How we decide which casinos to list — and which we won't
Most casino sites answer one question: will this operator pay us a commission? We answer a different one first — can we be honest with you about them? This page is the exact policy, published so you can hold us to it.
The short version. We earn a commission from some of the casinos we list. It never buys a better score, a higher ranking, or a quieter set of cons. And when an operator has a documented pattern of harming players — taking their winnings, rigging games, chasing self-excluded people — we keep the review up as a warning and remove the money entirely. We would rather lose the commission than send you somewhere we wouldn't send a friend.
Every casino sits in one of two tiers
The line between them is not how good their bonus is, or whether they pay us. It is a single question: is the problem paperwork, or is it harm?
The licence is weak, unverifiable, or one we reject
Plenty of real, popular casinos hold a licence we can't stand behind — an Anjouan or Mwali licence the Comoros Central Bank itself says carries no legal weight, or a Curaçao licence we can't confirm on the regulator's own register. That's a genuine risk, and we tell you plainly.
But a licence gap is a risk an informed adult can choose to accept. So we list the casino, show the warning, and keep the link — with a line that says, in as many words: at this time we can't verify (or can't stand behind) this casino's licence; if you've read that and still want to go ahead, the offer is below. Your call, made with the facts.
We may earn a commission here — and we tell you so, right at the button.
There is a documented pattern of harming players
This is different in kind, not degree. If an operator has a documented, credible pattern of confiscating or withholding winnings, running rigged games, systematically not paying, operating on the black market, or targeting people who have self-excluded — no disclaimer makes it honest for us to take a cut of sending you there.
So we do the one thing an affiliate is never supposed to do: we keep the review up as a warning and delete the affiliate link. The page still exists so you can see exactly why. We earn nothing from it. If you followed an old link to one of these, it now lands you back on our warning, not on the casino.
We earn nothing from an avoid-tier operator. That's the point.
The rules we hold ourselves to
- We never call an unlicensed casino "licensed." If we can't confirm a current, granted licence on the regulator's own register, we say "unverified" — we don't dress it up. See our licence tracker for what each licence type is actually worth.
- Commission never moves a ranking or a score. The Trust Score is computed from an evidence ledger under a public methodology. A bigger commission cannot buy a better number.
- We publish the cons as loudly as the pros — including for operators that pay us. If a review has no downsides listed, it's because we didn't find any, not because someone paid for silence.
- We don't promote where promotion is illegal. In countries where advertising or referring gambling is itself a crime, we serve no casino links at all — we serve the law instead.
- Complaints alone don't get a casino dropped. Every popular casino collects hundreds of complaints — more players, more grievances — and plenty come from people who broke the rules (multiple accounts, bonus abuse, playing from a blocked country) and were voided correctly. So we don't pull a link over complaint volume. We pull it only when an authority has actually ruled against the operator: a regulator fine or suspension, or a court or insolvency where players demonstrably weren't paid — a fact on the record, not one side of an argument.
Why tell you all this? Because trust you can't check isn't trust. If we ever break one of these rules, this page is the thing to hold up. And if you'd rather someone else did the reading, ask Whizz — it works from the same rules, and it will warn you about a casino we're paid by if the facts warrant it.
18+. Gambling should be entertainment, never income. If it stops being fun, free and confidential help is available — BeGambleAware and GamCare. Please gamble responsibly.