Desert Night Casino Review

Desert Nights Casino Summary

Written by: Sadonna Price, OUSC Expert in Online Casinos and Poker

February 15, 2024

Deserts Nights Casino offers the best slot machines from Rival Gaming. Though the site licenses casino software from RealTime Gaming, there is no evidence of RTG’s wide array of slots on the website. That’s a drawback because RTG has bigger and better progressive slots than Rival Gaming. If you prefer online slots with better graphics and more bonus features, then the Rival Gaming slots selection should appeal to you.

OUSC takes its online casino reviews very seriously. Here you will learn everything you need to know about this casino site.  Deserts Nights Casino offers online and mobile casinos but no live dealer games. Players can gamble using either the downloadable casino software or instant play Flash games. The Flash casino has a smaller number of games than the downloaded casino package, but the selection is still above average for mobile casinos.

• Bonus Amount: $2,550
• Platforms Supported: Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, & Android.
• Type of Casino: Online, Mobile, and Flash
• Number of games: 160+

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Desert Nights Casino Mobile

The Desert Nights Casino mobile offers 42 games. These include the best Betsoft animated slots and top table games, including mobile blackjack, mobile roulette, mobile baccarat, and mobile craps.

Android 4.0 or later devices are compatible with the apps if you use Chrome 31 or later. This includes the Samsung Galaxy S7, the LG G5 Sprint, and the Nexus 5X. Players should remember that Chrome updates are free, so there’s no reason an Android smartphone or tablet wouldn’t work to access the site.

Apple iOS device owners receive a ton of support. All iPhones from iPhone 4 onward is compatible, including iPhone 6+, iPhone 6, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, and iPhone 4. The list of compatible devices also includes the 4th Generation iPad, the iPad Air, 3rd Generation iPad, iPad 2, as well as the iPad mini Retina display and iPad mini. Players who use the 5th Generation iPod touch also can play at Desert Night Mobile.

BlackBerry support is available, which is one advantage many mobile casinos don’t offer. Desert Nights says it supports “many other devices” such as the Windows Phone OS, Symbian OS, and Java OS. The site allows players to sync their device by scanning the QR Code on the Desert Nights Casino mobile page.

Desert Nights Casino Bonuses

Our Desert Nights Casino review shows you the latest and best bonuses they have to offer. New and loyal members of this online casino will be able to get up to $2,550 in casino bonuses. These range from a great Welcome Bonus to Monthly bonuses.

$2,500 Welcome Bonus

The basic welcome bonus at Desert Nights Casino is a $2,500. This deposit comes in two tiers, with the first bonus up to $1000 and the second bonus up to $1,500. Each has a 28x rollover requirement. In the table below, I list the max limit on the bonus, the match rate, and the rollover. On both deposits, the max bonus is also the minimum amount you’ll need to invest in your account to collect the biggest bonus.

It’s a large bonus for American gamblers, though you need to know a few facts about the wagering requirement. It only applies to slot machines, real money keno, and online scratch cards. Table games like blackjack, baccarat, craps, and roulette do not apply towards the rollover. Read the full terms and conditions on the Desert Nights Casino FAQ, because players have complained that the policies are confusing — if not deceptive.

$50 Free Welcome Reward

All depositors receive a $50 free welcome reward. This bonus is offered for other table games, so most players will look at this as a $50 table games bonus. The rollover on this reward is 40x the bonus, so you’ll need to wager $2,000 to clear the wagering requirement.

250% Australian Welcome Bonus

Australian players receive a better deposit bonus than the non-Aussies on the site. The size of the bonus offered remains the same ($2500), but the match rate is much better on this offer: 250%. This means a player only has to deposit $1000 in order to receive $2500 in bonuses. The rollover on this offer is 35x the bonus received. If you receive a $2500 bonus, then you’ll need to wager $87,500.

That sounds like a huge playthrough requirement, and it is. If you play a slot machine with a 5% house edge, then you would expect to lose $4375 wagering eighty-seven thousand dollars. If you play a slot machine with a 7% house edge (common), then you would expect to lose $6,125. Playing online slots with a 3% house edge would mean you would expect to lose $2,625 – roughly a 50/50 chance you would be able to withdraw the bonus money.

That is the secret to all the promotional bonuses offered by online casinos: the house edge means they won’t have to pay a lot of customers. Gamblers need to get lucky to cash out bonus cash.

$10 No-Deposit Bonus

The Desert Nights Casino no deposit bonus is $10. Players who register an account receive ten dollars of free casino money. No deposit is needed and the bonus comes with no obligation. It has a rollover of 50x, and the maximum cash out is $170.

Monthly Welcome Bonuses

Desert Nights Casino at times offers special monthly deposit bonuses. These offers usually include higher match rates than usual. They might only last for two weeks at a time.

I’ll give an example of these offers. In May 2016, the site offered a $500, 150% bonus. To activate this bonus, you needed to use the promo code JACKPOT5x. The rollover on the offer was 34x the deposit plus bonus. Only slots, keno, and scratch cards were viable playing options. The promotion ran from May 2nd to May 15.

Free Chip Offers

The casino also offers one-time free chip offers from time to time. These can be deposit bonuses or no-deposit bonuses. In April, players who used the coupon code APRIL50 received a $50 free chip offer, which was a special no-deposit bonus. The rollover was 50x on the offer, while the max cash-out was $250. Again, the games gamblers could play were online slots, scratch cards, and Keno. This offer ran through April 30, 2016.

Players need to remember to input the promotional code. If you do this after making a deposit, the code won’t help you.

Desert Nights Casino VIP Club

The VIP Club at Desert Nights Casino has four membership levels: Explorer, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Explorer Level is the first membership tier you’ll enter. When you make five real money deposits on the site, you’ll become an Explorer Level member. The benefits of each tier are explained below.

Explorer Level

Exclusive free play on new game releases, dedicated VIP promotions, and a unique birthday surprise.

VIP Bronze

Weekly cashback, faster withdrawals, extra comp points, and personalized VIP service. Includes all benefits of Explorer Level, too.

VIP Silver

Better comp points than Bronze, fashion payments, better cashback incentives. Includes all the benefits of Bronze and Explorer Level.

VIP Gold

The best comps in the casino, the best cashback, and the fastest withdrawals. Also special VIP-only promotions. Includes the benefits of all other tiers.

The VIP Club could be a little more elaborate, but it’s still a nice package of gaming incentives. The site is somewhat vague about certain aspects of the VIP Club. To learn more about the VIP Club at Desert Nights Casino, send emails to [email protected].

Desert Nights Table Games

Desert Nights Casino review shows them offering 7 table games. US players that are used to RTG online casinos might consider that low. The essential casino games are here, though.

Blackjack

Classic Blackjack is a six-deck game with an expected return of 99.54% for optimal play. As always, blackjack is a game that rewards the study of basic strategy.

3-Hand Blackjack

Three-Hand Blackjack is a game that allows a player to play up to three hands at once. Playing 3 hands at a time means the gambler faces the house edge three times at once. Adjust bets accordingly.

Baccarat

Desert Nights features “Punto Banco” Baccarat, which is played in most American casinos. Baccarat is a game without a strategy, but it has a low house edge. Online baccarat and mobile baccarat are played with an automatic dealer, so hands are played faster than usual.

European Roulette

European Roulette is the game made famous in Monte Carlo. This single-zero version of roulette is the best version, with a house edge of 2.70%. That would translate to an RTP of 97.30%, which is much better than most slots games.

American Roulette

American Roulette is the game made famous in Las Vegas. It is also called double-zero roulette, because it has two pockets with the green zero numbers: “0” and “00.” This nearly doubles the house edge to 5.26%.

Craps

Craps is the classic dice shooting game that requires 4 dealers and attracts a small crowd of gamblers and onlookers at the brick-and-mortar casino. No game loses as much charm in the transition to online casino gambling, because craps is a game about camaraderie with the other gamblers, but all the essentials are here. The basic bets are best, so don’t fall for the sucker bets.

Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker is based on a Chinese dominoes game, though Pai Gow Poker is played using a standard 52-card deck of cards. The player has 7 cards to build 2 hands: a 5-card hand and a 2-card hand. What makes the game challenging is that the bets are the same for each hand, so it’s best not to ignore the strength (or weakness) of either hand.

Red Dog

Red Dog is a card game played with a 52-card deck which once was popular in casinos, but has seen its popularity wane in recent decades. Players in certain regions might know this game as “Acey Deucey” or “In-Between.” Not much strategy is required, while the house edge is fairly high.

Video Poker

Video poker is the gaming machine that is overlooked all-too-often when compared to online slot games. However, video poker has much better odds than slot machines. Video poker is a game where strategy plays a big role, so players need to study and memorize the strategies needed to succeed. If not, then the vaunted odds of video poker are no better than other games.

Desert Nights Casino offers 7 types of video poker. In the space below, I give a short description of each. When it’s possible to verify the odds, I include the expected return on each game.

Jacks or Better

Jacks or Better video poker is the original game. Sometimes called “Draw Poker,” Jacks or Better has the highest return-to-player among the seven games. You play against a paytable, so no bluffing or reading the opponent occurs. The RTP is 99.54%.

Tens of Better

Tens or Better video poker was another of the early versions of the game. It was some clever game designer’s idea to get gamblers to play a game with worse odds. The minimum winning hand is a pair of tens instead of a pair of jacks, but the RTP is 99.14%, because of other payouts on the machine.

Aces & Faces

Aces & Faces is a popular game these days because it has a nice RTP (99.26%) and a lot of wild cards. In this game, a four-of-a-kind with aces or face cards pays out a lot more than regular four-of-a-kind hands.

Deuces Wild

Deuces Wild is played with four wild cards. It is also the game with the second-best odds. The return-to-player is 99.37%, which is a solid payout.

Deuces & Joker

The four 2-cards and the joker are wild cards in this style of video poker. The 5 of a kind has a large payout, while 4 deuces are the second biggest payout. The return to play is 99.07%.

Joker Poker

Joker Poker is often called Jokers Wild. The joker card is a wild card. The minimum winning hand is a pair of kings, though. The return to player is 98.60%, making it a less desirable game than most on this list.

Double Joker Poker

Double Joker Poker includes a bigger payment for the joker royal flush and a payment for a five of a kind. Despite the payouts for high-end card hands, the expected return on Double Jokers Wild is 98.10%, making it the worst game of the bunch.

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Players have pointed out the Rival Gaming’s list of video poker leaves something to be desired. Some of the game choices have been phased out of brick-and-mortar casinos. The house edge is high on a few of the games. Even the sound quality on the games has been criticized. Despite that, video poker remains one of the best gaming propositions on the site.

Specialty Games

Desert Nights Casino offers a large list of specialty games. The specialty games are sometimes called arcade games, a catch-all term for the lottery-style games and other titles that wouldn’t normally be on a casino floor.

Bingo is well-represented on the site, giving players the full range of playing options. The scratch cards are well-represented, though they play quickly and have no strategy element. Keno gamblers receive two game options.

The Sudoku Numbers Game plays a lot like a slot machine, but it’s not an online slots game. The game uses a 3×3 grid. At the beginning of the game, 9 numbers fill in these boxes. If you get a three of a kind, you’ll win money. The Online Sudoku specialty game was designed by Rival Gaming itself. It’s a unique little game that players should try, especially if they enjoy the real world Sudoku puzzle-solving game.

Desert Nights Casino Slots

There are many different kinds of slots being offered at Desert Nights Casino. You will find progressive slots, as well as some of the top featured and i-slots from Rival Gaming.

Progressive Jackpot Slots

Desert Nights Casino does not have that many progressive slot machines, because Rival Gaming doesn’t have that many progressives. The jackpots on these games were much larger, but a player hit the right combination and triggered the progressive. Keep an eye on the accumulated jackpot, because they should rise over time. The small ones like Major Moolah are not likely to increase fast.

Money Magic – $54,509*

Money Magic Slots has the biggest jackpot at the moment. Money Magic is a 5-reel, 9 payline game based on stage magic. Reel symbols include magic rabbits, pigeons, top hats, levitating subjects, stage magicians, lovely assistants, and magic wands.

Strike Gold – $15,537*

Strike Gold Slots combines a 3-reel slot machine with a progressive jackpot. The theme of the game is mining for gold. All the reel symbols have something to do with gold. While the progressive jackpot sits at fifteen thousand dollars right now, I’ve seen this game go well over $100,000. Often, Strike Gold is the biggest jackpot of the four games listed here.

One Million Reels BC – $8,308*

One Million Reels BC Slots is a 3-reel, 5 payline game about cavemen and dinosaurs. This slot machine is a lot like the game below: a vintage slot machine with modern elements.

Major Moolah – $4427.80*

Major Moolah Slots is a 3-reel, 1 payline game that looks like a classic 3-reel slot machine. It combines the feel of a mechanical slot machine with a modern progressive jackpot. Necessarily, the jackpot is smaller.

*Current progressive jackpots, check casino for updated numbers.

Featured Slots at Desert Nights

The homepage of the site features several games. Since these are the easiest to find and the most likely to have special offers, OUSC offers details of those games. They represent a nice sampling of what Desert Nights Casino has to offer.

5x Wins Slots

This is a 3-reel classic from Rival Gaming. Like many Rival slots, it focuses heavily on game features. It has a wild symbol that acts as a 5x multiplier, giving the slot its name.

Frogged Slots

Frogged is a 5-reel, 20 payline game from Rival. It offers free spins and bonus games. The theme is inspired by the classic 80s arcade game, Frogger.

Diamonds and Cherries

Diamonds & Cherries Slots is a brand new game from Rival Gaming. It was released in January 2016 and has a sleek, vivid design. Diamonds & Cherries is a 3-reel, 1 payline game, but it has wilds, scatters, and a 2,500x jackpot.

Cirque du Slots

Cirque du Slots from Rival takes its inspiration from Guy Laliberte’s Cirque du Soleil shows in Las Vegas. The game includes the exotic performers and showmen you would expect from the Sun Circus, but it also has free spins, multipliers, and wilds. This is not to be confused with Cirque du Masquerade Slots from WSM Gaming.

Star Jewels Slots

Star Jewels Slots is best known for its sticky expanding wild symbol, which expands to cover an entire reel with wild symbols. The jackpot on this game is only 1000 coins, but it also has nice payouts for the various jewel symbols, too. The sticky wild is a symbol that continues to trigger wild symbols over and over again.

Diamond Dazzle Slots

Diamond Dazzle is another Rival Gaming 3-reel spinner. While the 1500-coin jackpot is not going to impress the progressive players, old-style gamblers are going to enjoy this game, because it has a lot of winning spins and a higher payout rate than the progressive slots.

Pistols & Roses Slot

Pistols & Roses sounds like an Eighties rock band, but it’s actually a game with an Old West theme. It’s another Rival Gaming slot with a smaller fixed payout, but multipliers to keep players excited. Pistols and Roses is a 3-reel, 1-payline game.

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These are just a few of the Rival Gaming slots offered by Desert Nights. Games like Loco 7s, Gnome Sweet Home, Silver Unicorn, and Zombiezee Money are available for play. The visually striking Jolly Roger’s Jack Pot is available, too. Popular games like Scary Rich, Costume Party, and Coins of Olympus remain part of the catalog. A game about which players might wonder is Wild Carnival slots because many of the Desert Nights Casino advertisements feature images of the Brazilian showgirls from Wild Carnival.

i-Slots from Rival Gaming

The main slot machine page is not the full complement of one-armed bandits on Desert Nights. If you don’t look closely, you might miss the i-slots page on the site. These are interactive slots with bonus games in which your decisions have a real effect on the outcome of the game. Once again, these are Rival Gaming slots. There aren’t many of them, so I’ll provide the whole list of interactive slots on Desert Nights.

As the Reel Turns 1: With Friends Like You

Panda Party

Hole in Won

Spy Game

More i-Slots