How We Rate Online Casinos

Every casino review on this site ends with a score out of 5. This page explains what goes into it, so that you can judge the score for yourself.

The six criteria

Each criterion is scored from 0 to 10.

• Licence and trust, 25% of the overall score. Who licenses the casino, whether the licence number can be found in the regulator’s public register, and who operates the site.
• Payments, 20%. Which methods are open to players in Ireland, minimum deposit and withdrawal, stated withdrawal times, fees and limits.
• Bonuses, 15%. The terms, not the headline: wagering, whether it applies to the bonus or to deposit and bonus, maximum bet, maximum cashout and expiry.
• Game selection, 15%. Number of providers, live casino, table games, and whether return-to-player figures are published.
• Customer support, 15%. Channels, opening hours and language.
• Mobile experience, 10%. How the site and cashier work on a phone, and whether there is an app in the official stores.

How the overall score is calculated

The overall score is the weighted average of the six criteria, divided by two to give a mark out of 5 and rounded to one decimal place. For example, scores of 8.8, 7.8, 7.6, 9.0, 8.6 and 7.8 in the order above give 8.3 out of 10, which is 4.2 out of 5.

A bigger bonus does not raise the bonus score. Fairer terms do.

How we score licences

• A licence from the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland: 9 to 10.
• A licence from the Malta Gaming Authority or another EU regulator: 7 to 8.
• An offshore licence, such as Curaçao or Anjouan, with a number we can verify: 4 to 6.
• A licence we cannot verify: the casino is not listed.

Most casinos on this site hold offshore licences and not an Irish one. An offshore licence is not an Irish licence, and it gives a player in Ireland weaker protection. We show the licence and its number in every review.

Where the information comes from

We work from primary sources: the operator’s own terms and conditions, its bonus terms, its payments page and cashier, and the public register of the regulator named on the site. We do not copy facts from other review sites.

We also ask each operator to complete a questionnaire about its licence, payments, bonus terms and games. Where an answer differs from the operator’s published terms, the published terms take priority.

What we do not do

Our reviews are based on the sources above. Where a review includes a real-money test, it says so and gives the date, the payment method and the amount.

We do not guarantee that an offer is still available. Bonuses change without notice; the operator’s current terms always take priority over our summary.

Commercial relationships

We earn a commission when a reader signs up with a casino through our links. The commission does not change a casino’s score. The order of casinos in our lists can reflect commercial agreements.

How often we recheck

We check bonus terms when a casino is added and update them when an operator or a reader tells us about a change. Each page shows the date of its last check, and we change that date only when the facts have been checked again.