What are we looking for when we review a casino?

When it comes to reviewing a casino, what are the criteria that we are using in order to judge the quality of the products on offer? Undertaking a review of all the top casinos in the world is an arduous task if you are to attempt to do it properly and at casinoreviewhq.com, that is precisely our aim. In this article, we’ll attempt to examine exactly what criteria we are going to be looking for when we make our judgement on any casino, so that it enables us to come to a fully-rounded, justifiable and fair conclusion.

So when we are looking to review a casino for our users to read about, here are just some of the issues that we are going to research and consider to make up our review:

1. The promotional offer

One of the primary reasons users have for joining a casino site is the promotional offer they will receive when they make a deposit. We review these items very carefully and take a look at some of the ‘hidden’ terms and conditions which can make a “Free $1,000 when you join” turn into something far less when you do actually become a member.

We look at how clearly the offer is explained, how fair it is to the user, whether the company delivers on what it promises and whether there are any other provisos in place that mean you may not quite get the deal you think you are. We can then judge the quality of each offer and decide which type of gambler (depending on how much they wish to deposit) the offer is best suited to.

2. Loyalty awards for regular players

It has always struck us as somewhat odd that casinos initially fell over themselves to reward players who had just signed up with them, but offered very little in the way of loyalty rewards in order to ensure these players stayed playing at the casino and did not just leave and take advantage of another promotional offer elsewhere. Thankfully now, that is no longer the case and if a casino has a loyalty scheme for users, then we will take that into account in our review. How easy is it to gain rewards from the casino? Are the rewards fair for what the casino expects you to spend and do they offer a real incentive to stay gambling with the casino?

3. House edge

One of the things we will always consider in any casino review is the house edge. For this we’ll often take a look at the casinos payout table to ensure that the casino is not attempting to earn more from their users than what is generally established as being fair. In our review we’ll note any little ‘extra’ rules that increase the casinos edge markedly and we’ll mark them down because of it. A good example of this is casinos that allow dealers in blackjack to twist on ‘soft’ 17, or that allow users to use up to six decks, all of which drastically increases the house edge. We understand that casinos must make a profit to operate, but we want that to be a fair profit and one that doesn’t punish games unfairly with excessive house edges in key games.

4. Quality and quantity of casino games on offer

The centrepiece of any casino is of course the games that they have on offer. We’ll conduct a thorough review of all the casino games on offer, ranging from the table games like poker, baccarat, craps and blackjack, to video games such as video poker and keno, through to online slots and even bingo. We’ll check the popularity of games, how easy they are to play and understand and of course, we’ll check that they offer players a fair chance of success without an excessive house edge. We’ll also take a look at the casino’s free play area to see if players are allowed to play games for free and how accurate they portray the real money games.

5. Speed of payout

When it comes to online payment, we are extremely strict in our criteria here. If you are a customer at a casino and win a sum of money, regardless of how much it is, then other than the security checks that we know may slightly delay payment, we would expect a casino to pay out a user almost instantaneously. If this doesn’t happen at a casino, or several players have reported problems with it, then as part of our review we’ll investigate why and give you our view on the matter.

6. Customer service

What is easy to forget sometimes in an online casino is that you are a paying customer of that casino, in much the same way you would be a patron of the casino if you walked into one in the real world. As such, you should expect to receive excellent customer services from the casino. As part of our review, we’ll look into the quality of customer service offered by the casino, whether they are easy to contact, how quickly an issues or complaints are resolved and how well the company deals with its customers if they have a query.

7. Site design and intuitiveness

It is no use promising users the most exciting casino gaming experience on the Internet, if when they access your site they find it cluttered, unappealing and difficult to navigate. Part of our review will take a look at the mechanics of the bingo site itself. How well has the site been put together? How often does the site or its users encounter problems with the software? How easy is it to navigate through the site and find the snippet of information or game that you want?

8. Customer reviews

Lastly, although our reviews are unbiased, we will also take a look at customer reviews of a site to see what other players have thought. We may detect a problem with an area of the site this way, or reveal something that a casino does particularly well, which we will of course attempt to highlight. By garnering other peoples views we hope to provide a more rounded and accurate review of every casino website.