Most sites in this space rank operators by what the operator pays. We're not going to claim we don't take commission — we do, and you'll see it disclosed on every page. What we can tell you is what the ranking is actually based on, and where the numbers come from.
Where our facts come from
Operator sources first. Every deposit limit, withdrawal minimum, wagering requirement and promo code on this site is read from the operator's own banking, promotions, terms or help pages — not from another affiliate's summary. Affiliate pages in this market copy each other, and stale codes propagate for years.
We date-stamp everything. Offshore promotions change without notice. Every figure carries the date we confirmed it, and tables carry a "verified" date at the top. If a date looks old to you, treat the figure as unconfirmed — we'd rather you check than trust a number we haven't re-read.
We re-check monthly. Bonus terms, restricted-state lists and payout limits are re-read on a monthly cycle, and material changes are logged visibly on the page.
When we can't confirm something, we say so. This is the part that separates us. If an offer is widely advertised but we can't find it on the operator's own page, we write that we couldn't verify it — we don't list it to capture the search. You will find pages on this site that tell you a heavily-searched "no deposit bonus" appears not to exist. That's deliberate.
What we test ourselves
We fund accounts with our own money. Not comped accounts, not operator-provided test logins.
We measure payout times end to end. Where we publish a payout time we state both stages — internal approval or KYC, and then the payment method's own processing — with the timestamps and the number of withdrawals behind the figure. A median from six withdrawals is labelled as such. One lucky withdrawal is not a payout time.
We report operator-stated times as operator-stated. Where we haven't measured something ourselves, we say the operator states it, rather than presenting it as tested.
We test deposits and withdrawals at the minimum first. The same thing we recommend you do: a small round trip before funding properly.
How we rank
Ranking order is set by the things that cost or save you money, in roughly this order:
- Deposit and withdrawal costs. Fees are certain; bonuses are probabilistic. A card fee difference of ten percentage points outweighs almost any welcome offer.
- Payout reliability and speed, counted properly — including approval time and any hold.
- Withdrawal limits and ceilings, because a fast payout with a low weekly cap is a slow payout.
- Whether a bonus can actually be cleared, which we calculate rather than describe. Headline percentages are the least informative number on any offer.
- Product fit — what you can actually bet on or play.
- Track record. In an unregulated market, years of paying customers is the only real proxy for solvency.
Commission rates are not on that list, and do not change the order. Where a lower-paying operator is better on the criteria above, it ranks higher. You'll find pages here recommending the smaller bonus and the cheaper site.
How we do the maths
Some of what we publish is arithmetic rather than opinion, and we show our working so you can check it.
Free bets are valued at the odds they can be used at, because a free bet returns winnings but not stake. At roughly 4.5% market hold, a $100 free bet is worth about $45 on a −110 spread and about $80 on a +500 underdog. We state the model's assumption and flag where it becomes unreliable — the favourite–longshot bias makes very long odds less valuable than a flat model suggests.
Rollover and wagering are valued at the cost of the turnover they require. Sports: about 4.55% of every dollar staked at −110. Casino: the house edge of the qualifying games, around 4% on a 96% RTP slot. From that comes a break-even threshold — above about 25× on the bonus alone, a casino bonus can't be cleared at a profit in expectation, and if the multiple applies to deposit plus bonus the threshold is lower still.
We state what the model leaves out. These figures assume you complete the requirement without going broke first. With a requirement large relative to your bankroll, that assumption does a lot of work, and we say so on the page rather than in a footnote.
If you find an arithmetic error, tell us. We'll fix it and log the correction.
Affiliate disclosure
We earn commission when readers sign up through some of our links. That funds the testing — the accounts we deposit into are paid for out of it.
What that does not do:
- change the ranking order
- stop us publishing an operator's weak points
- stop us recommending a site we don't have a commercial relationship with
- get an operator a review, a rating, or a removal of criticism
No operator has editorial input. No page on this site was commissioned, reviewed or approved by an operator before publication.
What we won't publish
Offers we can't verify. If it isn't on the operator's own page, it doesn't go in a table as though it is.
Promises about outcomes. No "guaranteed payouts", no "beat the casino", no systems. Every game here has a house edge and every bonus has a cost.
Payout claims that skip a stage. If a withdrawal takes 24 hours of approval and then 24 hours of processing, we don't call it a 24-hour payout.
Legal advice. We explain how statutes are written and how they've been enforced. That's journalism. It is not advice, it can't account for your circumstances, and where it matters you should ask a lawyer licensed in your state.
Corrections
We publish a dated revision log on pages that carry time-sensitive data, and when we get something wrong we correct it in place and say what changed rather than quietly editing.
If something here is out of date or incorrect — a code that no longer works, a limit that's changed, a figure that doesn't add up — tell us. Reader corrections are the fastest way this site stays accurate, and we credit them where you'd like us to.
Who writes this
Every review carries a named author with a profile, and a "last reviewed" date. Dominic Field →
A note on the market we cover
The operators on this site are licensed outside the United States and not by any US state regulator. That means no state gaming commission oversees them, no segregated-funds requirement protects your balance, and no state complaints process exists if something goes wrong.
We cover them because millions of people use them, and the alternative to good information isn't no information — it's the marketing copy. But we're not going to pretend the protections exist. Withdraw regularly rather than banking on these sites, keep your own records, and treat any balance you leave as at risk.
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18+ (21+ at some operators). If gambling has stopped being entertainment: National Council on Problem Gambling, 1-800-522-4700, free and confidential, 24/7.