Our team of casino experts take our casino guides extremely seriously. Having been in the gaming business for some 22+ years, we feel that we have the right experience to be the judge and jury in the field of online casino reviews and guides.
To make sure that we only list and rate sites of the highest standards, we have built our very own algorithm that rates each casino from 32 key indicator review points that we explain below in more detail with all the criteria needed for selecting the must play at casinos.
Trust, Security and Privacy Criteria
It’s very important that your money and personal information are safe and secure 24/7. We check for the following points in this criteria section:
1. Casino License Authority
All online casinos should be licensed, believe it or not some sites operate from an outdoor garden shed!
You can yourself check for a license on the casinos website but some licenses can be fake and hard to authenticate. Our experienced team can quickly detect a fake casino license or a casino that says they have a license when in fact they really don’t have one.
Having a license enforces casinos too operate within the laws of their respective jurisdiction and be responsible for their actions. This in turn provides players with a safety net while playing.
We rate casinos according to their license authority, a UK licensing being the best down to Costa Rica licenses being the lowest rating and then all the ones in-between.
2. SSL Encryption Security
All our listed sites must have a high-quality SSL encryption certificate. This guarantees that any data being sent within the player and casinos connection is safe and that it cannot be hijacked or stolen.
3. Audited by Independent Sources
Our listed casinos should prove to us that their games are regulated for security and honesty by a reputable and 100% impartial service authority like eCOGRA. If they do not use such an audit service, our team checks that the games are fair and that a random number generator is being used by the games that are being offered.
Games and Software Criteria
Being the most popular feature of all online casinos, the games and software available for players is obviously a key ranking signal in our reviews. We check for the following points in this criteria section:
4. Best Software Makers
We always like to see casinos with the big-name game makers like IGT, Konami, Ainsworth, Aristocrat, Bally, NETENT, High 5 Games, WMS, Playtech and Microgaming. The brand name game makers are known to offer the best overall gaming experience for players even when your losing 🙁
5. Choice of Games
Our review crew always check for a great variety of slot machines, regular style table games like blackjack, baccarat, roulette and poker, plus live casino dealer and bingo/keno/lotto games.
Our team always test out most of the games will real money just to ensure we get the perspective of what a real player would experience.
6. Progressive Jackpot Slots
Progressive jackpot slots are some of the most popular games in online casinos. We always check for the availability of the big paying names such as Hall of Gods, Mega Moolah, Jackpot Giant and Mega Fortune of just a few to mention.
7. Playing Free Games
Playing free games is always important in our casino assessment scores. Free games give players the chance to test run games at no risk to their wallet. We give very low marks to casinos that do not allow players to play the games for free without wagering any credits.
8. Downloadable Game Software and Apps
Back in the day casino game software was often needed to be downloaded by players. As internet and device speeds the need to download casino games software is very low now. These days 90% of casinos do not even offer any software for a desktop player.
Some casinos offer an app for mobile or tablet gaming and some don’t. We conduct comprehensive testing to check that the app is simple to install, loads the games fats and won’t have a conflict or issue with devices be them Android or iOS.
9. A Fair & Published RTP
Players should get a good return to player payout; we check that the RTP % is the industry standard rates and the RTP details of each game should clearly be shown on the casino website.
10. Browser Based Gaming
We always test that the website panel is easy to understand, that its intuitive, easy to navigate and well designed for all player skill levels.
Bonuses and Promotions Criteria
Players always like a bonus that provides a few extra credits on their account. Our review team look for the most outstanding offers that are actually worthwhile and not just a pig with lipstick on. We check for the following points in this criteria section:
11. New Player Sign-up Bonus
A welcome bonus offer should be available from all casinos. Our review team evaluate deposit match-ups, free spins deals and no-deposit offers.
12. Fair Terms & Bonus Conditions
Like all the fine print that no one ever reads it’s vital that the terms and conditions can be understood without having a law degree.
Bonuses should not have ridiculous high wagering requirements or other details that will make it impossible to really get benefit from. Our team analyse through the terms and conditions in every detail.
13. Ongoing Bonus Promotions
Bonuses should not only be for new players. We check to see how often new bonuses, promos and giveaways are offered to their regular players.
14. VIP & Loyalty Program
All casinos should offer a loyalty rewards scheme of some kind, so the more you play the more you can benefit even when you are on a losing streak.
VIP benefits should be available for the big punters who love living it large. Our review team ensure VIP & Loyalty Programs are well worth your membership status and offer the best benefits.
Sign-up Process Criteria
Our review experts analyse the complete steps of registering, depositing and cashing out casino funds so we have the “real world” experience when it comes to this process be it good or be it a bad one. We test for the following points in this criteria section:
15. Sign-up Process
No one wants to spend 10 minutes just to register an account, if the casino wants to know what you had for breakfast, we quickly lose interest in them and score them accordingly.
We go through the sign-up process from start to finish ourselves at every site we review to see if it is good or not.
Banking & Money Criteria
One of the most talked about areas that causes issues is in the banking area of online casinos. We check for the following points in this criteria section:
16. Security of Player Funds
We check to see that all payments are made by trusted and secured source transactions. Most casinos use a payment processor and we validate that these are legit and honest companies that process the payments.
17. Banking Methods
We ensure that the casino has a good range of various deposit and cash-out methods available including; web wallets, bank transfers, credit cards, PayPal and crypto coins to name just a few banking methods.
18. Currency Options and Fees
We review the currencies offered and if there are any minimum or maximum amounts that are not the industry average.
The casino should charge no or low fees for any deposit or cash-out transactions and should not have unfair exchange rates on currency conversions.
19. Banking Privacy
We review the banking privacy rules that casinos use, if they keep your personal details safe that makes us happy. Our review team take a complete read of privacy policies and terms.
20. Cash-outs
Casinos usually state on their website that it takes “x” amount of time to process withdrawals for “x” payment method. Sadly, what some casinos say and what happens in reality is completely different.
21. KYC – Know Your Customer
All casinos have a “KYC” Know Your Customer process. This means that the casino will need to verify your identity before they let you cash-out.
This process can be as smooth as silk or a complete headache, we check that each casino has an easy to follow process that does not ask for impossible or overly complicated requests from players.
Casino Support Criteria
Customer service is a huge priority for us when we do conduct our review process. We test for the following points in this criteria section:
22. Support Availability
Casino support should be available 24/7 x 365 days via toll free phone, emails and live chat.
23. Fast and Accurate Support
We do several tests at each casino with standard questions and we rate the reply by the time taken and the accuracy of their replies. We rate copy and paste support very low in our algorithm.
24. FAQ section
The FAQ section is a must have for us in our criteria. Casinos that can’t be bothered with a creating a great self-service help section don’t get a pass mark from us in this section.
Responsible Gambling Compliance Criteria
Responsible gambling conduct is important for us when we do complete our review process. We test for the following points in this criteria section:
25. Time exclusion
The casino should offer self-service time limit settings for players so they can control the time they spend gambling.
26. Deposit Limits
The casino should offer deposit limits so players can control how much they spend gambling.
27. Total time out exclusion
The casino should provide easy access to self-exclusion for a certain amount of time or for a more permanent exclusion.
Mobile Casino Gaming Criteria
We carry out in-depth checks that each casino is 100% compatible for Android, iPhone, iPad and all other mobile devices. We test for the following points in this criteria section:
28. Mobile UX – User Experience
We check the quality of the casino when using a mobile device. The games offered, how fast the games load and play, the site page speed and the overall user experience received when playing.
29. Casino App Use
Some casinos offer an app, we check the app in operation to verify how it works and the UX provided is a good one for players.
Local Casino UX – User Experience Criteria
We spend quite a large amount of testing in this section to verify that the casino is focused on providing a great local experience. We test for the following points in this criteria section:
30. Local currency wagering
Players should be able to gamble in their local currency to avoid any confusion when they are betting.
31. Local language translation
Players should have a website available to them that is in their local preferred language.
Player Reviews and Feedback Criteria
We consider player feedback and verified user reviews very important in our casino ranking algorithm. We test for the following points in this criteria section:
32. What other players are saying
What real money players have experienced and think about a site is one very important factor to consider when we analyze a site. Bad feedback from players is not a good sign, positive feedback can be a good sign, but we verify that both the positive and negative reviews are genuine and not fake.
We search for trigger words in player reviews like; rogue, blacklist, scammers of just a few terms of importance.
Summary
Well that is our 32 key points that we use in our algorithm to rate online casinos. These are the key indicators for ranking online casinos and the things you need to look for before parting with your hard earned cash.
Some of the points have more weight scores for calculating the total score as some points are more important considerations to factor than others.
Please feel free to view our online casino reviews that have the above criteria used to rate them in complete detail.
Casino Rogue Blacklist Criteria
Sadly, we have now more than 450 sites on our casino blacklist of rogue gambling sites. These sites have been black listed for reasons such as:
- Theft of player funds/winnings.
- No or terrible customer service.
- Slow payments of winnings.
- Complicated KYC – Know Your Customer process.
- Higher than normal fees for deposits, cash-outs and currency exchanges.
- Poor banking options and site security.
- Not fair random (rigged) games.
- Fake and not genuine pirated games being used.
- Problems with bonus terms and general fairness.
- No or fake casino license authority details.
- Large amounts of player complaints to us.
- Casino is associated by ownership with other rogue sites.
