Ever since we added Online Casino content to Insider Gaming, our goal has been to share with you our objective and honest experiences.
On this page, we outline our working standards, ranking system and evaluation process to help you understand how we reach the opinions we do.
Read on to discover why our opinion matters and learn about the team of players who make it all possible.
Why Our Reviews Actually Mean Something
When we expanded our scope from video gaming to casino gaming, we already knew that honest reviews would remain the cornerstone of our approach.
We believe in providing real knowledge and first-hand experiences, without the confusion of highly technical details or compliacted language.
What we saw worked for gaming; we incorporated it into our iGaming section.
Honesty, no-nonsense comparisons, and fact-supported opinions are what make our reviews valuable.
Our casino gaming writers have a collective experience of 25 years, as well as being passionate players themselves.
They aim to provide you with everything you need to know before deciding whether to pass or play.
Meet Our Players
Our team independently try and test every brand we list to bring you first-hand insights.
Milena
Milena Petrovska has been working in iGaming for over 10 years and has spent countless hours playing at Online Casinos.
She keeps track of the latest trends and regulatory changes and attends igaming conferences to ensure she can always provide the most relevant insights.
Sadonna
Sadonna Price has been a leading figure in the igaming sector both in the US and internationally for nearly 20 years, consistently delivering the most recent news and legal developments.
Her mission is to offer casino enthusiasts valuable content, focusing on in-depth insights into the US gaming industry.
Grant
Grant Hill has been playing at and writing about Sweepstakes and Online Casinos for over 5 years.
He always has his eyes peeled for the newest platforms and regularly attends gaming expos to stay ahead of the curve.
Outside of casinos, Grant has a passion for video games and is also keenly interested in esports.
Understanding Our Safety Rating
We assign a Safety Rating to every casino review we publish, informing you about the brand’s trustworthiness.
We’ve developed a scoring process based on four rating sections and percentages that can’t be manipulated.
Every section makes its contribution to the overall Safety Rating of the online casino, based on its importance in the broader context.
After analyzing and reviewing the separate sections, we sum up their individual scores to get the site’s Safety Rating.
We apply the same process to every casino, regardless of which team member reviews the brand.
This approach enables us to provide unbiased ratings that are supported by our writers’ expertise, yet unaffected by their personal preferences.
1. Licensing OR Sweepstakes Rules (Max 30%)
We are only interested in egal casino gaming and always verify that a real money casino holds a valid license from the state in which it operates.
When reviewing a Sweepstakes Casinos, we focus on its Sweeps Rules and how easily they can be found and understood.
Ideally, we can access the licensing information and the Sweeps Rules from the homepage.
2. Payouts (Max 30%)
Payouts play a significant role in our Safety Rating because every player deserves to receive their winnings or cash prizes promptly.
When giving our score for this section, we consider our experiences with the payout process and user feedback.
Online casinos with fast, reliable, and trackable payouts get the most points for this section.
Any delays, unnecessary verifications, and unfair or unclear withdrawal policies negatively impact the rating.
3. RTP (Return to Player) Info (Max 25%)
Return to Player (RTP) is the percentage that informs players of the long-term theoretical return of each game.
Our team awards the best ratings to online casinos that provide easy access to the RTP of every game, whether via an information screen or a dedicated page.
The ratings decrease if the RTP information is difficult to find or only available for some games.
Offering no payout information is a strong red flag.
4. Customer Support (Max 15%)
When you play for a chance to withdraw winnings or redeem cash prizes, you want easy access to customer support.
When issues arise, players value fast and helpful responses to their concerns.
When assigning a score for this section, we consider whether there is 24/7 support, access to human agents, and multiple contact channels.
If an online casino makes it difficult for you to reach out and it takes forever to respond, it won’t get a good score from our team.
Total Score
After we cover every section that affects the Safety Rating, we calculate the Total Score.
It reflects the genuine rating of an online casino and how safe it is to play there.
A site with the maximum Total Score overperforms in every segment of its operations.
Our Scores Reflect What’s Important to Players: Here’s How
Our team understands what matters to players and how various aspects of a casino impact the overall experience.
We’ve developed a scoring system that encompasses the most crucial aspects, resulting in a final score that reflects the quality of a casino.
For example, if a casino receives a strong recommendation, you can expect favorable terms and conditions, a user-friendly website, and a fair payment policy.
If any of the rating sections underperform, it will affect the final score and determine whether the casino receives our recommendation or not.
Each section we analyze contributes independently to the overall score at a predetermined percentage rate, depending on its importance to players.
All our ratings are unbiased and based on mathematical calculations that can’t be influenced or changed by the writers.
They are factual and standardized to ensure that every brand we review gets the same rating approach.
1. Terms & Conditions (30 points)
Casinos with favorable terms and conditions, offering few restrictions for players, receive better rankings.
You should be able to find the Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) page easily and understand it even without any prior experience with online casinos.
Any unfair provisions negatively impact the score a casino gets for this rating section.
2. Website Ease of Use (25 points)
Navigating between different pages and finding the games you like should be smooth and intuitive.
Online casinos with good navigation, supported by menus, categories, and filters, receive the best ratings for this section.
If it’s difficult to find an important page or all games are grouped into one category, we will reflect these drawbacks in the section score.
3. Website Speed (25 points)
Nobody has the time to wait for a page or a game to load forever.
If the casino website’s speed isn’t optimized, the brand’s rating will decrease in proportion to its slowness.
Pages should open within a second, while most games take up to 10 seconds to load.
4. Payment Options (20 points)
Depositing and withdrawing are a crucial part of the online casino experience, which is reflected in our rating process.
We give more points to brands that support many payment and payout methods.
Fair banking limits, no fees, and fast processing times also positively impact the section score.
After We Sign Up, Here’s Our Process
Whenever we find a new casino, we make it our priority to sign up and experience it as a real player.
That’s the only way to actually see if there are any glitches, whether the user experience is good, and how fast the customer support team responds.
Anyone can comment on the design or count the number of games by simply opening the homepage.
What we understand as real players is that the overall experience goes beyond the facts and numbers.
As a casino user, you make payments, navigate different sections, load games, redeem cash prizes, and communicate with the platform in a way a mere visitor doesn’t.
We know this better than anyone, and here are the key evaluation points we consider after signing up at a casino.
Welcome Bonus & Freeplay Opportunities
A generous welcome bonus and free play opportunities are a must for a brand to earn our seal of approval.
In this segment, we don’t overlook the bonus policies, which affect how you can use and benefit from the bonuses and promotions.
We prefer casinos that offer a substantial and flexible welcome bonus, allowing new players to experience the platform truly.
Casinos that offer free bonuses always earn more points and our respect.
Our player will claim the welcome bonus and use it to see how many free rounds it gives.
The writer also returns several times to test the ongoing promotions and check for any special bonuses.
Legality and Availability
Real Money Online Casinos can operate legally in four American states, while Sweepstakes Casinos have a broader reach in over 35 states.
We prefer brands that operate in multiple territories and comply with all relevant legal requirements in those jurisdictions.
You will never see us recommending offshore casinos that target American players without local licensing.
The person writing the review will check if the site offers real-money gaming.
If it does, they will confirm if the operator has the necessary permits to accept players from the state or not.
Cashout Process
At real money casinos, we have withdrawals, and on Sweepstakes Casinos, we have prize redemptions, both of which are equally important to us as reviewers.
It’s your right as a player to get your money out without any headaches, and our writers make sure that’s the case.
As soon as the reviewer meets the criteria for cashing out or prize redemption, they go through the process and rate it.
Casinos that approve withdrawals and prize redemptions quickly always receive better rankings than those that make the process difficult.
Terms and Conditions
A casino can look great and work perfectly, but none of that matters without fair and transparent terms and conditions.
Our team writers always open the T&Cs page, the bonus policy, the Sweeps Rules, and any other section that states your rights and limitations.
We avoid platforms that don’t offer easy access to their Terms and Conditions or have confusing or misleading wording.
Our writers make sure the terms and conditions are fair and that you can understand every provision affecting your account.
Games
Games are the main stars of any online casino, and our team always gives them proper testing before drawing conclusions.
We see the total number of games, as well as the diversity and quality of the options.
Our writer checks the game suppliers and any fairness certificates the games hold.
Transparency about the payout rates and demo playing mode are both appreciated.
We also like to see lists of the latest winners as they give insights into what other members are playing.
Only after the reviewer tests dozens of games on multiple occasions will they provide their verdict on a casino’s game section.
Brand Reputation & Common Complaints
Brand reputation and common complaints are other aspects that our casino reviewers never overlook.
They take the time to research the brand on Trustpilot and app stores to see the average ratings it has.
The writer also reviews the negative comments to identify the most common complaints and compares them to their own experience with the casino.
We share the good, the bad, and the ugly without compromise or sugarcoating.
What If We Don’t Recommend A Casino?
Bad apples exist everywhere, and we’ve seen many scam casinos that you should avoid.
If we don’t recommend a casino to you, we always make it clear what the reasons are behind our decision.
You will know if the site lacks proper licensing, has a bad reputation, isn’t transparent, or has other red flags.
Our team members won’t let you wander around our website without a proper alternative, either!
When we don’t recommend a casino, we always provide superior alternatives and a comprehensive explanation of why they are the better choice.