How We Review UK Casinos: Sources, Checks and Scoring
Rachel Doughty
Updated
Each page on Casino Warnings comprises of, and is structured according to, documents released by the Gambling Commission and the relevant casino. This page describes what documents we use, how we evaluate them, and how we arrive at a score.
The sources behind every casino review
In the event of an inconsistency, a regulator’s record is more important than a casino’s own claims.
- 1The public register
This record includes the casino’s license, the account number, all names under which the casino operates, and all websites operated by the casino.
- 2The regulatory action register
We review the Commission’s records to evaluate fines, settlements, and warnings and to determine the conditions, if any, imposed on the license of the casino and/or the casino’s management.
- 3Enforcement news, read in full
We review Commission announcements.
- 4The casino's own terms
We review the terms and conditions, Rules and Policies, and Help Pages of the casino.
- 5Complaints bodies
We review IBAS and eCOGRA’s reports and the dispute service each casino names.
The registers are available to the public on the Gambling Commission’s web site.
What a Casino Warnings review covers
Each of the six areas comprises of the most important information requested by players.
- The record
- Fines, settlements and warnings against the licence holder, a previous holder of the same brand, and its managers.
- Your money
- The customer funds protection rating, and what happens to your balance if the company fails.
- Payments
- Methods, minimums, maximums, fees and the withdrawal times the casino publishes.
- The welcome offer
- The full terms: wagering, caps, expiry, excluded payment methods and the games that count.
- Safer gambling tools
- Deposit and loss limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, and how quickly changes take effect.
- Complaints
- The casino's own process and the independent dispute service it uses.
How we score UK casinos
Reviews and rankings are assessed differently.
Review scores run from 1 to 10 and are an editorial judgement across the six areas above. There is no fixed formula, because a £2 million settlement and a slow payout do not weigh the same for every player. Instead, each review's verdict says in plain words what earned points and what cost them.
Ranking scores Each ranking assigns scores based on a different criterion, and the weights of the ranks are included on the page. For example, a casino may rank high for timely payouts, but may rank low for player safety. If the casino does not disclose a figure, it scores nothing.
| Ranking | What decides the order |
|---|---|
| Safe online casinos | Commission record 40%, customer funds protection 30%, payout terms 30% |
| Fast withdrawal casinos | Processing time 50%, fastest route to your bank 30%, friction 20% |
| Casinos without UKGC fines | Entry rule: no fine, settlement or warning against the current licence holder |
| No wagering casinos | How much is wager-free 40%, what you can keep 30%, what you must spend 30% |
| PayPal casinos | PayPal payout speed 40%, PayPal limits 30%, friction 30% |
| High withdrawal limit casinos | Largest single withdrawal 50%, daily win cap 30%, speed on a big payout 20% |
| Pay by bank casinos | Bank payout speed 40%, limits 30%, friction 30% |
Why our casino reviews show screenshots
Each page that contains assertions that may need corroboration, such as timelines for withdrawals, or limits, or a casino’s unbroken record, contains a screenshot of the assertion, which is cross-referenced and cited.
We take screenshots of what we see. Casinos change their terms and conditions, and if we see a figure different from what we screenshotted, we’ll look for the casino’s page and let us know.
Commission and our casino reviews
Some links on our site are affiliate links. We get compensated if you sign up through them. Having a link on our site does not affect the objectivity of our review. We use the same sources for reviewing casinos whether we get compensated by them or not. Our reviews and rankings are not biased. See our Affiliate Disclosure for more information.
How casino reviews are updated and corrected
- New enforcement action
We update our review and any ranking of a casino if the Gambling Commission publishes action against the casino for a violation.
- Changed terms
If a casino changes its offer, we update our review and our ranking of the casino according to the new information.
- Your corrections
If you know of a casino that we reviewed incorrectly, please email us a link to the casino and the reasons you think we got it wrong to desk@casinowarnings.com. We date all changes we make to the review.
Rachel Doughty
Editor, Casino Warnings · Bristol
Rachel reads the Gambling Commission's registers and enforcement notices, and the terms casinos publish for British players, then writes them up in plain English.
- Sources
- The Gambling Commission's public register, regulatory action register and enforcement news, and the published terms of the casinos we review.
