Peter has been writing for the gambling industry since 2013, and joined the SportsCasting team in July 2024. Outside of work Peter is a runner, gig rower, guitarist and musician (releasing two albums under the name 'ShiroToKuro'). Peter is also a lover of manga, anime and Japanese cinema and can even read and speak Japanese at the conversational level.
Get to know Peter Addison better
Ian Bruce became interested in betting in 1987, when he landed a winning Yankee on his first attempt. That stroke of luck (and he admits that's exactly what it was) sparked an interest in understanding the strategies behind successful wagers. Over the years, he has become one of the UK's most prolific writers on betting and gaming, and is best known for his systematic approach to winning. Ian's career in the industry now spans over three decades. His favorite betting method is Dutching because, in his words, "It's the one I win with more often than not."
All posts by Ian BruceThroughout this site, you will notice repeated tables listing online sports betting sites, online casinos, and poker sites in a specific ranking order. The sites we think rank best for a particular topic (such as ‘Best Football Betting Site’) will be at the top of the list, while sites we still think will be of interest to you but are less pertinent to the topic will be lower down. Sites we don’t recommend will not appear on the list at all.
But who comes up with these rankings, and how are gambling sites evaluated? This page will explain everything that you need to know.
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Our Review Methodology
We want you to gain the maximum value from our site, and we can only do that if the information we provide you with is fair, transparent and honest. We also need to be accurate and we do our best to keep our pages as up-to-date as we can. There is no point, for example, in us recommending a bonus if the bonus was withdrawn by a site several months ago.
The people who provide content for our site are all experienced online casino and poker players and online sports betting site users themselves, as well as industry experts. This provides us with unique insights and a way of providing content from a site user’s perspective. We write from a site user’s point of view, looking for everything that we’d expect from a top site, and we set the bar high.
As well as examining all the positives, we like to tell you what we are less than fond of about a site, too, so you can make your own, informed decision. Things that grate our gears include unfriendly bonus terms and conditions, ‘live chat’ help manned purely by a bot and fees for making a withdrawal.
With any review, so you don’t get TL;DR syndrome, we summarise our findings and award a ranking from one to ten. Here’s a guide to what those rankings mean:
- 1 or 2 – Poor. The site has a long way to go if this aspect is to be improved.
- 3 or 4 – Below Average. The site has tried but there’s plenty that needs improving.
- 5, 6,or 7 – Average. What’s provided is fine, but there’s room for improvement.
- 8 or 9 – Above Average. The site has done better than most but not better than all.
- 10 – Excellent. What the site provides is at least on par with the very, very best.
What We Look for When Rating Gambling Sites
What do we look for, precisely, when we are reviewing gambling sites? Below you will find a list of the specific criteria we look at when rating sites that provide gambling online in the UK.
Licensing and Regulation
As we are dealing with gambling sites in the UK, all sites that we review simply must have a current United Kingdom Gambling Commission licence. If we come across a site accepting customers from the UK that doesn’t have a current UKGC licence then there’s a simple rule – you will not find it mentioned anywhere on our site.When reviewing a site with a current UKGC licence we look to see if it has been sanctioned (i.e. fined or had its licence suspended) by the UKGC in the past; why it was sanctioned and how it has responded since that sanctioning.
Safety and Security
We look at a site’s record when it comes to keeping its customers safe when operating online, including any past data breaches or password leaks. We check to see what kind of encryption service it is using to make sure that the information passed to it and received from it will not compromise a customer’s online safety. We also check and read the site’s Privacy Policy to ascertain the site’s attitude towards the data it gathers from its site users, i.e. whether it sells demographic data to third parties.Betting/Gaming Opportunities
For sports betting sites, it’s important that as many markets are made available as possible – the full range of sports from football and horse racing onwards. Within each market, it is also important that a range of outcomes can be bet on, including live betting with cash out. We always like to see inventive markets too, such as TV, Movies and Politics.For online casinos, we look for a range of quality titles. If an online casino simply fills its gaming library with a high percentage of lacklustre games, then it’s not likely to acquire a high grade from us. We look for slots, table games (and games beyond blackjack and roulette) and casual games. We will also review the site’s live casino to see what’s on offer. Finally, we review the site’s software providers to see if they are well-respected names within the industry.
Odds Quality
We compare the odds of several events to the very best odds offered anywhere to make sure they are on the right side of competitive. We downvote sites that offer unfair odds. With casinos, we check the RTPs (return to player, see below) to make sure their games are actually worth playing.Gambling Software
Very few gambling sites create their own software. Instead, they rely upon third-party providers. When we review a site, we see if the company that has provided their software has a decent reputation.For online casinos, some names we like to see are Microgaming, NetEnt, Play’n GO, Pragmatic Play and Playtech for slots and casino games and Evolution for live casino play. For sports betting software it’s Kambi, FSB Tech and OddsMatrix.
Available Bonuses & Promotions
All gambling sites available to players in the UK will offer incentives in the form of bonuses and other promotions. Our first stop when reviewing a site’s bonus is the welcome bonus. We look for a decent deal that gives players a real chance of getting something out of it. We dismiss bonuses with unfavourable terms and conditions, such as high playthrough or tight minimum odds.We also check ongoing bonuses – the terms attached, how long they last, and what you have to do to get the most out of them.
Site Usability
The last thing you want when you are using a gambling site is to go around in circles when you are trying to place a bet or find a particular game. While we are constructing a review we will spend a lot of time using a site to make sure its usability is what it should be. We play the games, place bets, claim bonuses, bet on in-play markets, cash out, deposit and withdraw. We do everything you’d need to do to get the most from a site, then report back accordingly.Payment Methods
Getting your money into a gambling site account can seem like a chore at times, which is why we like to find sites with a streamlined banking process and a useful range of payment options. Many sites have now gone ‘debit card’ only which to us, is an annoyance given the banking processes that are available. We understand that you cannot use credit cards or PayPal credit at gambling sites, and that ‘pay by mobile’ and cryptocurrencies are generally frowned upon by the UKGC, but there are still plenty of alternatives.Sites can choose from PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, MuchBetter, Paysafecard, ApplePay, Google Pay, bank transfers and others. We also prefer sites that absorb any payment fees, rather than pass them on to their customers.
Customer Service
Sadly, since 2023 online gambling sites have seen the rise of the AI chatbot. It seems that whenever we make an enquiry via a customer service applet, it’s a bot we find ourselves talking to. If our query is specific, sometimes we end up talking around in circles or getting nowhere at all.We give a thumbs-up to sites that have live chat that is manned by beings made of flesh and blood and not microchips. We also really like sites that have alternative methods of contact, such as a dedicated telephone number.
Mobile Compatibility
How you want to use a gambling site should be up to you, not up to the site. If you want to use it on a desktop PC or Mac, or a laptop or MacBook, then you will be able to, but what if your preferred method of play is your phone, your tablet, or your iPad?Luckily all UK gambling sites work on mobile devices, but how they work and how well they work are the important questions. How do you feel about loading your phone with apps? You can use online casinos, poker sites and betting sites within a mobile browser, but we feel it’s best if sites offer a downloadable app too. We always use both versions before coming up with a verdict on the mobile compatibility of a site, anyhow.
Sports Betting Considerations
The above is what we consider for gambling sites overall, but what about aspects that are specific to sports betting sites? Below you will find a small handful of considerations that are only applicable to sites that accept sporting bets.
Sports Betting OddsSports Betting OffersSports Betting FeaturesWe’ve already touched on this generally, but a site that offers consistently competitive odds is much preferable to one that doesn’t. We also check for aspects such as ‘Best Odds Guaranteed’ which pays out your horse racing and/or greyhound bets at the better price – the starting price or the price at which you placed your bet.
Our opinion of a site can make or break depending on what they offer in terms of promotions and benefits for both new players and existing site users. We look for free bets, matched bets, no-risk bets, enhanced odds and other suitable deals, all hopefully with fair and square terms and conditions.
There’s plenty we demand of any decent sports betting site in addition to the ability to bet on sports. We need to see a good selection of in-play betting markets, with cash-out available on all bets. Live streaming is important too, with live commentary a secondary option. How about virtual sports? We are very demanding!
Online Casino Considerations
That’s sports betting covered in full, but what about online casinos? What specifically do we look for when it comes to sites with slots and casino games?
Progressive JackpotsIndependent Auditing of RTPsLoyalty Programs and TournamentsThese types of jackpots are built by player contributions and are specific to a single slot such as Microgaming’s Mega Moolah, or a range of slots like Playtech’s Age of Gods franchise. They offer the chance of winning massive jackpots into the millions, although the odds are not good! We think it’s important that an online casino has a range of trusted progressive jackpot slots with jackpots both big and small but still worth spinning for.
Many cynics say that online slots and casino games are ‘fixed’, but nothing could be further from the truth. Casinos do not ‘fix’ their games as they don’t have to, because the games are weighted so that in the long run, the casino will always come out ahead. RTP means return-to-player which is the theoretical percentage of player stakes remaining after a prolonged playing session. We check to see if casinos publish the RTP of their games, and whether those RTPs have been audited by independent assessors.
We have to take real care here as loyalty programs and tournaments can see people end up playing at online casinos more than they originally intended, which can lead to issues. We therefore check loyalty programs and tournaments to make sure they are fair, add value to the casino experience and offer genuine rewards that are worth the outlay needed to obtain them.
Online Poker Considerations
Let’s now turn to the specifics we look for when reviewing the UK’s leading online poker sites.
Games and TournamentsThe RakeActivityPoker is a game of endless opportunities … if they are available! When we check out a site, we make sure it has ring games, SNGs, satellites and speed games. We also look at the variants – Hold’em, Omaha, Draw, Stud and so on. The more options a poker site has, the better in our opinion.
The rake is how poker sites make money. It’s a small percentage of chips taken by the dealer from each pot. We always check to see if the rake Is fair. We also check the fees required to enter SNGs, tournaments and so on.
People go to poker sites to play poker! It’s no good logging on to find tables solely inhabited by ghosts, or ending up playing H2H with the same shark over and over again. When we look at poker sites, we check how long it takes to get a table in a ring game or a place in an SNG, and whether we are seeing the same avatars over and over again.
One Review is Not Enough
We are aware that sites change. New features may be added or old, unpopular features removed. Bonuses might change, new bonuses be added or new sections of a site open up. Perhaps a sports betting site will add virtual racing, or an online casino add a new software provider. This is why we revisit sites frequently to make sure our reviews are kept fresh.
Why You Can Trust Us
That’s a good question – why? We want you to find us useful and revisit our pages time and time again. We want to keep you up to date with the latest gambling news, happenings and bonuses. We want to be a reliable source of pertinent information, and we can only do that if we are trustworthy. If we give you a reason not to trust us, then you are not likely to ever visit our pages again, and so that’s why you can trust us.
Responsible Gambling
Our commitment to the promotion of responsible gambling is something that we take very seriously, and we are very particular about the way sites approach responsible gambling themselves. We demand that sites have available measures in place such as reality checks, deposit and spending limits, and time-outs. We don’t like sites that simply rely upon GAMSTOP to take on all their responsible gambling duties for them.
It goes without saying that sites take steps to recognise problematic gamblers and reach out to them in a positive and helpful way. We also like to see a site provide links to important gambling resources such as GamCare, Gamblers Anonymous and others.
Rankings You Can Trust
That concludes our explanation of our rankings methodology. We hope we’ve done enough to convince you of our sincerity, and we also hope you’ve learned how useful a resource we can be to you. We wish you all the best with your use of gambling sites, and we remind you again to always gamble responsibly and never gamble with money you cannot afford to lose.
For sports betting sites, it’s important that as many markets are made available as possible – the full range of sports from football and horse racing onwards. Within each market, it is also important that a range of outcomes can be bet on, including live betting with cash out. We always like to see inventive markets too, such as TV, Movies and Politics.
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