Action Bank Slot Review: Barcrest's Pub Machine Online

The Action Bank slot is a Barcrest game, released online in 2016, that plays on five reels and three rows with 20 paylines and a published return to player of 95.16%. Barcrest now sits within Light & Wonder, and the game keeps the feel of a British and Irish pub fruit machine: wilds, scatters, a pick-me bonus and a round of free spins.

That is close to the whole story. Action Bank is an old-fashioned machine with few moving parts. The name has been reused several times, so check which Action Bank you have opened before staking anything.

Action Bank slot at a glance

Item	Published figure
Studio	Barcrest (Light & Wonder)
Released	2016
Layout	5 reels x 3 rows
Paylines	20
RTP	95.16%
Volatility	Not settled: sources disagree
Top bonus prizes	500x stake in the Big Bank Bonus; 675x stake in free spins (per SlotCatalog)

We leave volatility and the overall maximum win blank on purpose. Listings variously call the game low-medium, medium and medium-high, and the top prize is quoted in coins rather than as a multiple of the stake, which tells you nothing about a euro bet.

The Big Bank Bonus and free spins

Two features carry the game. The Big Bank Bonus is a pick game: you choose from a set of options on screen and collect cash prizes, with the largest worth 500 times the stake. The free spins round is the other route to a bigger hit, with a top prize given as 675 times the stake by SlotCatalog. Between features you are relying on wilds and scatters across the 20 lines.

On a EUR 1 spin, a 500x pick is EUR 500. On a 20 cent spin it is EUR 100. Keep the arithmetic in mind when a feature is described as a big bank: the bank is always a multiple of what you put in.

Four games that are not this one

Action Bank Wonder 500, Action Bank Plus, Action Bank Cash Shot and Action Bank Safe Cracker are separate releases with their own maths. The figures on this page belong to the 2016 original only. Open the game's help screen and check the title before relying on any number here.

Action Bank RTP: what 95.16% means

An RTP of 95.16% is a long-run average across millions of spins. In theory, EUR 100 staked returns EUR 95.16 and the house keeps EUR 4.84, but a single session can land anywhere. It sits below the 96% mark that many newer releases publish; our high RTP slots list shows where the bar is higher. Casinos may also run a lower setting than the studio's best, so the in-game info panel is the figure that counts.

Action Bank demo and bonus buy

We could not confirm a studio demo for Action Bank. Some casino lobbies show a free-play mode before you deposit; it uses play credits, pays nothing and is useful only for learning the pick game. No bonus buy is listed among the features of this version. If a site offers spins on it as part of a welcome deal, read the wagering on our free spins page before treating them as cash.

Playing it from Ireland

Ireland does not yet license online casinos: the GRAI expects to begin gaming licensing in early 2027, so any site offering Action Bank here runs under a Maltese, British or other foreign licence. Check which regulator is named in the site footer, as that is where a complaint would go. Play is for 18+ only, and a deposit limit set before the first spin is the sensible order of things; our responsible gambling page lists Irish support services.