This page is where I’m listing all the gambling site reviews on GoodGamblingSites.com. With thousands of online gambling sites to choose from, it pays to do some research and look at some ratings before depositing money at one.
Besides just listing reviews, I also wanted to provide some guidance as to what to look for from a review. Many sites publish sales letters for online casinos and just call them reviews. Many “ratings” are just nonsense intended to get you to sign up so that the publisher makes a commission from referring you.
My goal is to teach you how to find gambling site reviews you can trust. Some pages on the internet really are written by honest people who care about both sides of the business–the players and the gambling sites. That’s what I hope to do here.
If you read a gambling site rating that’s all positive and just glows with excitement, hit the back button and go find another gambling guide to read. Any reasonable website and reviewer will provide a reader both the pros AND the cons of signing up at a particular property.
Below I’ve listed the 7 things to look for when reading gambling site reviews. I’ll update this page with additional information, including links to specific reviews, as those reviews are written.
1- Look for Evidence that Some Research Went into the Review
Research means specific details. Names of companies, dates of operation, and specific numbers are all clues that the reviewer did some actual research before publishing the review. With any luck, you’ll find a review that includes information and details not found in other reviews.
I once hired a writer to put together information pages about all the cardrooms in Las Vegas. I gave her a list of details to include with each page, including which games were spread and at what limits.
She wrote me back and told me she couldn’t find that information in Google.
I told her to call the cardrooms and ask the cardroom managers. (That’s research, folks. They used to call it journalism. It’s not even especially hard journalism, either.)
She wrote back and said she wasn’t willing to do that much work.
Next!
You should be reading and trusting reviews that are written by people who don’t mind calling, emailing, or texting a company to ask for specifics that aren’t readily available. If the review just repeats the information on the website that’s being reviewed, it’s not really much of a review, is it?
It also helps if a review sounds like it was written by someone who’s actually played at the site in question.
2- A Real Review Includes Both Pros and Cons for the Gambling Site
If you see nothing but positive comments in a review, then it’s not really a review. It’s a piece of advertising masquerading as a review.
You’re looking for expert analysis and opinions when you’re reading reviews, not advertising. No gambling site is perfect. Any review that makes a gambling site sound perfect should be instantly suspect.
Some gambling sites are good for some types of players and a bad fit for other players. Some websites shouldn’t be trusted no matter what. Others are perfect for almost–but not quite–everyone.
You should look for reviews that are written by people who are willing to look at both sides of the story. You want an even-handed approach from anything you read.
3- Screenshots and Anecdotes Are Important
Actual screenshots from a real person playing at a casino make a review more useful and demonstrate that the reviewer has actually played there.
Anecdotes about a reviewer’s experiences actually depositing money, playing games, withdrawing money, and dealing with customer service are additional evidence that you’re reading a legitimate review by someone you can trust.
I mentioned this earlier. A real reviewer has actually played the games at a site. Anyone can say they’ve played at a site. But actual screenshots and believable anecdotes make it a lot clearer that someone really has tried the website in question.
4- An Author’s Byline and a Real About Us Page
Anonymous reviews are fine if they’re reader-submitted, but they’re usually not the kind of comprehensive, detailed review that you’re looking for. In these latter kinds of reviews, the gambling guide should publish an author’s name. This might be a pen name, but real writers and experts put a byline on anything they write.
If an about us page on a site is vague about who runs the site and doesn’t include much information, that’s a bad sign, too.
Keep in mind, though, that gambling is a shady industry–or at least it’s considered shady by some people who aren’t involved in it. As such, some people don’t want to use their real names and identities on their pages. This might just be prudence on their part.
Everything else being equal, though, a site with transparent information about its owners and writers is better than a site where everyone who manages or works there remains anonymous.
5- A Good Review Should Be Comprehensive
This means that you should be able to find almost every detail you’d want to know about a company you’re going to do business with. It should leave almost no question you might have unanswered.
These details might include:
- Ownership information
- Licensing details
- Games available
- Bonuses and promotions
- Banking options
You don’t need a small page with about 500 words. You need at least the details above covered in detail, which should take a minimum of 1500 words. Really comprehensive reviews probably run closer to 2000 or 3000 words.
6- The Writer Should Have a Reasonable Enough Vocabulary and Command of the Language to Sound Literate
It’s hard to get any kind of page to rank in Google or Bing unless it’s minimally well-written these days, but you can still find reviews that are obviously written by hacks who don’t know what they’re doing. If a site can’t be bothered with the expense of hiring a real writer, how trustworthy do you think their reviews will be.
I was taught that to write clearly, you must be able to think clearly, and vice versa. If a writer can’t make himself clear, why should you trust his opinion?
7- Advertising on the Page Should Be Minimal (Or at Least Not Obnoxious)
Yes, websites like mine make money from referring players to casinos. This doesn’t mean you have to whack the reader in the face with flashing banner ads and pop-ups to make a living. It’s okay for a gambling site review to feature prominent links to sign up at the casino.
But such links should be reasonable, not obnoxious.
I remember when the industry was 1st getting started. I’ll never forget the garish, obnoxious websites that displayed copious amounts of flashing banner ads. If I’d had epilepsy, I’d have been in trouble.
I knew some of the webmasters who ran such websites. I remember asking them why their sites looked like that and didn’t offer any real information of use. Their answer was always the same:
These kinds of users don’t want solid information. They want to see advertisements–the flashier the better.
I give my readers more credit than that. You should give yourself more credit than that, too.
Conclusion
If you’re going to gamble online, you should do so responsibly. Gambling site reviews can help you achieve this.
But not all of the reviews and ratings on the internet can be trusted. If you’ll keep the 7 things I’ve said you should look for in mind when you’re reading reviews, you should be able to separate the wheat from the chaff.