We have noticed that there are tons of casino review sites and they tend to give casinos quite different scores, which can become a problem to a player. We decided to create a single classification (methodology) that can be used by any reviewer to arrive at a common result (if properly utilized). We tend to organize the information in a way that will reduce ambiguity and make it clear why exactly a specific casino occupies a certain spot with a ranking table or has such a review score.

Casino Classification Components

Casino classification labels brands performance as Outstanding, Very good, Good, Medium, Mediocre and Poor based on the Aggregate Score earned by 5 components on a 100 points scale.

Casino classification by aggregate score legend:

• 50 or less is poor
• 51 to 60 is mediocre
• 61 to 70 is medium
• 71 to 80 is good
• 81 to 90 is very good
• 91 to 100 is outstanding

5 components to Casino Classification:

1. Licensing & Trustworthiness
2. Welcome bonus
3. Casino games
4. Casino Banking
5. Players Engagement

Each classification component has several factors, each of them are assessed separately on a 100 points scale, total score by component being an average of all factors.

Factors to Casino Classification, by component

Licensing & Trustworthiness

1. License power
2. Complaints and Dispute Resolution Procedure
3. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Body Power
4. Responsible Gaming Policy

Welcome bonus

1. Estimated bonus value to player
2. Bonus wagering terms
3. Free Spins availability
4. Bonus Terms & Conditions

Casino games

1. Software suppliers
2. Composition of the lobby
3. Number of casino games

Casino Banking

1. Deposits and Withdrawals methods
2. Deposits and Withdrawals Terms & Conditions

Players Engagement

1. Visits to New Deposits
2. Registrations to New Deposits

Aggregate score is a numeric average of scores by all 5 components.

Why these components exactly?

Licensing & Trustworthiness

A notion of online casino ‘Trust’, ‘Safety’ or being ‘legit’ has always been in th focus of players’ attention.
We assess Trustworthiness using 4 factors:

• the power of casino License (licensing body);
• the breakdown of internal regulations and procedures of Complaints and Dispute Resolution (if they arise);
• availability of alternative dispute resolution route and its reputation (if the alternative dispute resolution body is appointed);
• the breakdown of Responsible Gaming Policy as it relates to the level of protection available to players.

Apart from the factors above, we seek to expand the list of issues we consider. One of possible developements we may introduce in the future is casino RTP audit by specialized agencies. If this or other factors are added, all scores will be re-calculated.

Welcome bonus 

Welcome bonus may significantly affect players intention to engage with a casino. Assessment of all aspects to a casino’s sign-up offer is vital as the full bonus information is not always available ine one place, let alone it is not always evident.

Note: we only assess 1st deposit bonus. If the casino brand has multi-tier welcome package, we stick to the first deposit bonus review, overall attractiveness of casino promotion is addressed inter alia by Players Engagement component (see below).

Our assessors evaluate Welcome bonus using 4 factors:

• the value of a sign-up bonus offer as a percentage of free money to a min deposit. It may include a match deposit bonus as well as free money / free spins: for the sake of calculation where free spins are involved, we take them for a value of a min bet per spin;
• the Bonus wagering terms;
• the Free Spins availability;
• the overall Bonus Terms & Conditions including the list of games restricted from play when wagering, deposit methods restrictions, etc.

Casino games

Our assessors evaluate the spectrum of online slots and other casino games by the following criteria:

• Software suppliers: number of software providers as well as availability of some of the most popular of them;
• Composition of the lobby: comfort of use of lobby, availability of demo modes without registration as well as disclosure of games settings and chances;
• Overall Number of casino games: self evident.

Casino Banking

The assessors check and score the banking aspects of online casino with a focus to:

• Deposits and Withdrawals methods: number of payment providers and their adequacy to New Zealand;
• Deposits and Withdrawals Terms & Conditions: minimum amount of deposit and withdrawal; withdrawal limit per a period of time; withdrawal pending time.

Players Engagement

Players engagement is a 5th and the newest component to our classification. It is intended to cover the limitations of assessing the welcome bonus (solely) on a casino’s overall performance. Fair enough, welcome bonus is only a part of numerous promotions that casinos run daily. Yet, in most cases we are unable to track and anylyze the ever-changing corpus of promotions and incentives that casinos use. To that end, we introduce Players Engagement component that is calculated automatically on the basis of our data from casino affiliate software. It operates two factors:

• Visits to New Deposits ratio, and
• Registrations to New Deposits.

The best performing casino brand gets 100 points, second one — 99 and so on. Players Engagement score is calculated as a an average of the scores of these 2 factors.