Author:
Ashley
Last Updated:
02/10/2024
Topic:
Review
Experiences:
CA born, casino expert
Topic:
Review
Experiences:
CA born, casino expert
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Brought to you by the same RSG group behind the famous Rivers casino, Sugarhouse online sportsbook and casino is their answer to the growing phenomenon of online casinos and betting. But what sets Sugarhouse apart from the crowd?
To answer that, we’ll be diving into the many facets of Sugarhouse’s sportsbook and casino in this Sugarhouse review. Starting with the gritty issues where we ask questions like ‘is Sugarhouse legit?’ and crucially, ‘is Sugarhouse safe?’. Once we’re past that, we can get into the meat of Sugarhouse’s sportsbook and casino offerings and have some fun.
When searching for a new online sportsbook, comparing bonuses is a bit like comparing school districts when shopping for a new house. We all know that every house has one, but a great school district is often a key selling point that can make or break a purchase. Conversely, if you’re looking at a house and you don’t hear a single word from your realtor about the local schools, it’s time to ask what they aren’t telling you.
Sportsbook bonuses are the same, so it’s always worth taking those extra minutes to ensure you know where you get the best deals. We can say confidently that the Sugarhouse welcome bonus is among the best. Their flagship offer matches up to $250 deposits for new users with the code 250MATCH. The bonus comes with an industry low 1x wagering requirement, making it among the most generous.
Looking for more great bonuses? We’d recommend looking at our Resorts Online Casino review or DraftKings review—we’ve got guides on their bonuses too!
In terms of aesthetics, it’s hard to fault Sugarhouse. Their platform is visually pleasing, with clean lines and a minimalist feel despite being full of features. The colors are subtle, pairing cool blues with warm amber-yellow accents. A calming, pale backdrop brings it all together without overloading your eyes with harsh contrasts.
As for the usability segment of our Sugarhouse review, no substantial obstacles were encountered when using the site. The interface is easy to parse, and placing a bet can be done in a few simple steps. Select a sport, a market, a wager amount, and a hitting bet.
One feature that boosts our Sugarhouse sportsbook review is the ability to switch odds display formats. A tool displays your winnings alongside your total return to avoid confusion.
Finally, Sugarhouse gets props for supporting android, an area where some sportsbooks and casinos can be lacking.
A key question for any Sugarhouse review concerns payment options. After all, customers want to have options that suit their needs. Luckily for us, Sugarhouse has some great options to pick from.
The standard online banking methods will work alongside VISA, Mastercard, and Discover cards. In addition, you can deposit via PayPal or cash using PayNearMe or even at the casino cage in Rivers.
This versatility is nice to see, though be mindful that some credit cards will add a cash advance charge on deposits. Keep in mind that there is a minimum deposit of $10.
Withdrawing your winnings is slightly more complex, with online banking taking 2–5 days to process and checks taking even longer. Cash withdrawals at the casino cage or withdrawals to your Sugarhouse Play+ card are immediate, but ideally, there would also be PayPal functionality available.
When answering a question like ‘is Sugarhouse legit?’ Customer service is one area worth looking at, as it can separate the top-class operators from the rest.
In this case, we have email support alongside a live chat support line that runs from 9:30 am to 2:00 am. The night owls appreciate the extended hours for live chat among us, who like to wager on foreign sports and events happening in awkward time zones.
It’s also worth remembering that New Jersey and Pennsylvania require you to be within state lines to wager. The app verifies this with location data, though it can be inaccurate sometimes, especially if you live close to the state borders. So be careful if you have any virtual bets to place, as being detected outside state lines will prevent you from doing so.
Sugarhouse online sportsbook and casino is a fully legal, licensed, and regulated platform in PA and NJ. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, respectively, are the governing bodies that regulate the Pennsylvania and New Jersey versions of the Sugarhouse online sportsbook and casino.
In addition, the games available on the website and app are tested by the technical labs associated with the two-state regulatory bodies to ensure the fairness and safety of the products.
The other facet of the platform’s security is the sign-up and age verification process. As is typical with online betting platforms in the USA, you will need personal details, such as your SSN and zip code. However, the process is relatively quick and painless. If you already have RSG accounts, such as Rush Rewards, you can link these for a faster sign-up.
Sugarhouse’s rewards system is called iRush Rewards. It’s a tiered system, with users accruing ‘bonus store points’ and ‘loyalty level points’ as they wager.
The ‘loyalty level points’ determine your rewards level, giving access to perks like VIP assistance, exclusive offers at Rivers casino, and much more. Customers can earn luxury accommodation and transport to the casino at the very top end.
Rewards are slightly different in the two states, so it’s wise to check the website to find precisely what’s available in your state.
‘Bonus Store points,’ on the other hand, serve as a resource each user can spend as they see fit in the bonus store. If you’ve ever been to an arcade with tickets, you’ll be familiar with the concept. Only now, instead of earning a pack of big league chew, you’re earning points towards bonus money or other perks on the Sugarhouse platform.
In this section of our Sugarhouse review, we’ll be examining the casino & poker portions of the platform. This is Sugarhouse’s home turf in many ways, given that they started with a brick-and-mortar casino in Philadelphia.
Our Sugarhouse casino review will cover the games, the feel, the software, and the overall experience that Sugarhouse provides customers.
The first thing you’ll notice when you open up, the platform is that the selection of games is extensive. There are over 200 individual games to pick from in various styles, including slots, card games, and more. In addition, these games come to us from over a dozen separate studios, including some of the biggest names in the business (NetEnt, Konami, IGT).
So right off the bat, we are spoiled for choice with a great selection of different styles, themes, and games. Of course, there are still classic heavy hitters like Starburst, Gonzo’s Quest, and Divine Fortune, offering interesting mechanics, solid thematic elements, and a good return rate to keep you in the game for longer. Should you want something more ‘out there,’ you can always try your hand at the Guns ‘n’ Roses game, complete with a soundtrack from the band’s hit songs, flaming skulls, and cartoon depictions of Axl Rose.
Despite some titles’ corniness, the overall quality on display with these games is high. The graphics are often highly detailed, and newer titles have impressive sound designs and clean user interfaces that make them a joy to play. Gone are the days of gritting your teeth and ignoring broken interface elements that ruin the experience.
An excellent point in some games is the ability to set the value of an individual spin on a slot machine. It won’t affect the RTP % of the game, but it allows players to speed up or slow down the rate at which they win and lose money. So if you’d instead take your time and enjoy yourself for longer, you can do so without breaking the bank each time. It’s a helpful feature that can set online slots apart from their real-life cousins, for which it’s tricky to change the values if everything runs on quarters.
Sugarhouse boasts several options for live poker, that is, poker games where you play at a table with a real-life dealer controlling the flow of the game, reading out hands, congratulating or commiserating with patrons, and of course, dealing the cards.
For many bettors, live Sugarhouse poker and other live table games are just a step above anything else you can play in an online casino setting, offering greater immersion, stronger emotion, and a more visceral experience. Often these live games are not handled directly by the individual casino but rather are produced by a third party in the same fashion as online slots. Sugarhouse is no different, with live games being offered courtesy of many trusted names, such as Evolution Live Casino.
Aside from simply playing classic poker, players can opt for a variant or switch games entirely and try their hands at Blackjack, Roulette, or even Baccarat. The live Blackjack also includes added functionality, like VIP tables and a bet behind the feature, for a more well-rounded experience. Providing various online games, each with its cast of dealers and bettors, ensures that players can have that same casino experience of hopping from table to table. Trying a few hands of blackjack here and a couple of spins on the roulette there before maybe settling in for an intense night at the poker table.
When reviewing a site like Sugarhouse we also want to answer questions like ‘is Sugarhouse safe?’ and, rightly or wrongly, many people have trouble trusting online casino games when they can’t see the physical machine they are playing on in front of them. That’s why it’s important to stipulate that all the games available for play on the Sugarhouse online casino are tested and examined by the technical labs of the state regulatory authorities (the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in PA and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement in NJ). The games are certified as fair in the same way that a physical casino slot machine would, so remember that the rules these casinos must follow are strictly enforced. That’s why we can say with confidence that, yes, Sugarhouse casino is safe.
If we now step back and consider the Sugarhouse online casino in the context of our overall Sugarhouse review, we can see that the casino here really is something to be proud of. Both in terms of its functionality and technical competency and in terms of its options and diversity, it manages to excel. We would have no problem recommending players try their luck with the Sugarhouse casino offerings, especially given the new customer bonus offer extends to the casino and not just the sportsbook. Given all that, Sugarhouse sets a high bar for what other operators will have to compete with in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The selection of markets on offer in the Sugarhouse sportsbook is pretty comprehensive. You’ll be able to find the most significant sports and events with ease. And within those events, they offer a good selection of markets, including customizable parlays, round robins, player props, and more.
In addition to these major sports, you can find several lesser-known leagues and events, such as the AFL (or Aussie Rules), Rugby League, and even Surfing. This wide selection ensures bettors can cover a lot of ground before things ever have a chance to get stale.
That said, there is one significant omission; horse racing is conspicuously absent. This is a surprise, given the prominence and popularity that horse racing has traditionally enjoyed among bettors in the USA.
In addition, some motorsports have somewhat slim markets. Formula 1 events, for instance, can have limited markets available, with popular betting markets like ‘to finish on the podium’ absent from race events—much like what we found in our Scores review. Gaps like this can be disappointing, as they often lead to users switching platforms to find what they’re looking for. The result is inconvenient when bettors must make second or third accounts and remember other login details.
Our Sugarhouse sportsbook review would, of course, never be complete without discussing the odds available on the platform. On the whole, we believe that Sugarhouse offers competitive odds on its selection of markets, but to honestly know if you’re getting the most out of your sports betting, it’s best to compare odds between different platforms. It might seem like extra work, but it can make your bets go farther, and ultimately your bank account may thank you.
In terms of what helps set Sugarhouse apart in our review here, we’d like to highlight their house specials selection. You can check this dedicated tab to find exciting or novel markets that most sportsbooks wouldn’t typically give at any given time. It’s a great way of keeping things fresh and not letting repeat customers get bored.
One of the particularities of Sugarhouse is that it is exclusively a Pennsylvania and New Jersey sportsbook, which will be reflected in the variety of odds made available on the site. In particular, you tend to see that traditional US sports will have more markets available, and odds will often be set much farther in advance than on comparable non-US sportsbooks. A typical example is that NFL week 1 odds will usually go live shortly after the schedule is announced each year, despite schedules usually being published in spring and the season not getting underway until Autumn.
Live streaming is one of the increasingly common features discussed in any Sugarhouse sportsbook review. Indeed, it’s becoming a staple of online sportsbooks to allow punters to get an eyeful of whichever sport they are wagering.
After all, many foreign sports and leagues aren’t on your typical US broadcasters like ESPN, FOX, or NBC Sports. That means that to be able actually to watch the events you are placing bets on could be next to impossible without sportsbooks offering live streaming.
Sugarhouse does an excellent job highlighting which events are available to stream with a dedicated tab on the landing page. You can quickly scroll down the events streaming on a given day, be it Tennis, Soccer, Basketball, or many others. So if you want to ask us, ‘is Sugarhouse legit when it comes to streaming?’ The only answer is yes. Sugarhouse has put a lot of effort into this part of its platform.
As is typical of sportsbooks in the USA, Sugarhouse operates with a minimum bet limit for its patrons. Set at $1, this limit isn’t particularly limiting, as bets smaller than a dollar are hardly going to be made, to begin with.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much publicly available info on Sugarhouse’s upper limits for this Sugarhouse review. It’s not uncommon for operators to be touchy about revealing this info, but it can make various betting strategies tricky to implement. We know that Sugarhouse reserves the right to cap the payout for any individual bet at $250,000. Other payout limits in selected sports go lower, even as low as $10,000 for specific categories of novelty bets.
For complete info and details, remember to check the T&Cs on the website before placing huge wagers. We understand this isn’t a constraint that the average bettor will ever encounter, but we felt it deserved to be mentioned just in case someone out there is thinking of putting down $5000 on a +2000 long-shot only to have your winnings capped.
Weighing out the differences in this Sugarhouse sportsbook review, we estimate that the platform will well serve New Jersey and Pennsylvania sports bettors. The wide range of sports (horse racing being the exception) is more than enough to satisfy almost anyone looking to bet on sports. The clean layout makes it easy to find what you’re looking for, and from there, placing a wager is only a couple of clicks away.
The addition of an easy-to-navigate streaming platform also allows bettors to enjoy their sports within the platform and makes it far more likely that we’ll ever get to see things like the Greek basketball league. Frankly, it’s the sort of thing that makes betting more attractive.
There are some drawbacks, of course. Not being able to withdraw funds via PayPal is one such drawback, but they are generally the exception to the rule. In almost every area, Sugarhouse manages to be a decent sportsbook and go a cut above and be a great one. That’s why our Sugarhouse review can recommend them for New Jersey and Pennsylvania-based sports bettors.
So is Sugarhouse legit? Taking a step back and assessing everything we’ve gone over in our Sugarhouse sportsbook review and Sugarhouse casino review, we can get a firm picture of where its strengths and weaknesses lie compared to, say, our Unibet review or William Hill review.
We have a sportsbook with incredible variety, a killer bonus, and exciting specials. Then add a casino with a mouthwatering selection of games and slots, great mobile integration, and a modern design. Sure, there are a few nitpicks, but on balance, we’d have to say this is a fantastic platform, earning one of our top review scores.