort to ensure there are some of the best betting odds as well as international and domestic sporting events to bet on.
Royal Panda sports betting features
When playing online, we want you to have the most usable interface possible. This means picking a sportsbook that has a multitude of different options to place bets in a simple way.
At Royal Panda, you can find a number of useful tools including the bet builder found at most sportsbooks. You can use this to add multiple bets all in one betting slip.
Additionally, for some of the in play bet options, you can use the cash out feature to get a small profit even when the game hasn’t ended.
Feature facts
Category | Details |
---|---|
Bet Builder | Yes |
Cash Out | Yes |
Live betting | Yes |
Live streaming | No |
Virtual betting | No |
However, some of the more common bet features are missing. For instance, you can’t find a betting exchange or quick bets here. Instead, you’ll have to make do with a large selection of live betting options.
Betting features rating
- Strong live betting platform
- User-friendly bet builder
- No live streaming
- Parlays only for multi-bets
I was not overly impressed by this section of my Royal Panda review. As I discuss later on, the site as a whole is rather minimal and this is the case for the betting tools as well. However, I did like the option to switch between stats and results.
While there is a very strong section of live bets, there’s no streaming available. As such, I found it’s really not on a level with bet365 sportsbook, which has a good selection of streaming and live betting.
However, I did like that there are hundreds of live in play bets available which can be bet on using the matched free bet offer. These can even be viewed in Multi-view, so I could keep an eye on multiple games at the same time.
Finding the bet builder is easy though. All I had to do was open the main betting slip, and inputting each of the different bets was a very simple process.
I did miss some of the other features such as Sportsbet’s Bet with Mates or 888Sport’s Request a Bet option. As I said, it’s pretty basic so if that’s what you’re looking for, this is the place to be.
Additional features: As there is no other system bet, the parlay bet is the best option to focus on. This allows you to combine multiple bets into one mega bet. The only thing here is that you will need to make sure that all parts of the bet actually come to pass. It’s risky, but with that risk comes big rewards.
Sports betting odds
One of the important aspects of an online sportsbook is checking how competitive the different betting options are. After all, you want the best chance at a win.
The Royal Panda sportsbook has no outside odds provider so that you won’t find similar odds on other betting sites. As such, it already means there will be differences here.
We, ideally, want to see sportsbooks with payouts of around 95%, and impressively, Royal Panda manages just to scrape over this, which is great for you as a player.
Odds facts
Category | Details |
---|---|
Average payout | 95.20% |
Boosted odds | No |
Parlay boosts | No |
Line movement | Moderate |
However, despite having a strong average, the live payout percentage does dip rather a lot. In fact, on things like live tennis, it can be as bad as 7-8% below that 95% average.
Odds rating
- Above-average odds
- Multiple odds formats
- Low live payouts
- Poor odds on NZ losses
I will say that the Royal Panda sportsbook really does pull it out of the bag here somewhat. The odds are very competitive and in a margin that I really prefer to see.
In short, it’s just as competitive as other sites such as NEDs. But, unlike NEDs, it misses out on offering horse racing odds, which is a big hole in the sports market and does mean I mark the site down.
The markets here are pretty fast too. And I did like the fact that the site automatically updates to the latest odds, so I wasn’t having to spend time refreshing the page.
I will say though, it’s pertinent to note that if you’re betting on an NZ win, then this site does put that in your favour. Losses are somewhat worse than other sites though!
The big disappointment here when it comes to those live payout percentages is that there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of odds boosts as opposed to Betway, which offers a selection of daily odds boosts. Very disappointing hence the low good score.
Payment methods
We have another solid entry when it comes to the payment options here at Royal Panda sportsbook. For this section, we do like to see at least 10 options provided to players.
Royal Panda sportsbook only has six different payment solutions on offer. Nevertheless, these are actually quite different and still give you a decent choice when it comes to your transactions.
The minimum deposit and withdrawal limits are both low here and sit at just NZ$15. There isn’t any information available for maximum limits though, suggesting high caps.
Payment facts
Category | Details |
---|---|
Number of payment methods | 6 |
Popular payment | Paysafecard |
Minimum deposit | NZ$10 |
Maximum deposit | N/A |
Average deposit time | Instant |
Minimum withdrawal | NZ$10 |
Maximum withdrawal | N/A |
Average withdrawal time | 72 hours + |
Deposit fees | None |
Withdrawal fees | None |
Finally, there are no fees in place at all. This is excellent as the best sites won’t have fees in place across any transaction. We do recommend that you take a look at the different payment options from your bank’s side of things as they may have fees in place.
Payments rating
- Low minimum limits
- Fee free transactions
- Accepts Apple Pay
- Limited withdrawal information
So I was pretty happy overall here even with the rather low number of payments on offer. All I can say is that these are at least diverse, more so than some of the other sportsbooks. Although six payment options is pretty average here, Fansbet stands out from other sites with 8+ options.
For instance, I did like the fact that I could use two different e-wallets. And this is more than PlayUp offers in terms of both more payment options and greater variety.
I will say though that it was a bit disappointing to find that there wasn’t much in the way of information regarding withdrawals on the site. I have expected better transparency from Royal Panda NZ. As a LeoVegas AB brand, the two generally share a lot of the specifics, but I was hardly able to verify many of the payment details. This causes discrepancies in my data, and, by extension, this analysis.
There is nothing about any maximums at all and this actually goes for the deposits as well. It’s likely that these will be high, but I am scoring lower simply for lack of clarity here.
Safety features
Staying safe and secure is core to our offering of sportsbook reviews. We will never recommend somewhere that doesn’t have a licence or your safety at heart.
Royal Panda holds a licence with the Malta Gambling Authority, one of the stricter jurisdictions. This means that you know various protocols are in place to protect you.
These include things like having strong SSL encryption protocols. They are there to prevent third parties from getting their hands on your data or bank details.
Safety facts
Category | Details |
---|---|
Auditing seals | N/A |
Responsible gambling seals | GamTalk, Leo Safeplay, Gamblers Anonymous |
Licences | MGA |
SSL encryption | 256-bit |
Two-factor authentication | Not available |
Ever blacklisted? | No |
Deposit, wager, time, and loss limits | All available |
Self-exclusion | Available |
Cooling-off period | Available |
The site really does put an emphasis on keeping players playing in a healthy way. To that end, there are various responsible gaming tools available as well as various external helplines.
Licensed by
Trusted by
Safety rating
- SSL encryption protocols
- Responsible gaming tools
- MGA licence
- SSL encryption could be stronger
I will say this is a pretty solid effort from Royal Panda. I particularly liked the fact that the site uses LeoSafePlay, which is the site’s own responsible gambling platform.
The site also makes sure that it complies with other safety and security regulations by linking players to a wealth of additional gaming information and helplines.
However, the SSL encryption protocols aren’t that high. Especially now when I compare them to Ladbrokes’ ridiculously high SSL encryption protocols of 2048-bit. That being said, 256-bit is more than adequate.
Nevertheless, all the other tools are in place, it’s just not quite gone that next step to get that really perfect score like LeoVegas, which has a stellar reputation. At least not in my opinion anyway.
Customer support: four contact options
Even when a sportsbook appears to work smoothly, it’s a great idea to check out the different support options it has on offer. So, we’ve done just that in this Royal Panda review.
We always prefer it when a sportsbook has at least three contact options, but Royal Panda does one better with four methods to get in touch provided to players.
These methods include live chat, email, phone and Twitter support. Better still, these are available around the clock giving you access whenever you start betting online.
Support facts
Category | Details |
---|---|
Customer support availability | 24/7 |
Live chat | Yes |
[email protected] | |
Contact number | 356 2778 0418 |
On-page support | FAQs and Help section |
If you want to avoid getting in touch with someone right away, you can also take a look at the help section. This covers most of the commonly asked questions.
Support rating
- 24/7 support
- Help via Twitter
- Live chat only available to members
- Limited help section
Despite having four different contact methods, I still scored the support at Royal Panda NZ quite low. While surprising, I do have a valid reason for doing this.
Okay, first things first, let’s look at the good things. You can access the live support 24/7, which is definitely better than LeoVegas Sports, which only offers limited opening hours for its live chat.
However, while the fastest option to get in touch is via live chat, irritatingly, to access this, you must have and log in to your Royal Panda account. I really dislike this. What does pull the score up a bit is the fact that, like BetVictor, you can also get in touch via Twitter.
On top of that, the help section is pretty minimal. The section touches on important areas but really doesn’t delve into any real detail. Don’t do it in half measures. That annoys me! I would have appreciated a more detailed FAQ section like the one at 888Sports.
Platform and usability
Being able to find all the different features and functions is a must at all online betting sites. Here at Royal Panda NZ, the design is simple and easy to navigate.
The Royal Panda website is a simple, minimalist black and white with a straightforward menu down the left side. It’s got the main sports, as well as any live games or those starting soon.
Additionally, you can access the site via your mobile phone browser. This is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. It offers the same experience as the main desktop site.
Platform facts
Category | Details |
---|---|
Mobile app | Yes |
Ease of navigation | Smooth |
Filters | Yes |
Search function | Yes |
Loading speed | 1.2 sec |
UI and UX rating | Good |
Other products | Casino, poker, esports |
The Royal Panda website isn’t just about sports betting options though, there are also other verticals here including Royal Panda casino with a live section as well. These can also be accessed via the mobile version.
Play on devices
Platform rating
- Minimalist design
- Logical structure
- Mobile compatible
- Ugly design
- Harsh white background
I wasn’t really able to score Royal Panda very high here and that’s simply because the design and layout of the sports section is just not for me.
I get it — the white and black colour scheme is the same as a panda. But, there are acres of unused white space and this is just really harsh on the eyes. There’s not even the hint of offering a dark mode option like MyBookie does, and I really wish there was.
In fact, the Royal Panda sports betting site really takes things to the extreme, whittling it down to just a few bare minimum options. The side menu barely has anything in it and the design is, quite simply, uninspired.
I guess it works well on the mobile browser version of the site though. But still, while you can access everything including the Royal Panda promotions, the mobile option still looks very much like a work in progress. I can’t give this a good score. It seems to be lacking in innovative features just like the TAB sportsbook.
FAQs
How long does it take withdraw from Royal Panda sportsbook?
Similar to other online betting sites, Royal Panda NZ has an average to slow withdrawal timeframe of 3 to 5 days. This really comes down to which of the different payment methods you choose to use. So, for instance, a bank transfer will be closer to 5 days while other options like Skrill will be nearer the 2 or 3-day mark.
How do I deposit money into Royal Panda betting site?
Making a Royal Panda deposit is very easy at Royal Panda NZ. All you need to do is head to the sports betting site and log into your Royal Panda account and click on the banking section. There are six different payment methods available to you. Simply select one of these and make a minimum deposit of NZ$15 for the payment to go through. This will occur instantly.
Does Royal Panda Sports pay out?
Yes, Royal Panda does pay out. When you do get a win, you will be able to make a withdrawal as long as the minimum value is above NZ$15. There aren’t that many different withdrawal options for you to use though — you’re essentially limited to just three options. Payouts will also take a couple of days due to the pending period and the transaction time of your chosen payment option.
Is there a Royal Panda betting app?
No, the Royal Panda betting site does not have an app available. However, you can still easily access the mobile site via your phone’s browser. The mobile-optimized site will scale well to any phone or tablet screen. It’s optimized for use on both Android and iOS devices too. The layout is the same as the desktop site as well.
What sports are covered on Royal Panda?
Impressively, as we have covered in this Royal Panda sportsbook review, there are over 30 different sports on offer. These include some of the more popular sports in New Zealand such as rugby union, cricket, tennis and so on. Surprisingly though, you’re not going to find much in the way of horse race bets here and will need to look elsewhere for that.
Royal Panda sportsbook review
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