We publish our methodology so readers can understand how our scores are calculated. CasinoRadar scores are built from publicly verifiable information, not marketing claims. This page explains what each category measures, how the overall score and its confidence level are calculated, our source hierarchy, and what we do when we can’t verify something — because a big part of trustworthy reviewing is being honest about the limits of the research, not hiding them.
What we score, and how much each category counts
| Category | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing & Trust | 20% | Whether the operator holds a currently valid license from a recognized regulator, verified directly against the regulator’s own public register (not just a logo on the casino’s site), plus any enforcement history we can find. |
| Payments & Withdrawals | 15% | Deposit/withdrawal methods, minimums/maximums, processing times, and fees, as stated in the operator’s own current terms where accessible. |
| Games | 15% | Breadth of game library, named software providers, live-casino availability. We do not score based on marketing-claimed game counts alone; we look for corroboration across the operator’s own game lobby and independent sources. |
| Bonus Value | 15% | Whether current bonus terms (wagering requirement, game contribution, max conversion, time limits) make the advertised bonus genuinely usable, not just the headline number. |
| Responsible Gambling | 10% | Availability of deposit/loss/session limits, reality checks, self-exclusion, and integration with national self-exclusion schemes (e.g. GAMSTOP in the UK) where applicable to the operator’s license. |
| Customer Support | 10% | Availability and channels (live chat, email, phone) and operating hours, as documented by the operator. |
| Transparency | 10% | How clearly the operator itself discloses licensing, ownership, T&Cs, and RG tools on its own site — an operator that hides basic information scores lower here regardless of how good its product looks. |
| Mobile Experience | 5% | App availability and platform support. Hands-on usability notes are only included when CasinoRadar has actually tested the app or mobile site — otherwise this category reflects availability only. |
Overall score and evidence confidence
A single number can hide how much was actually verified. So every CasinoRadar score is shown with two separate figures: an Overall Score and an Evidence Confidence tier showing how much of the methodology’s evidence base that score rests on.
Renormalization rule: categories that cannot be verified with reasonable confidence are excluded from both the numerator and the denominator — not scored as zero or as an average. The final score is calculated using only categories with sufficient evidence, with those categories’ weights renormalized proportionally so they sum to 100% of the calculated score. For example, if only 6 of the 8 categories (summing to 80% of the full weight) could be scored, each of those 6 categories’ contribution is divided by 80, not 100, to produce the final score.
CasinoRadar does not publish a definitive numerical rating when fewer than 5 of the 8 scoring categories can be evaluated with reasonable confidence.
| Categories sufficiently verified | Evidence confidence | What’s published |
|---|---|---|
| 7–8 of 8 | High | Definitive score |
| 5–6 of 8 | Medium | Score published |
| 0–4 of 8 | — | No numerical score published |
Example presentation:
- 8.1/10 — Evidence confidence: High (8/8 categories verified)
- 7.4/10 — Evidence confidence: Medium (6/8 categories verified)
- No numerical score — Evidence coverage: 4/8 categories (below the 5-category minimum)
If a category can’t be verified well enough to assign a number, it is marked “Not enough verified information” in the review and excluded from the weighted average — it is never filled with a guessed or averaged number to make the overall score look more complete.
Verified / operator-stated / not independently verified
Every factual claim in a CasinoRadar review falls into one of three buckets, and we label which one applies:
- Verified — confirmed against a primary, authoritative source — such as a regulator’s public register, an official corporate registry, or the operator’s own current terms — where that source is authoritative and directly applicable to the target market. Being published on the operator’s website is not, by itself, what makes something verified; it’s whether the source is authoritative for that specific fact and market.
- Operator-stated — information stated by the operator (for example, “bet365 reports X payment methods”) but not independently confirmed by CasinoRadar. This is a neutral label, not an implication that the statement is questionable.
- Not independently verified — we could not confirm this from a reliable source at all. We state this explicitly rather than omit the field or guess a plausible-sounding value.
Source hierarchy
When sources disagree, higher-priority sources take precedence, provided they are current and applicable to the target market:
- Regulator / government source
- Official operator terms and policies
- Official operator product/payment pages
- Official corporate registry
- Reputable independent industry sources
- Other secondary sources
Testing status
Every review carries one of three testing-status labels, and we do not use a more favorable label than the work that was actually done:
- 🟢 Hands-on tested — One or more specific components were tested directly by CasinoRadar. This does not mean the entire casino was tested — the review identifies exactly what was and wasn’t tested, and when.
- 🟡 Partially tested — Some components were tested directly; the remainder comes from primary/secondary sources.
- ⚪ Research-based — No hands-on testing performed. The assessment is based on documented sources only.
Reviews using the 🟢 or 🟡 label show the specifics, for example:
Testing performed: Account registration, deposit, mobile site
Not tested: Withdrawal
Testing date: August 13, 2026
What we don’t score
CasinoRadar does not increase a casino’s score because of:
- Affiliate commission
- Size of an affiliate payment
- Promotional placement
- Sponsored content
- Casino marketing claims
- Number of affiliate links
- Whether a casino agrees to work with CasinoRadar
A casino cannot purchase a higher CasinoRadar score.
Editorial independence
CasinoRadar’s commercial relationships do not determine editorial scores or rankings. Casino operators and affiliate partners cannot purchase:
- A higher score
- A positive review
- Guaranteed inclusion
- A higher ranking
- Removal of legitimate criticism
If a commercial partner provides information for a review, that information is evaluated using the same methodology as information from any other source.
Affiliate disclosure
If CasinoRadar has a paid affiliate relationship with a casino covered on this site, that relationship is disclosed clearly on the review itself. Affiliate relationships do not determine inclusion, ranking, scoring, or editorial conclusions. CasinoRadar may earn a commission when a reader uses certain links, but readers do not pay more because of this commission.
Every review states its commercial relationship with the casino explicitly, near the top, as a standard field: either “Commercial relationship: None for this review” or a plain description of the relationship and how it works. This is included whether or not a relationship exists — its absence is disclosed just as clearly as its presence.
Re-verification
Licensing, bonus terms, and payment information change. Every review lists a “Last verified” date, and CasinoRadar periodically re-checks published reviews rather than treating them as permanent.