Fair Go Casino games review: the pokies, tables and video poker on offer

Fair Go Casino games review: the lobby by numbers

Fair Go is a pokies casino first, and its own figures say so: 280+ pokies against a compact set of tables, all credited to Spin Logic. One supplier means controls and bonus mechanics feel familiar from title to title, but if you don't enjoy the Spin Logic style there's no second studio to switch to. Claims that Spin Logic is RealTime Gaming under a new name are unverified; we've found no primary source for them.

A few of the pokies Fair Go features in its lobby. Each tile opens Fair Go in a new tab:

• Triple Tigers Play now, play now at Fair Go (opens in a new tab)
• Liberty Rockets Play now, play now at Fair Go (opens in a new tab)
• Seahorse Surge Play now, play now at Fair Go (opens in a new tab)
• Olympus Thunderhold Play now, play now at Fair Go (opens in a new tab)
• Coyote Cash 2 Play now, play now at Fair Go (opens in a new tab)
• FAT CA$H Play now, play now at Fair Go (opens in a new tab)
• Elemental Adventures Play now, play now at Fair Go (opens in a new tab)
• Bass Baggin' Bounty Play now, play now at Fair Go (opens in a new tab)

The pokies Fair Go publishes specs for

For a small group of titles Fair Go publishes features, paylines and top awards, and for three it names a volatility. Per-game RTPs are Not published in the sources we track. A selection of what's on record:

Those three volatility labels give you a usable spread. Dr. Winmore is listed as low volatility, which means smaller, more frequent wins and a modest top award. Kev's Bush Bonanza, Fair Go's own mascot game, sits in the middle. Devil's Jackpot is listed as high volatility: long dry spells punctuated by occasional big hits. If your budget is small or you're working through a bonus, the lower end of that range will usually make the money last longer. Top awards are quoted in coins or as multiples of the stake, not dollars, so we don't convert them.

Crimson Castle is the newest headline title and the one with the least information: Fair Go promotes it with the CASTLE launch code but publishes no paylines, RTP or top award. It's a reminder to check a game's info screen, which is where Spin Logic titles show their rules and pay tables, before you commit real money. Fair Go's codes for featured games are covered in our promotions review.

Jackpot pokies and the lobby side bet

Fair Go lists jackpot features on 6 of the titles it publishes specs for: Kev's Bush Bonanza, Cash Bandits 3, Plentiful Treasure, Aztec's Millions, Halloween Treasures and Achilles Deluxe. Progressive prizes grow as players bet, which means part of every stake funds the jackpot rather than the regular pay table. Expect the base game to feel tighter than its headline return suggests, with the difference sitting in a prize that very few players win. We don't quote jackpot amounts here; they change by the minute.

Separately, Fair Go runs opt-in lobby jackpots: opt-in side jackpot at $0.01 per spin. It's optional, cheap per spin and easy to forget is switched on, so decide deliberately whether it belongs in your budget.

Table games: what's on the felt

The table section is small but covers the classics. Blackjack comes as Classic Blackjack, European Blackjack, Face Up 21 and Pontoon, with Perfect Pairs and Suit 'Em Up available as side bets. The poker tables are Caribbean Stud Poker, Caribbean Hold'em, Pai Gow Poker and Tri Card Poker, and the rest of the room holds Baccarat, Vegas Three Card Rummy, American Roulette, European Roulette and Craps.

Some table-game maths is fixed by the rules rather than by the casino. On European roulette, with a single zero, the house edge is 2.70% on standard bets. American roulette adds a double zero, which lifts it to 5.26%. If you play roulette at Fair Go, the European wheel is the better bet every time. Side bets in blackjack generally carry a higher edge than the main hand, so treat Perfect Pairs and Suit 'Em Up as entertainment rather than value. Fair Go's exact rules and pay tables aren't in our register, so check them in each game before playing.

Video poker: the best returns in the house

If returns matter most to you, video poker is where to look. Fair Go quotes Aces and Eights at 99.78% RTP (a 0.22% house edge) and Jacks or Better (full pay) at 99.54% RTP (a 0.46% house edge). These are operator figures, and they assume perfect strategy: every hold-and-draw decision made the mathematically correct way. Casual play returns less. Even so, a house edge under one per cent compares well with the roughly 3% implied by Fair Go's quoted pokie average.

Every variant can be played as anything from 1 to 100 hands at once. Multi-hand play smooths out results but multiplies the stake per deal, which matters if you're clearing a bonus: Fair Go's $10 maximum bet during wagering applies, and a round of many hands at a small stake each can pass it quickly. Our guide to Fair Go's payout rate explains what RTP figures can and can't tell you.

Keno, scratch cards and the missing live casino

The specialty corner holds keno and treasure Tree scratch cards (three chances to win per card): quick games of pure chance whose return rates Fair Go doesn't publish in the sources we track. The bigger gap is live dealer games. There's no live dealer category, so everything is software-dealt. That suits fast play on a phone (see our mobile chapter) but won't satisfy anyone who wants a real croupier on camera.

Choosing games when you're clearing a bonus

The expected cost of wagering is the total you bet times the house edge, so lower-edge games cost less to play through, provided they count. Our register doesn't record Fair Go's game-weighting rules, so ask support before you start, keep bets within the $10 limit, and lean towards lower-volatility pokies to make the balance last. Our welcome bonus review works through the numbers, and the wagering requirements guide goes deeper.