How we rate
Every casino on this site carries a score out of 5. This page explains exactly what that score is based on, who applies it, and — just as importantly — what it does not take into account.
The four criteria
- 1
Bonus value
The deposit match, the cap on it, and any free spins — read from the operator's own published offer and, where the terms differ by country, recorded per region rather than flattened into one figure.
A headline percentage means little without the cap. A 325% match up to €50 is a smaller offer than 100% up to €500, and the two look alike in a list that only prints the percentage.
- 2
Game range
How many games are carried, and more importantly which studios: whether the big providers are present, and whether there is anything beyond slots — live tables, game shows, sports.
A large number is easy to advertise and tells you little. Whether the games you actually want to play are there is the part that decides if an account is worth opening.
- 3
Support
Whether live chat exists, the hours it runs, whether a human is reachable without going through a bot first, and whether email support is offered at all.
Support only matters when something has gone wrong — usually a withdrawal. That is the worst possible time to find out the only channel is a chatbot.
- 4
Availability
Which countries can register and play, and whether the welcome offer is genuinely available in them or is quietly restricted to a subset.
The most generous bonus on the internet is worth nothing if the operator will not accept your registration, or accepts it and then excludes you from the offer.
Who writes the reviews
Sam Hollis — Editor
Sam Hollis is the pen name of the editor of Refer My Casino. Every rating on the site is theirs, applied against the four criteria set out on this page.
Sam Hollis is a pen name. It belongs to one person, who writes and scores every review here. We would rather say that outright than present a byline that implies a newsroom of separate reviewers.
What we don't claim
- We do not publish wagering requirements. They are the single most important term on any bonus, and the operators' public pages either restrict access by country or state a generic figure that does not apply to the welcome offer. A guessed number is worse than none, so the column stays empty until we have the real terms.
- We do not publish licensing details or payout times yet. Both are genuine trust signals and both are missing rather than assumed.
- Scores are a judgement across the four criteria above, not the output of a formula. We do not publish a numeric weighting, because inventing one would suggest a precision the ratings do not have.
How we make money
Links to operators are affiliate links: if you open an account through one, this site may be paid a commission. That is how it is funded, and it is why the point above about scoring matters — a rating that moved with the commission would be worth nothing to you and, in time, nothing to us. Where an operator pays us nothing, it is rated on the same four criteria as the ones that do.
18+ only. Gambling should be entertainment, never a way to make money — if it stops feeling like entertainment, stop. Free, confidential help is at BeGambleAware.org.