Head-2-Head: Mr Green Vs LeoVegas

It seems like a lot of casino brands are trying to do it all. By offering all kinds of gambling opportunities, online casinos are trying to appeal to every part of the gambling audience. Of course, not all brands get it right – stretching themselves too thin is a recipe for a poor player experience and fewer returning customers.

But there are two stellar all-rounders in this category of casino. Two sites that have leveraged a top-notch product and well known brands to branch out in the kinds of gambling opportunities they offer with great success.

Today we are pitting two heavyweight contenders against one another in a battle for the title of Best All-Rounder Casino!

The weigh in

In the green corner, with 10 years of operational experience, consistently engaging promotional offers and the most stylish mascot in the industry, it’s Mr Green!

And in the orange corner, roaring in on a wave of cutting-edge mobile tech and the power of an instantly recognisable betting brand, stands LeoVegas!

Who will take home the title today? The king of the casino jungle or the suave gambling guru? Let’s look at the stats…

Mr Green

• Founded 2008
• Licensed by MGA and UKGC
• Offers casino, live games and sports betting
• Mobile app: Yes

LeoVegas

• Founded 2011
• Licensed by MGA and UKGC
• Offers casino, live games and sports betting
• Mobile app: Yes

Casino games

Perhaps the most hotly contested round, we know that this one is going to be a nail-biter. We know for a fact that both Mr Green and LeoVegas have very strong casino offerings, comprising slots, jackpots, live casino games and table games. At this point, those categories are considered fairly standard and any site that doesn’t have these games is something of an outlier. So these two will need to really bring their best if they want to impress.

We know that both casinos offer these kinds of games so it’s down to the numbers for the sake of comparison. LeoVegas has conveniently included the number of games in each category, so we added everything up. With 76 jackpot games, a whopping 1,389 slots, 69 table games and something close to 120 live games, this casino comes out punching with a formidable library of entertainment! In total, then, LeoVegas offers around 1,650 casino games, give or take.

Unfortunately, Mr Green has not made it as easy to add up all its games so we can’t give you a definitive number. Still, a quick browse around the site will show that there’s no shortage of games in any category, with an infinite scrolling feature that keeps on loading new games the further you scroll down the page. Mr Green also offers a couple of niche categories in the form of keno and bingo, which LeoVegas does not at the minute.

Another metric we could use is the number of game providers represented – data we definitely have. Mr Green offers games from 24 game providers, while LeoVegas offers games from 30 different providers.

It’s a close one. Too close to call in fact. With Mr Green offering two additional game types and LeoVegas hosting more game providers, this round ends in a draw.

Sports betting

Online casinos have truly embraced sports betting, as you’ll notice from sitting through the adverts during any major televised sporting event. Back in the day, you would need to visit a sports betting-specific site in order to place wagers. Now, plenty of online casinos have added this product to their repertoire, which has gone a long way towards making the activity more accessible to players who might have less experience with the genre and feel more comfortable at an online casino.

Let’s talk stats. LeoVegas takes a slim lead in this round with 39 different events to bet on. Mr Green comes in close behind with 37. Both offer ‘traditional’ sports like football, tennis, basketball, cricket and so on. Both also offer betting on esports and both take bets on CS:GO, Dota 2, League of Legends and Overwatch.

The numbers don’t offer a clear winner but we think we know which one appeals more in terms of user experience. While LeoVegas gives a perfectly respectable performance, with good accessibility, an easy to understand layout and a straightforward betting process, it’s Mr Green that seems to have a generally better, polished product.

In the left-hand menu on the Mr Green sports betting page, players can choose to bet on live events, bet on events that are starting soon and there is a sports-specific promotion button as well. LeoVegas does offer in-game betting and also has sports promotions but it feels like Mr Green has done a better job of grouping the product’s various bits and bobs together. There’s also a very useful Help page that explains the different kinds of bets available.

Therefore, Round 2 goes to Mr Green!

Mobile performance

More and more people are using their tablets and smartphones to access the internet these days. By early 2017, smartphones alone accounted for 49.73% of web page views worldwide. This shows that having a decent mobile offering is no longer an afterthought but a real priority for businesses, including online casinos.

In this round, we found LeoVegas and Mr Green to be relatively well matched. First, let’s start with loading speed. This is how fast the online casino web page (not a standalone app) loads on a mobile device. Loading speed is a crucial part of the mobile browsing experience – users will abandon a site if it is taking too long to load. In terms of online gambling, having a speedy site also ensures that games work as they should, as too much lag can cause technical issues and nobody likes a technical issue.

We used a freely available speed test tool to measure how fast the home page of each contender loaded on a mobile device. At 2.81 seconds, LeoVegas roared into first place. Mr Green clocked in at 3.57 seconds. We also pulled up each home page on an Android smartphone – a OnePlus 6, running Android 9 Pie – and compared the experience.

On paper (or pixels, technically speaking), the LeoVegas site loaded a bit faster than Mr Green, but in practical terms, it was such a small delay as to make no difference to the overall mobile package. Once loaded, both sites scrolled smoothly, menus opened quickly and overall they both offered highly commendable mobile experiences.

Now to the apps. Casino apps have gotten a mixed reception from players. On the one hand, they offer a fully ‘branded’ experience in the casino colours, with customised navigation and so on. If you’re a huge fan of a particular casino, it’s convenient to tap one button and launch your favourite site.

On the other hand, HTML 5, the programming language that is seamlessly compatible with both desktop and mobile browsers, has almost become standard at this point. Meaning that browser-based online casinos are of an equally high standard, no matter what device you use to access them. The argument can be made that downloading an app is just a waste of time (and mobile memory).

In the interest of offering a balanced perspective, we downloaded both casino apps and took them for a spin. Let’s start with LeoVegas. The layout is nice and simple, with a few interesting features that don’t appear on the desktop version and which change depending on which gambling category you are viewing.

Under the Casino section, for example, players will see the Quick Launch feature, which launches your last played game, and the Mobile+ option. This sorts mobile games by specific features, such as ones that can be played in portrait mode and ones that offer fast spins.

Change to Live Casino and the option to view exclusive Chambre Separee games becomes available. In both Casino and Live Casino, players can save games they like as favourites and access them via the My Games button.

When shifting to the Sports page, the menu bar changes to include a button to launch the betslip, one to launch open bets and another to a page about the latest sports betting promotion. So, overall, it’s pretty impressive stuff.

Moving on to Mr Green. The first crucial difference we noted here is that, while the LeoVegas app is downloaded through the Google Play Store, players must download the Mr Green app directly from the website. This may not be such a big deal for most players but the security-conscious user knows that the Play Store offers another level of user protection as the app must be deemed safe by the Store before it can be downloaded.

After allowing the opening of files from unknown sources on our test phone with some degree of trepidation, we downloaded the Mr Green app and tried it out. Or at least, we tried to try it out. Clicking the login button and inputting details was met with an infinitely spinning circle, indicative of the app’s repeated attempts (and failures) to accept our username and password. Not a good start, Mr Green.

We also noticed that tapping the Bingo button resulted in a ‘no games found’ message on screen. And while Casino, Live Casino, Keno and Bingo buttons were on display, sports betting was not. The fact that the mobile app does not allow sports betting was the final nail in the coffin for Mr Green here. It’s not a tough call this round. It’s a resounding win for LeoVegas!

Overall user experience

Now we come to the toughest competition yet! This round is based purely on the overall user experience each site offers, which means there is a degree of subjectivity involved. Still, we can all agree that some things like good customer support, exciting promotions and a generally welcoming site are pretty important to all of us. So without further ado, let’s see how these two heavyweights match up.

Let’s start with LeoVegas. At first glance, the homepage appears organised and dynamic. There’s plenty going on in terms of ads for promotions and curated games selections in every category. Scroll all the way to the bottom and you’ll see a host of industry awards and a number of sponsorship collaborations. There’s no doubt LeoVegas is a big deal, both online and off.

The floating Help button at the bottom of the page lets players access useful information about the site and, if they cannot find their answer that way, a way to contact the support team directly.

In terms of promotions, LeoVegas always has at least one ongoing promotion to check out for casino, live casino and sports, which is great for regular players.

Mr Green doesn’t disappoint either. In fact, its layout is fairly similar to that of LeoVegas, so we could say it is equally accessible to players, no matter their level of experience. However, Mr Green easily lands a haymaker of a punch in this round with its promotions. Whereas LeoVegas offers one or two at a time, Mr Green’s Promotions page is positively brimming with bonuses and offers. Visit any day of the week and there will be at least 3 different opportunities available, with even more to be found over in the Sports section. Mr Green wins this round, hands down.

And the winner is…

This fight was never going to be a quick KO. Both LeoVegas and Mr Green have proven themselves, over several years of operation, to be exceptional, high quality, reliable all-rounder casinos that cater to a broad range of interests.

However, over four rounds, Mr Green emerged as the winner! Of course that’s not the final word. Casinos must continue to keep their standards high as the discerning public demands. With such a closely matched pair, it was tough to pick which one deserved the title.

LeoVegas continues to be an excellent casino and we expect more great things from this brand in years to come. For now though, Mr Green can enjoy the title of Best All-Rounder Casino!