GiddyUp Online Games Review | How It Works, Bonuses, Game Library, and More

GiddyUp is a Parimutuel Powered Games platform that just launched in beta mode. It works by connecting the outcomes of horse races to gaming-style reveals. While you may be betting on the result of a given horse race, the final form your gameplay takes is as a casino-style game. You may spin the reels on a slot-like game, for example, to reveal whether you’ve won.

Confused? Not to worry, this page will cover how it works and what you can expect from GiddyUp now that it has launched in the US. I will also break down my experience playing on the site for several hours, giving a comprehensive review in several key categories.

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My verdict on GiddyUp Games

GiddyUp Casino (or GiddyUp Online Games, if you prefer) is still in beta mode. So you have to expect some bumps when you are playing right now.

And boy, did I hit some bumps. For about 24 hours, I was unable to play any games at all, despite having made a deposit. And I was unable to make a withdrawal. So at that point, I thought my review was going to be quite unfavorable.

But once I finally was able to play…I had a blast! So overall, I was left with a positive impression.

Below, I will go into further detail about both the obstacles I faced and the elements I thought were quite fun. That way, you can decide for yourself if it sounds like your cup of tea.

How GiddyUp works: parimutuel gaming explained

The phrase “Parimutuel Powered Games” can be intimidating. So let’s first explain exactly how the site works.

While GiddyUp will feel similar to a casino platform in many ways, it is distinct because of how its outcomes are determined.

Think of GiddyUp as a marriage of a casino-style platform (like sweepstakes sites) and a traditional horse race betting platform. To be ultra clear, GiddyUp is neither of those things, but it has elements reminiscent of both.

The main thing to know about Parimutuel Gaming platforms is that they use live horse racing results to determine your outcomes. Those outcomes are then presented in a game-like format, with the most common format being a slot-like interface. As a player, you don’t watch the horses cross the finish line. Instead, you see your outcome presented in the game you’ve chosen to play. But behind the scenes, the platform is entering your wager into a parimutuel bet on a live horse race.

Think of it as a separation of the actual betting activity and the visual presentation of the outcome. You’ll see the reels spin and land on a win or no-win combination, but that’s just a visual picture of the horse racing results you’re betting on behind the scenes.

To use a different metaphor, consider the horse racing the car’s engine, while the games are like the windshield. You use one to power the whole apparatus, but you see through the other. Both are important, but they have separate functions.

In practice, then, GiddyUp is real-money wagering. You make a deposit on the site. You use that deposit to buy credits. At that moment, your horse race betting wager is made. As soon as it clears, the system knows how much you need to have won or lost by the time those credits are used up. So playing the games is just a fun way to show you how much you won or lost. And since you don’t know the outcome until you play on the slot, there is definitely the same air of excitement that I feel playing slots at other sites.

To help you understand the model, GiddyUp shares this visual with players when you access the lobby:

I thought it was an awesome graphic to look at the very first time I logged in: a nice, succinct summary. But I admit that by the 20th time I went to the lobby and saw it yet again, it was overkill. So I hope GiddyUp tones that down for the full launch.

Can you control the horse race wagers?

Kind of. When you convert your cash to credits, you can click on “Wager Details,” which brings you to a screen that shows the exact bets you are making. Here is mine:

At the bottom of the screen, you can hit a button to shuffle up your wagers, if you want. But as you can see, the results are somewhat anonymized. So no matter what, you are betting without all the information. And really, no matter what, your return will be similar no matter what.

The point is this: if you love horse race betting, you are better off using an app like FanDuel Racing. The point of GiddyUp is really meant to be about the entertainment of playing the game, not the intricacies of horse race wagers.

That said, GiddyUp Games makes it very clear that the results are actually tied to these races:

Time delay

As you may have noticed in the screenshot showing the Wager Details above, the nature of GiddyUp’s model may mean a delay between placing your wager and actually getting to play the games. This makes sense to me, since the platform needs to wait for the horse races to finish. So after you buy the credits, you get a screen like this:

Where I do get confused is that when I actually wanted to see the wagering results, I got this screen:

The implication seems to be that if you don’t preview the wagers, you can play immediately. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why with one method I have to wait but with the other, I can play right away.

GiddyUp welcome bonus and ongoing promotions | 4.2 / 5

GiddyUp has just launched in the US. So certainly they hope to build up their customer base with a nice welcome bonus. And the one they have is solid. Basically, if you make any deposit of $10 or more, you will get another $15 added to your account.

For example, I made a deposit of $20:

But my account showed $35 instead:

You can convert that extra $15 to credits and use it as normal.

Promos for existing players

This is an area where GiddyUp Casino has room to grow. The site certainly understands the importance of rewarding existing players. The platform advertises that they will offer cashback, deposit bonuses, and more.

However, at present, I only found two promos on the site. First, every day that I logged in, there was a little icon at the top that showed my progress toward the daily quest. So if I made a certain number of spins (on any game I wanted), I would get bonus money in my account.

200 spins to get 2.00 credits is a tiny bit steep. However, since the results are already predetermined, I always chose the lowest spin amounts anyway. So I easily met the threshold and got the extra credits.

I also found a refer-a-friend bonus at GiddyUp. If I referred someone who then went on to deposit at least $20, I got $10. That’s a pretty generous amount, compared to a lot of other sites.

As I say, other than that, I didn’t see any promos, and I didn’t find a promotions tab anywhere. So I hope that GiddyUp adds more soon.

How to create your GiddyUp account and get started on the site

Creating an account at GiddyUp Games is very simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Visit Giddyup.us and click the cyan button that says “Sign up.”
2. Enter your email and create a password. Or, simply log in with Google.
3. At this point, your account is created. However, you can’t play until you make a deposit. And in order to make a deposit, you have to verify your information. You do have to input a bit of personal information, but this is a legal requirement. It is legit, and your details are protected by the best cybersecurity possible. For me, I was automatically verified with just my name, address, and last 4 numbers of SSN. If that doesn’t work for you, you may have to upload an ID and/or take a selfie.
4. After your deposit, double-check that you received your $15 bonus. If not, reach out to customer service.
5. Hit the purple button with a plus to convert your cash to credits.
6. Once that has processed, you are ready to play any games you want.

You should not ever have to input a GiddyUp promo code throughout this process. If you are asked for one, you can enter PLAYUSA.

GiddyUp game library | 3.5 / 5

This category is a bit relative. After all, how you judge the game library depends, in large part, on what you are comparing it to.

Does GiddyUp Games have the game selection as real-money online casinos? No, not even close. And most sweepstakes casinos are going to have GiddyUp beat as well.

The more fair comparison is GiddyUp Casino vs. Horseplay Casino, a direct competitor. And between the two, GiddyUp is better in some regards and Horseplay is better in some regards.

What I like about GiddyUp is that it has games from some reputable studios, especially NetGaming. A lot of the games on Horseplay are pretty underwhelming visually. But the slots at GiddyUp Casino are modern, with a variety of mechanics. I played on Zeus’s Thunderbolt 10000 by NetGaming and Thunder Blitz by Bragg, and both were excellent games, exactly what I expect from an online gaming site.

Where GiddyUp falls short, however, is that at least right now, that is the only kind of game you can find at GiddyUp. At Horseplay, you can play plinko, video poker, and more. Plus, GiddyUp offers around 50 games right now, and Horseplay has about 150.

To be fair, will GiddyUp Casino add more games and more variety in time? Probably. But at this point, an average grade in this category feels fair, representing a really nice slots collection but no other game type.

Deposits and withdrawals at GiddyUp | 3.8 / 5

As I evaluate this category, I am thinking about a few different aspects. One is which methods are offered. One is speed. And the final one is the policies that GiddyUp has in place around deposits and withdrawals. In the first element, GiddyUp is average. In the second, it excels. But in the third, it falls well short of my expectations. Let’s take them one at a time.

GiddyUp offers four banking methods: online banking, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. For a smaller, newer site, that is a pretty standard selection. I would love to see e-wallets offered, but I am definitely not going to bash GiddyUp Casino for what they offer.

Speed, for me, was exceptional. I made a deposit using my debit card, and it was instant. That’s pretty standard. But what blew me away was the withdrawal speed. It’s the fastest I have ever experienced. I was fortunate enough to win $146 on my $20 deposit + the bonus credits. I requested a withdrawal for that amount at 9:16 AM. The message I received said it could take up to 5 business days for approval and me getting the funds. But I ended up receiving the approval email at 6:16 PM. And the funds were in my bank account when I woke up the following morning. Seriously impressive.

Less impressive to me is GiddyUp Casino’s minimum withdrawal of $50. That is the highest I have ever seen (by far!) of any real-money online gambling site. Besides that, their policies are standard (e.g., you have to verify your identity before banking and GiddyUp doesn’t charge any fees.) But that minimum withdrawal amount is well above the industry standard.

The only other note I would make is that you can only purchase credits in certain amounts: $10, $20, $50, $100, $200, and $500. So let’s say I deposit $40 of credits and get my $15 bonus. I can’t instantly convert all $55 and play. I have to buy $50. And if I happen to have terrible luck on those horse races and only win $4, I would have $9 in my wallet. And I can’t do anything with it. I can’t purchase credits to keep playing. And I can’t withdraw that amount. So again, this is yet another reason that I want the policies to be adjusted.

GiddyUp legal status, availability, and safety | 4.7 / 5

Again, this category can be broken down into several components, so let me run through each one. But here is the most important thing I can say about GiddyUp: I personally would have absolutely no qualms about going back to the site and making a deposit. Here’s why:

Reputation

Obviously, GiddyUp is quite new. So while we don’t have any reports from people not being paid or any data breaches, perhaps that is to be expected at this point. However, GiddyUp is owned and operated by KHK Games, Inc., the same business behind Clubs Poker and Clubs Casino. And those sites have sterling reputations.

Legality

Understanding GiddyUp’s status as a parimutuel-powered games platform is crucial to understanding its legality. By using live horse racing data, GiddyUp functions as an advanced deposit wagering site, which is legal in many US states. As a result, you can be assured that GiddyUp Casino is legal and regulated in any state where it operates.

This shines through in GiddyUp’s policies. I was not allowed to make a withdrawal until I verified my identity, matching KYC (Know Your Customer) laws. I needed to share my location. Etc.

Legal policies

• Age: 21+
• Available States: Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Responsible gambling

This aspect of keeping players safe often goes overlooked by online gaming sites. They pay lip service to the concept with no substantial information or meaningful tools.

That is not the case at GiddyUp. GiddyUp Casino has extensive information on responsible gambling and many helpful tools. If you click on the blue Responsible Gaming button, you can set deposit limits, loss limits, and daily play limits. You can also choose self-exclusion.

Also, at one point, I had GiddyUp open in a separate tab while I was waiting for the races I wagered on to finish. When I returned to the screen, I found this message:

Again, there are plenty of operators who prioritize profit over player safety. GiddyUp Casino goes above and beyond to make sure people play responsibly, and I appreciate that.

GiddyUp customer support | 3.0 / 5

My basic summary of GiddyUp’s customer service is that the options are extremely limited but ultimately prove effective.

At present, GiddyUp Casino has exactly one way to get help with issues, and that is email. I certainly hope that they add live chat or phone support or something as they grow, but so far, that is all they offer.

The challenge with email, of course, is that you have to wait a long time for a response. And in my case, I was totally stuck when I reached out to support. There was technical issue with the site at that moment, and it was preventing me from turning my deposited cash (+ bonus) into credits:

So I couldn’t actually play any games. And since the withdrawal limit is $50, I couldn’t withdraw.

When I emailed, I received an automated confirmation saying that GiddyUp had created a ticket and that “A team member will review it and respond—usually within 24 hours.” 24 hours?!?!? That’s kind of a lifetime in our fast-paced world.

About 6 hours later, I received a response from the Customer Support Manager, Margaret. But it simply stated that they were forwarding my ticket to the “appropriate team.” It wasn’t until 36 hours after that (40 hours since submission) that I finally received an email saying that everything was resolved.

And it was resolved. At that point, I could play on the site. But imagine if it still wasn’t working, and I had needed to wait another 2 days to hear from the site. It is simply uncompetitive compared to other options.

If I’m being honest, I’m not sure I would have even kept playing on the site when I had to wait for 40 hours except that I wanted to be able to write this review (my dedication to you, dear reader, is unsurpassed.) So this is an area that GiddyUp absolutely needs to clean up as it grows.

GiddyUp user experience on desktop and mobile | 4.2 / 5

Let me start by saying that GiddyUp Casino does not have a mobile app right now. You will see other apps called GiddyUp, but they are not the same thing.

So I played on both the desktop site and by mobile browser for my testing. I was impressed at how smooth everything ran for a newer site. Often, new sites will have broken links or pages that are clearly just placeholders. But GiddyUp had none of that.

Plus, the site was easy to navigate, and everything loaded super quickly.

Why not a perfect score, then? Well, the troubles I had converting my cash to credits was a pretty big miss. I am trying not to “double ding” GiddyUp too much since I already discussed the issue above. But still, it was a pretty big glitch that impacted my user experience. Hopefully, it was a one-time thing, and I can change this score as I update the review.

Final thoughts

For a newer site, GiddyUp is off to a really strong start. Is it perfect? No…but what is?

The most revealing question I can ever answer about a site is this: Will I keep playing? For me, the answer is yes. Probably not as often as some of my favorite sweepstakes casinos, which have more games. But in my state (Wisconsin), there are very few real-money online gambling options. Would I recommend Horseplay over an offshore site like Bovada? Absolutely. GiddyUp is safe and secure, offering a nice welcome bonus (with fair terms), a smooth user experience, and very fun games.

GiddyUp still has a few kinks to iron out. But at the end of my experience on the site, I find myself definitely wanting to play more.

Overall Rating: 3.9 / 5