How We Rate UK Online Casinos

How we earn: some casino links on this page may pay us a commission if you sign up. It costs you nothing and never moves a casino up our list. We list only UK Gambling Commission licensed casinos. 18+. Full disclosure.

Quick answer We rate only casinos with an active casino remote licence on the UKGC public register. We record the account number, licence number and check date, read the significant terms on the casino’s own page, and give a score only once those terms are verified. Until then the score shows as pending.

This page sets out the whole method in the order we use it. If you want to check our work, every step below can be repeated by you, using the same public sources we use. Nothing in our table depends on information that only we can see.

What is the first thing we check?

The licence. Before a casino goes anywhere near our table, we search for its operator on the Gambling Commission public register and confirm that its casino remote licence shows as active. If the licence is not active, or we cannot find the operator, the casino is not listed. No other factor can outweigh this.

For each casino we record:

• The operator company named on the register.
• The UKGC account number.
• The licence number for the casino remote licence.
• The date the licence started, as shown on the register.
• The date we checked it.

We also check that the brand or website we are looking at is connected to that operator. A casino site can carry a licence number in its footer that belongs to a different business, so we match the name on the site, the name in its terms and the name on the register. If those three do not line up, we do not list the casino until they do.

You can see all of this in our licence table.

How are the rating categories weighted?

We score six categories. Licence and safety carries the most weight at 25%, followed by bonus fairness and significant terms at 20% and payments and withdrawals at 20%. Games carry 15%, and safer gambling tools and support carry 10% each. The weights put protection of your money ahead of entertainment.

A casino that fails the licence check scores nothing, because it is not listed. The other categories only matter once that check is passed. Inside each category we mark what we can see on the casino’s own pages. If something is not published, we record it as not shown rather than assume the best or the worst.

Why does the licence carry the most weight?

Because the licence is what gives you protection. A casino licensed by the Gambling Commission has to follow its rules on age checks, fair treatment, complaints and safer gambling tools. Without an active licence, none of those rules applies to your account, so no bonus or game range can make up for it.

The licence also brings in the rules that protect players in Great Britain. You must be 18 or over to gamble online. Credit cards have been banned for gambling since 14 April 2020. Online slots are capped at £5 per spin for adults aged 25 and over from 9 April 2025, and £2 per spin for 18 to 24 year olds from 21 May 2025. These rules only reach you if the operator is licensed here.

What automatically excludes a casino?

Two things remove a casino from our table straight away: no active UKGC casino remote licence, or a brand that we cannot connect to any business on the register. Neither can be balanced out by a high score elsewhere. We do not list, review or discuss casinos that are not licensed in Great Britain.

If a brand you expected is missing from our table, the most likely reason is that its licence did not pass this first check, or that we have not reviewed it yet. If you think we have got one wrong, tell us and we will check the register again.

How do we check a casino’s offer terms?

We read the offer’s significant terms on the casino’s own promotions or terms page. We do not copy offers from other review sites or affiliate feeds. We record the qualifying deposit and stake, the wagering, the eligible games, the expiry, the qualifying payment methods and the date we read them.

Many UK casino sites block visitors from outside the UK, so we read terms from a UK connection. When we cannot read a casino’s terms, we say plainly that we have not yet verified its current offer and leave the figures blank. On 29 September 2026 we verified six welcome offers this way: Unibet, Grosvenor, 888casino, LeoVegas, PlayOJO and Sky Casino. bet365 and Betway showed no casino welcome offer that day, and we verified their banking facts instead. Mr Vegas refused the connection and William Hill Vegas did not load readable offer text, so those two offers are not yet verified. Where a verified offer leaves a term out, such as Sky Casino’s wagering, we say the offer text does not state it rather than assume anything.

We also check each offer against the current rules. Since 19 January 2026, bonus wagering in Great Britain is capped at 10 times, and bonuses that require you to play different products, such as betting and slots, are banned. An offer that breaks either rule would count heavily against the casino.

When we read terms, we look for these points:

• Who can claim: new customers only, age, and any location limits.
• What you must do: opt in, deposit, stake, or a mix.
• How much wagering applies, and to what: the bonus, the winnings or both.
• Which games count, and whether some count less.
• When the offer and any spins or funds expire.
• Which payment methods qualify and which do not.
• Whether there is a cap on what you can win or withdraw from the bonus.

How do we verify a casino, step by step?

Each casino goes through the same workflow. We check the register, match the operator, read the terms, record everything with a date and only then score. If any step cannot be completed, the process stops at that step and the page shows what is still pending, rather than filling the gap.

When does a casino get a score?

Only once its significant terms are verified. A score built on guessed or copied terms would be meaningless, so a casino without verified terms shows a pending score. We would rather show pending than a number we cannot stand behind. Six verified offers do not yet make a score: no scores are published at the moment. Every score, when it appears, carries the date of the checks behind it.

A pending score is not a warning about the casino. It only means we have not yet finished our own checks. Every casino in our table has already passed the licence check, which is the part that matters most for your protection.

How often do we recheck casinos?

We recheck the licence and the offer terms whenever we update a casino’s entry, and every figure carries the date it was last checked. If the register shows a change in licence status, the casino comes out of our table until the position is clear. If an offer changes, the old figures come down.

Casinos change offers often, sometimes without notice. That is why we show the check date next to each figure. If the date is some time ago, read the casino’s own terms before you rely on our summary.

What happens when we get something wrong?

We fix it and date the fix. If you report an error, we check the original source again. If we were wrong, we correct the page, update the check date and, where the change is significant, note what changed. If a figure can no longer be verified, we remove it rather than leave it standing.

Our corrections policy in short:

• We act on reports from readers, casinos and anyone else, as long as we can check the claim against a primary source.
• We never change a fact because a casino asks us to. We change it only when the source says so.
• If a licence stops being active, the casino comes out of our table straight away.
• We do not quietly rewrite scores. A changed score carries a new check date.

If you spot something out of date, tell us through our contact page and we will recheck it.

Does affiliate commission affect our ratings?

No. We may earn a commission when you sign up through our links, but commission plays no part in the licence check, the terms check or the score. A casino cannot pay to be listed or to move up our table. Our affiliate disclosure explains how we make money.

Which sources do we use?

Only primary sources. For licences, the Gambling Commission public register. For rules, the Gambling Commission and gov.uk. For offers, the casino’s own terms page. For support, the services themselves. Each page lists its sources with the date we checked them, so you can follow every fact back.

We do not use other review sites, forum posts or affiliate feeds as a source of fact. They can be useful for spotting that something may have changed, but we only publish once we have seen it on the primary source.

Who does the checks?

Tom Ashby, our Casino Editor, carries out the licence and terms checks and updates the table. His method is the one on this page: check the register, read the casino’s own terms, record the date, and leave a field blank rather than guess. You can read more on his author page.

You can see the results in our table and in our casino reviews. You must be 18 or over to gamble. If gambling stops being fun, see our safer gambling page for free support.