When you read a review of an online gambling site, whether it's on our site or one of the many other review sites, you may wonder, "How do these people review all these sites and determine that they're all safe and sound? It's a good question. Reviewing an online casino is no easy task. It requires sifting through several factors, performing a thorough analysis, and then making a decision as to whether or not the site is a legitimate place to deposit and play. When we recommend a site, you can take it to the bank (so to speak) that we feel comfortable with you playing there.
To give you an overview of some of the most important aspects we evaluate when determining a site's legitimacy, here is a brief summary of the important factors our trained experts consider.
We Start in the Office
The first task in reviewing a site is to assign it to a staff member in our office. To ensure that the site receives the necessary level of scrutiny, we ask around to see if anyone is familiar with the site. Our group has hundreds of years of combined experience in the online betting universe. Some as gamblers themselves, and others as people who have worked in various sectors of the industry. ...
How does this affect our in-depth review process? First of all, if a team member has direct experience with things like customer service interaction or game selection, it saves us a little time in the research phase. It may not be the person with that experience who ends up writing the review (we try to keep our reviews as unbiased as possible and value our own credibility), but having that extra bit of knowledge can be key to making honest recommendations.
Then We Reach Out To Our Network
When we complete an internal review and assign the project to one of our staff members, that person will reach out to their contacts to see if anyone in their network can shed some light on the site in question. Another benefit of having so many years of experience with legitimate gambling sites is that our network of contacts is vast and usually includes someone who either knows people at the site or at least has some insight into the site's history. We will be the first to tell you that we don't always have all the information ourselves. The more eyes we have on a site, the less likely we are to miss something that could affect our recommendations.
Licensing and Auditing
When we begin an investigation, the first thing we look for is the casino's license information. Different licensing jurisdictions have a wide range of integrity levels and this greatly influences our decision making process. We understand that if a site is targeting players from a "grey market" country, they may be quite limited in the number of licensing options available to them. But if a company really wants to step forward and demonstrate its legitimacy, there is no better way than to secure one or more gaming licenses.
The most coveted license for gaming sites is the UK Gambling Commission license, and it is also the most difficult to obtain. If a site obtains this license, it will likely have to cease operations in many other jurisdictions; however, the UKGC is the gold standard of gaming licenses, and any site that has it is that much more trustworthy. The next best license issuer in our eyes is the Malta Gaming Authority. After that, the jurisdictions become less and less stringent, and as a result, the licenses they issue have much less value to us.
A site should also use software that has been properly audited by a third party. Companies like TST and Gambling Associates ensure the integrity of the casino software used to power a site. An auditing firm will look at things like the game rules and the random number generator to make sure that all components of the software platform are working in a way that adheres to the rules of each individual game.
Transparency
Another aspect we look at when assessing the legitimacy of a site is how open they are about who is running the operation. Many companies have their corporate information on their site, which is a great first step. And although many of these companies are privately held, the fact that some of them can give you an office address goes a long way toward making the whole enterprise seem a little more credible.
Every online business has a certain level of anonymity. However, with all the hoops a player has to jump through to finally cash out from an online gambling site, the least these sites can do is be transparent with their customers to a reasonable degree.
How They Deal with Complaints
For many of our reviewers, this is the most critical component in determining whether or not an online gambling site is legitimate. If a player feels that there is something wrong with a site, they will usually scream about it on one of the many online gambling watchdog sites. These sites, in turn, have open forums where players can air their grievances against an online operator.
Many of these complaints may come from players who are simply angry because they have had a losing session with the site in question, and trying to vent that frustration in a public forum is never the way to go. What we do look for is how the site responds to that public complaint. A good site will have someone who monitors these forums and chat rooms and responds to complaints with clear, factual statements that either help resolve the issue or make it clear that the issue wasn't really an issue at all. We've seen a lot of responses from a lot of sites in our years covering this business; the best ones are short, to the point, and truthful, even when the site is at fault.
Conclusion
When we review an online gambling site, we include as many layers of detail as possible. The reason for this exercise is to give you the most honest, detailed review of a site that we can. It's all in the service of helping you make a decision about whether or not to choose that site for your gaming needs. If we recommend a site, you can rest assured that it is worthy of your time and, more importantly, your money.