Our Rating Methodology
Every casino on this site carries a score out of 10. This page explains precisely how that number is produced, who produces it, and what we do when we get it wrong.
We publish this in full because a rating you can’t interrogate is just a marketing claim.
First: the entry requirement
Before scoring begins, an operator must hold a current licence from the UK Gambling Commission. We verify this against the Commission’s public register, by account number, and re-check it at every review update. No UKGC licence, no listing — regardless of commercial terms offered to us.
We also refuse to list operators that:
- are subject to a current UKGC licence suspension;
- market themselves in ways that breach the CAP Code on gambling advertising in a serious or repeated way;
- do not participate in GAMSTOP (participation is a condition of GB remote licences);
- have been the subject of a UKGC enforcement action for consumer-fund or fairness failings within the last 12 months, unless remediation is documented and verified.
The seven scoring categories
| Category | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Player safety & licensing | 20% | Licence status, enforcement history, fund segregation, ADR provider, complaint outcomes |
| Withdrawals & banking | 20% | Real tested payout speed, methods, fees, withdrawal limits, verification friction |
| Bonus fairness | 15% | Wagering multiple, max bet rule, game weighting, expiry, win caps, term clarity |
| Game library & software | 15% | Range, provider quality, RTP transparency, live dealer offering, demo availability |
| Responsible gambling tools | 15% | Deposit/loss/time limits, reality checks, time-outs, self-exclusion, how easy they are to find and use |
| Customer support | 10% | Channels, hours, response times measured by us, quality of answers |
| Site experience | 5% | Mobile performance, navigation, accessibility, app quality |
Each category is scored 0–10 against a published rubric, then weighted. The result is rounded to one decimal place.
What we actually do to test
For a full review, our reviewer:
- Registers a real account using their own identity and funds. We do not use press accounts, comped balances or operator-provided demo environments for anything that affects scoring.
- Deposits a minimum of £[AMOUNT], using at least two payment methods where available.
- Completes KYC verification and records how long it takes and what documents are demanded.
- Plays across at least [NUMBER] games, including slots, at least one table game and, where offered, live dealer.
- Claims the headline welcome offer and works through the terms in full, noting every restriction we hit.
- Requests a withdrawal and times it from request to money-in-account. We do this at least twice.
- Contacts support with three questions of increasing difficulty — one trivial, one about bonus terms, one about self-exclusion — and records response time and answer quality.
- Audits the responsible gambling tools, including actually setting a deposit limit and testing whether it holds, and checking how many clicks self-exclusion takes from the homepage.
- Reads the full terms and conditions. All of them. This is the least enjoyable part and the most useful.
Testing takes roughly [X] hours per operator and is documented in an internal record that we retain so any score can be reconstructed and challenged.
Automatic penalties
Some things cost points regardless of how the rest of the review goes:
- Wagering requirement above 45x on bonus funds — capped bonus score
- Withdrawal delays beyond the operator’s own stated timeframe in our testing — significant deduction
- A “pending” or reversible withdrawal period longer than 24 hours — deduction
- Max-bet-during-wagering rules buried outside the bonus terms — deduction
- Self-exclusion requiring a phone call or more than three clicks — significant deduction
- Bonus terms that permit confiscation of deposits, not just bonus funds — significant deduction
- A UKGC enforcement action or public censure — score frozen pending re-review
Score bands
- 9.0–10 — Excellent. We’d use it ourselves.
- 8.0–8.9 — Strong. Recommended, with any caveats stated in the review.
- 7.0–7.9 — Decent. Fine for most people; specific weaknesses flagged.
- 6.0–6.9 — Mixed. Listed with clear warnings.
- Below 6.0 — Not recommended. We publish the review anyway, because “avoid this one” is useful information.
We do not delist a casino for scoring badly, and we don’t remove negative reviews at an operator’s request. Ever. If we did, the scores above 8 would be meaningless.
How commission affects this
It doesn’t. Ratings are set by the reviewer against the rubric before any commercial discussion happens, and the reviewer is not told the commission rate for the operator they’re reviewing. Commercial staff cannot change a score, cannot veto a review, and cannot see a score before publication. This is set out in our Editorial Policy, and how we’re paid is explained in our Affiliate Disclosure.
We list casinos we earn nothing from, and we score down casinos that pay us well. If you ever spot a pattern suggesting otherwise, email [corrections@ukcasinoplay.net] and we will publish our answer.
Re-reviews
- Every review is rechecked every [90] days at minimum.
- Bonus offers and terms are checked every [30] days.
- Any UKGC enforcement action triggers an immediate re-review.
- Three or more substantiated reader complaints about the same issue trigger an immediate re-review.
The “last checked” date at the top of every review is real and automated from our review log, not hand-typed.
Disagree with a score?
Operators and readers can both challenge a rating. Send evidence to [corrections@ukcasinoplay.net]. If you’re right, we change the score and note the change in the review’s revision history. See our Corrections & Updates Policy.