Royal Panda Review

Royal Panda Sportsbook Review

Editor's note: Royal Panda no longer supports sports betting as of July 27, 2023. Royal Panda users can register with LeoVegas to continue wagering on sports.

One of the most intriguing storylines of the introduction to legalized sports betting in Ontario is how previous grey market books will be able to compete with a flood of big-name operators.

One of those smaller sportsbooks, Royal Panda, hasn’t been around long but has endeared itself to Canadian bettors thanks to a sensational live bet offering and an interface that makes it easy to find just about anything you’re looking for. And while there are shortcomings that keep this app from ranking among the elite, it remains a solid mid-tier option in Ontario.

Royal Panda Locations

Royal Panda is live and legal in Ontario, having been approved by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario. In addition, Royal Panda has a worldwide presence as a top online casino destination in the UK and other countries.

Sports Leagues to Bet On

Royal Panda comes in with one of the most comprehensive lists of available sports of any sports betting operator in the province. Major sports covered include hockey, basketball, baseball, football, golf, tennis, soccer, cricket, rugby, MMA, and boxing.

If that isn’t enough for you, Royal Panda also provides odds for a wide variety of sports that would be considered “fringe” in North America. That list includes darts, cycling, lacrosse, netball, water polo, chess (!), and padel, described as a mix between squash and tennis.

It’s also worth noting that Royal Panda offers a robust esports market – an inclusion that is sure to earn points from the first-time betting crowd. The pre-event outright odds are often available well in advance, enabling players to do plenty of research before making their wagers.

NFL Betting

Royal Panda offers a wide range of betting options for NFL wagers, including moneylines, spreads, totals, quarter- and half-specific betting options, in-game wagers, and a decent selection of player props each Sunday during the season.

NBA Betting

There’s no shortage of Toronto Raptors betting options for the NBA fans out there, as Royal Panda offers moneyline, spread, and total plays for every game on the schedule. You can also wager on quarterly or halftime options and daily player props.

College Football

If it’s NCAA football markets you seek, you’ve come to the right place. Royal Panda offers moneyline, spread, and total plays for the majority of Division I games on any given Saturday during the season, along with a large assortment of quarter-by-quarter or halftime plays. You can also wager on team props, though player props aren’t available.

College Basketball

While you won’t see as robust a market for NCAA basketball as you would find on larger sites like FanDuel or DraftKings, Royal Panda does have a presence here. Marquee games during the regular season are covered, while Royal Panda follows the lead of the majority of Ontario sportsbooks by ramping up the betting markets ahead of March Madness.

NHL Betting

Royal Panda does well to appeal to the puckheads that preside in Canada’s most populous province, offering a healthy number of hockey markets every day during the season and into the Stanley Cup playoffs. In addition to moneyline, puckline, and total plays, bettors have access to team and player props, along with period-specific betting markets for Toronto Maple Leafs betting.

MLB Betting

How do you make a summer afternoon even better? By firing up your Royal Panda account and placing some baseball wagers. Royal Panda offers comprehensive MLB markets, both for pre-game bets (moneyline, runline, total) and in-game action (five innings moneyline/run line, player props, team props). Toronto Blue Jays betting fans won't be disappointed.

Other Sports Leagues

Royal Panda has a strong golf foundation, with outrights, top-5 and top-10 results markets among the most popular for PGA betting. Royal Panda is also a strong provider of soccer odds, covering dozens of leagues worldwide while providing deep pre-game and in-game betting markets for most.

Online Betting Experience

We’ll get the disappointing part out of the way here: Royal Panda does not have a mobile app for either iPhone or Android, and it doesn’t appear that one is coming anytime soon. As you can imagine, the small buttons on mobile devices are tough to handle with panda paws.

Website Experience

Royal Panda redeems itself somewhat with a strong desktop and mobile web experience. There’s nothing fancy about the design, but the huge banner at the top of the home page is a great way to welcome first-time bettors to the platform.

The desktop and mobile web versions are as responsive as the top competitors in the sports betting space, and moving from sport to sport is virtually seamless. And switching odds formats (it’s important to a lot of players!) is easily done at the bottom of the main page.

Mobile Betting and Betting App

You won’t find a Royal Panda app on either the App Store or Google Play – at least, not yet.

Live Betting

We purposely left this out of the last section because it deserves its own kudos. But Royal Panda is all the way in on live betting, and it’s clear from the moment you visit the site: A detailed list of live betting opportunities is not only featured prominently on the main page, but they also take up roughly 80 percent of your screen.

All of the marquee live bet markets are easily accessed through this design, or you can sort by sport if you’d prefer not to have to scroll through the list to find your sport of choice. Marquee games and matchups can feature dozens of live betting options and even the occasional micro-betting opportunity (for example, the result of a specific at-bat).

One miss for Royal Panda: The lack of a live-streaming option, which would make a great live betting experience even better.

Casino, Poker, & Other Gaming Options

You’ll find no shortage of gaming options on Royal Panda, which should provide comfort for sports bettors who like other forms of gambling. Royal Panda features nearly 300 slot machines; the complete list is easily accessible through the “Casino” tab at the top of the main page.

Royal Panda’s selection of live games is also strong, at least on par with the competition. The site provides access to more than 20 roulette tables, more than 30 live blackjack dealers, nearly 20 Baccarat games, and a handful of wheel games and game show-inspired contests.

The only strike against here is a lack of poker action. Royal Panda doesn’t offer any cash game or tournament poker options and only has four “live video poker” options.

Royal Panda History

Royal Panda has one of the shortest histories of any sportsbook operator in Ontario. It was founded in 2014, securing its initial gaming license through Malta’s Lotteries and Gaming Authority before also being licensed by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission.

After seeing success over its first three years of operation, Royal Panda enjoyed a pair of significant positive events in 2017. In June, It partnered with England soccer club Queen’s Park Rangers FC as a kit sponsor; four months later, it was purchased by LeoVegas.

Royal Panda expanded its global reach and now has casino and/or sports betting licenses in Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Finland, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, and Peru. And it secured its provincial gaming license through the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario in time for a May 2022 launch.

Customer Ratings & Reputation

Little is known about Royal Panda’s sports betting offerings in Ontario, but the reviews are mostly positive.

Royal Panda is competitive with the top sportsbooks in the province regarding pre-game odds offerings. Major sports odds are comparable to the industry standards, while sports that North Americans don’t necessarily follow closely are a few cents off in favor of the operator.

Unfortunately for players, Royal Panda’s edge when it comes to live betting is more considerable. For example, it’s not unusual to see up to eight cents of extra juice on either side of a live totals play, which is higher than most major sportsbooks.

Remarkably, however, Royal Panda has a respectable 3.6 score on Trustpilot’s Canadian site. And when you consider that several well-known sportsbooks have a score of 2.0 or lower, that’s a real testament to the operator’s reputation among players.

Customer Service

There are things that Royal Panda does well in this regard, as well as areas of improvement.

On the positive side, the gaming site goes out of its way to address concerns customers share on Trustpilot, one of the more popular independent review sites. Customer service representatives respond within two days, inviting players to make direct contact with the site via its CS live chat to sort out any outstanding issues or problems.

Unfortunately, Royal Panda doesn’t offer much help beyond that. The Help section of the site covers fundamental general concerns, but the “Live Chat” doesn’t function as a live chat; instead, it’s a text box where you share your thoughts and then wait for a response. This isn’t done in real-time but works more like a “Contact Us” box.

Royal Panda Contact

You just have a live chat option for customer service at Royal Panda unless you live in Malta, where they have an office address.

Royal Panda Legal Betting

Royal Panda is regulated in Ontario by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario.

Responsible Gambling

All legal and regulated sportsbooks in Ontario are required to register with the Responsible Gambling Council, a leader in the prevention of problem gambling in Canada and globally for over 35 years.

Royal Panda Review Conclusion

We like how Royal Panda has emerged from obscurity to offer a decent sports betting product – but we can’t help but wonder if there are simple ways it can become an even better operator. Enhancements like an improved customer service department, some level of live streaming, and eventually its own app would help Royal Panda make waves in an increasingly competitive Ontario gaming market. As it stands, the site with the kingly bear remains a step behind the top tier and doesn’t appear to be in a position to improve its standing anytime soon.