On this page
Every score on this site comes from one written method. A casino gets a number between 0 and 5 on five criteria, each criterion carries a fixed weight, and the weighted total, rounded to one decimal, is the rating you see on its card and in its review. Nobody can buy a better number, and when a fact changes, the score is recalculated with the same rules.
Which five things decide a score?
We weigh what protects your money first and what entertains you last. Licence and dispute route counts for 30%, bonus fairness for 20%, banking for 20%, terms and account rules for 15%, and games, product and support for 15%. The weights are deliberate: a large game lobby is worth little if a withdrawal can be refused with no one to appeal to.
| Criterion | Weight | How the 0-5 score is set |
|---|---|---|
| Licence and dispute route | 30% | Malta Gaming Authority 5.0; Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA) 4.5; Curaçao Gaming Authority under the 2024 law 3.5; Kahnawake 3.5; Anjouan 3.0; Tobique 3.0. A casino that states no licence is not listed at all. |
| Bonus fairness | 20% | Wager-free offer 4.5; 25x playthrough 4.5; 30-35x 4.0; 40x 3.5; 45-50x 3.0; playthrough not published 3.0; no welcome offer 2.5. Minus 0.5 when the first stage asks at least 10x more playthrough than the later stages. |
| Banking | 20% | Starts at 4.0. Plus 0.5 for a published same-day or one-hour payout target. Minus 0.5 for a minimum withdrawal of 100 or more, minus 1.0 for a daily cap of 1,000 or less, minus 0.5 for a clause allowing a percentage withdrawal fee. |
| Terms and account rules | 15% | Starts at 3.5. Minus 0.5 when the terms contradict the live site, name no operator on the page you are served, or split players between licensing companies without saying which applies to you. |
| Games, product and support | 15% | Starts at 3.5. Plus 0.5 for a sportsbook or in-house games in the same account. Plus 0.5 for a published library of 3,000 or more games, or ten or more named major studios. |
Why does the licence carry the most weight?
A licence decides who you can turn to when a casino keeps your money. Malta requires its licensees to offer an independent dispute service, while Curaçao’s regulator does not settle individual complaints and points players to certified dispute bodies. Anjouan and Tobique checks rely on the seal on the casino’s own site. That gap in recourse is why the scale runs from 5.0 down to 3.0.
We read each licence on the regulator’s own register, such as the MGA licensee register or the Kahnawake permit-holder list, and our step-by-step licence check shows you how to repeat it. Where to send a complaint under each licence is on our complaint routes page.
Scoring one casino, line by line
Take a casino licensed in Malta (5.0), with 35x playthrough on its first bonus and 30x later (4.0), a same-day bank payout target and no withdrawal fee (4.5), clean terms (3.5) and no sportsbook or large published library (3.5). The sum is 0.30 x 5.0 + 0.20 x 4.0 + 0.20 x 4.5 + 0.15 x 3.5 + 0.15 x 3.5 = 1.50 + 0.80 + 0.90 + 0.525 + 0.525 = 4.25, which rounds to 4.3. That is the Slot Pony score today.
Current scores
| Casino | Licence | Bonus | Banking | Terms | Product | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slot Owl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| Slot Pony | 5.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.3 |
| Winsly | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| Quickz | 5.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.2 |
| Taste Vegas | 5.0 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| BitStarz | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.9 |
| Goldroll | 3.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 3.7 |
| 7Bit Casino | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 3.6 |
| Stake | 3.5 | 2.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.6 |
| Tenobet | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 4.5 | 3.1 |
What we check, and what we do not
For each casino we go through its general terms, its bonus rules, its payments page and its licence entry, usually through a connection from outside the US, the UK and Australia, and we record the date. We do not run test deposits or withdrawals, so we never claim a payout took a certain number of minutes. Payout speeds in our reviews are the targets the casino itself publishes.
Some factors stay outside the score on purpose: the size of a welcome bonus headline, the look of the lobby, and whether a casino pays us. Commercial relationships are explained on our about page. A rating is never a promise that a casino is safe for you; check whether gambling online is lawful where you live and read our responsible gambling page before you deposit.
When scores change
We recheck every reviewed casino at least once a quarter and whenever a reader reports a change. If a licence lapses, the casino comes off our lists until it is fixed. If a term moves, for example a new withdrawal cap, the affected criterion is rescored, the card and the review update together, and the review’s “Updated” date changes. Spotted something out of date? Write to [email protected].
Sources
- Malta Gaming Authority licence register www.mga.org.mt
- Curaçao Gaming Authority www.cga.cw
- Kahnawake Gaming Commission permit holders gamingcommission.ca
Checked 15 October 2026. Found an error? Tell us.