How We Rate Casinos: the Six Things Behind Every Score

The rules behind every score

Six things, one score

Every casino gets a score out of 5 from the same six things, worked out from its own data. None of them is a matter of taste: each part has a rule, and the rules are below.

Part	Weight	What it measures
Licence and safety	25%	Who licenses the casino, and how well that regulator protects players
Payouts	20%	How fast winnings arrive, and the limits on withdrawals
Bonus terms	20%	The wagering on the welcome offer, not the size of the headline
Games	15%	How big the library is, the live tables, and the number of studios
Support and mobile	10%	Live chat, opening hours and apps
Staying in control	10%	The tools to limit your play: deposit, loss, wager and session limits, and self-exclusion

Each part gets up to 5 points. We weight them, add them up and turn the total into a score from 3.0 to 5.0. We only list casinos that take Irish players, so the scale starts at 3: a 3.0 is the weakest casino on our lists, a 5.0 would be the best on every count.

How SlotSite gets 4.7

Part	Points out of 5	Weight	Adds to the total
Licence and safety	5.0	25%	25.0%
Payouts	4.5	20%	18.0%
Bonus terms	2.5	20%	10.0%
Games	4.3	15%	12.9%
Support and mobile	3.8	10%	7.6%
Staying in control	5.0	10%	10.0%

Together the parts make 83.5% of a perfect casino. The score is 3 + 2 × 0.835 = 4.7, rounded to one decimal.

Licence and safety: 25%

The licence decides where you can complain when something goes wrong, and how much the casino stands to lose if it treats players badly. We score the strongest licence a casino holds.

Licence	How much it protects you	Points	Casinos on our lists
UKGC	The strongest protection	5	4
MGA	The strongest protection	5	4
Alderney	Strong	4.25	7
Kahnawake	Good	3.5	7
Curaçao	Basic	3	19
Tobique	Weak	2.5	2
Anjouan	Weak	2.25	17
Comoros	Weak	2.25	1
Costa Rica	The weakest	1.75	4
Another licence	One we haven’t assessed yet	1.5	—
No licence listed	None we can check	1	4

+0.25 for games tested by an independent lab, such as eCOGRA or iTech Labs
+0.25 for a casino running for 10 years or more

What each licence means for you, and where to complain under it, is on our casino licences page.

Payouts: 20%

How fast the money arrives once you ask for it, as the casino states it.

Withdrawals take	Points
Instant	5
Within 24h	4.25
1–2 days	3
2 days +	1.75
Not stated	1.5

+0.5 if you can take out €20,000 a month or more
−0.5 if withdrawals are capped under €1,000 a day
+0.25 for 10 or more ways to withdraw

Bonus terms: 20%

We score the wagering on the casino’s welcome offer, because that decides what a bonus is worth: a big bonus with high wagering is worth less than a small one with low wagering.

Wagering on the welcome offer	Points
Up to 25x, or none	5
26x to 30x	4.25
31x to 35x	3.5
36x to 40x	2.75
More than 40x	2
No welcome offer	2.5

The calculator on our bonuses page works out what any bonus is worth on average.

Games: 15%

Games in the library	Points
8,000 or more	5
5,000 or more	4.5
3,000 or more	4
1,500 or more	3.25
800 or more	2.5
Fewer than 800	2

+0.5 for 300 or more live tables
+0.25 for games from 60 or more studios

Support and mobile: 10%

What the casino has	Points
Live chat	+2
Support around the clock	+1.5
An iPhone or Android app	+1
Phone support	+0.5
Email support	+0.25

The points add up to 5 at most.

Staying in control: 10%

One point for each tool the casino gives you to limit your play, 5 in all:

Deposit limits
Loss limits
Wager limits
Session limits
Self-exclusion

How to use them, and where to get help, is on our responsible gambling page.

Where the data comes from

Every number comes from our database of casinos: the licence, payout times, limits, offers, games, support and tools, as each casino states them. Nothing is scored by hand, so when a casino’s details change, its score changes with them. Each review shows the date its details last changed.

Casinos pay us when a player signs up through our links, but that never changes a score or a place on a list: how we make money. If you spot a detail that is out of date, tell us and we will check it.

Questions about our scores

Can a casino pay for a better score?

No. The score comes only from the casino’s data and the rules on this page. Payment from casinos never changes a score or a place on a list.

Why does a casino with a big bonus score lower than one with a small bonus?

Because we score the wagering, not the size. A bonus you can’t realistically clear is worth less than a smaller one with fair terms.

How often do scores change?

Whenever a casino’s details change in our database. Each review shows the date they last changed.

Why does the scale start at 3?

We only list casinos that take Irish players. The six parts decide where each one sits between 3.0 and 5.0.