Casino Reviews

For UK online casino enthusiasts, there are a number of factors which contribute to a great casino. Let’s find out more about online casinos and how to choose the best casino sites.

From the variety of games to a great range of payment options, players want the full package. The first place which any seasoned gambler will start is the security of an online casino site. There is no doubt that this should be the first thing that players look for when choosing a new place to play. Without knowing the history of a company, you will not be able to determine if they are to be trusted.

The one reason why players want to enter a UK online casino is to play games. The chance to win money is probably the driving factor in this, but it is in the games where this is achieved. If an online casino is lacking in quality games and titles, then it will be very disappointing to learn this when you have deposited a fair whack of your hard-earned money.

Any legitimate UK online casino site will have been licensed by a recognised authority and we will cover this as we progress through each stage, below. The same applies to a casino’s customer service and support team, and the bonuses which you should expect to receive from any genuine article.

In this guide, we cover what you need to know about UK online casinos. The good, the bad, and, of course, the ugly.

  UK Online Casinos List

If you want to just jump straight into the action then check out this full list of online casino sites and UK online casino reviews which will show you exactly where the best places to play online are. These can be considered as the ‘creme de la creme’ of UK online casinos.

Casino Reviews – Best Of The Rest

How old is your UK online casino?

Which platform does your UK online casino run on?

  About UK Online Casino Reviews:

It’s not that long ago that you would struggle to find consumer information. Believe it or not, all you had to go on in the UK were a couple of specialist consumer publications, a few newspapers and three and then four TV channels.

The internet has deluged us with information. Unfortunately, a lot of it is very bad information, from fake news to 1 million letters from supposed billionaires who just need your bank account details to extract their fortune from an unforgiving tax system in Outer Mongolia.

Such is the world of the web.

However, there’s also an awful lot of good information out there. And you can help it get better! That’s right, your clicks on good sites, and on good information, help incentivise people to produce better quality content. So keep clicking and sharing only the good stuff.

Ar Online-Casinos.co.uk we’d like to think we do that!

  The risks of online gambling

The online gambling world, sadly, is particularly vulnerable to this sort of bad information.

The reasons are obvious. People gamble in order to get money. Most commercial interactions are a one-way street, with money going from the customer to the business. A business that also gives some of the money back – occasionally many multiples of what you’ve put in – is very attractive.

It’s attractive to all sorts of people. And it’s particularly attractive to vulnerable people who are desperate for money.

Desperate and vulnerable people are particularly at risk of making bad decisions around money. Casinos and casino sites might appear to offer a quick way to get a lot of money.

Because the vulnerable are likely to be attracted to casinos it makes setting up a fake casino a very attractive way to rob people. People who are desperate and vulnerable don’t ask the right questions.

It’s a crying shame, and the people who do it should be ashamed of themselves. (And by spreading the news about scam casino sites and warning people away from them you’re doing great work.)

It’s a shame because the casino business – in its legitimate form – is already virtually a licence to print money.

It took the “business genius” of Donald Trump to go bankrupt in the casino business, most marginally competent people can run a casino at a handy little profit, especially when algorithms set up the systems to deliver a consistent reward to site owners.

So there’s no need for scamming!

  Online Casino Reviews

So in this avalanche of information around the gambling industry are a lot of UK casino review sites. Welcome to ours, we hope you enjoy your time here, and we’d love your feedback.

This is potentially great news for UK casino players. Information is power. And the more you know before you sign up at a site and hand over your debit card details the better.

However, you should be aware that not all UK online casino review sites are equal.

The reason why the online gambling world is full of scammers is that it is relatively easy to set up a casino site, or one that looks very like one at least.

And it’s just as easy to set up an online casino review site that rates online casinos – or seems to, at least.

  Online Casino Reviews – the Truth

The online casino review business is in some ways a part of the online casino industry.

That does not as – at a stroke – render the whole sector inadequate, and least of all, corrupt, but it does mean that you should keep your wits about you even at an online casino review site.

Casinos want customers. They know that customers have a lot of choices. They know that customers are therefore looking for information. Therefore there is a demand for information in the form of online casino ratings. Therefore the casino companies provide their own casino ratings sites. Or they work with online casino rating sites by rewarding them for sending along customers who sign up.

This isn’t anything too sinister. It’s actually how a whole load of industries work. In fact, any industry that has a “press” attached to it, which essentially survives with advertising from that industry is “corrupt” in the same way!

Music magazines get free recordings. Games sites get sent free games.

It all works in a similar way. We could point out that this means capitalism itself is inherently corrupt, and you’ll never find the real truth inside that system, but that seems a bit heavy for this article.

It does mean, though, that you should try to be aware of where your casino ratings or game guides or slot reviews are coming from.

You’re going to have to accept that most people who operate in or around an industry have an interest in that industry doing well. And therefore they want component parts of that industry to do well.

  Online gambling reviews are a must

You should absolutely still read online casino reviews though. The alternative is to go in with no information at all, or simply trust the adverts you see from a casino site itself.

Don’t do that.

But we are asking you to consider where your information comes from and accept that any online casino review will be on a site that runs as a business, and if you can’t see advertising that pays for the site to run then it must be getting a revenue from somewhere else and that is likely to be from what are called affiliate fees.

Those fees are how the casino sites reward online gambling review sites that send customers their way.

In many ways, this is good news for casino users.

How’s that, you ask.

Well, casino sites know that people aren’t idiots who are simply going to read a decent review, that they probably know is in some way linked to the industry – quite legitimately – and click their way to their site. No, they’re going to want more incentive than that.

So review sites, gambling reviews, and casino ratings sites are the best place to hear about new bonuses, new free spins offers, and the best offers, discounts and freebies in the online gambling world.

  Getting beyond the limits of casino ratings

Once you’ve accepted the limits of online casino ratings and online casino reviews, you can start to really make these sites work in your favour.

You do that by using them for what they really can and should – when they operate well – provide. And that is a load of information.

If you’ve visited many casino sites you’ll have noticed that they are packed with information. They’re also full of a lot of very heavily signposted upfront information and a lot, lot more of not so heavily signposted small print.

A good casino review site will give you online casino ratings that collect this information in a relatively simple form that you can use and will get you around the biased signposting and headlining of the casino sites.

  How to find a safe online casino

The first focus you should have when you use an online casino site is that it is safe and legal for you to play at.

Without that, all bets are off. Or they should be.

And that’s the first thing that an online casino review site should help you find out. If a review doesn’t tell you that a site is licensed and legal – or advise that you double check that – then it’s not doing its job properly.

So that’s your first point of call in an online casino review.

A review site should also include good information the help and information systems available at an online casino.

That’s a must in our opinion.

  Use online casino ratings to save time

You should be looking at casino review sites to save you time.

So, you would hope that they will condense the huge amount of information that is available at an online casino site down to something that you can use.

Typically, this should reassure you that an online casino site is safe and legal for you to use.

It should tell you how you can fund your account, and if there’s a good selection of trusted funding partners at a site.

A good review will also give a survey of the sections that a site operate. Online casinos are often super-sites now – they may encompass thousands of slots, hundreds of casino games, dozens of live casino tables, and more. There may be linked bingo or sports betting sites. There may be a social side to the site.

  Online casino bonuses and reviews

And bonuses. People probably pay too much attention to bonuses. Which is exactly what the online casino industry would like you to do.

Bonuses are an eye-catching way to tempt new customers to sign up to a site. There’s absolutely nothing negative about being given free funds in your account. And there’s certainly nothing negative about being given free goes on a game.

As long as you keep in your mind what the purpose of these things are.

And their purpose as far as the casino is concerned is to get you through the door and play. Of course, the site has to do more than just give you a bonus to keep you there, and a good online casino review site will tell you some of that detail.

But a bonus is likely to be the headline item in a lot of reviews. And that’s rather playing into the hands of the casino site.

  Assessing online casino bonuses properly

You need to look for reviews that provide a bit more than a headline figure on a bonus. It’s easy to offer a bonus that’s a few percentage points better than your competitors. That’s what consumers look for, and it’s easy to forget the details.

So, try to look beyond the headline figures, and good online casino ratings will take account of the small print, and give you some of that information.

Typically, the way that bonus funds are restricted is by a “play-through requirement”. That’s shorthand for the amount of your own money you will need to deposit at and play with on a casino site before you can remove money from the site that you have won with those bonus funds.

There may be further restrictions on how the games you play are rated – so only half the funds you spend on the most popular games may count towards your play-through for example.

So look beyond the headline figures and work out if this really is a good deal for you. A good online casino review site will help you do that.

  Good quality online casino ratings – worth their weight in gold

So keep using online casino rating sites at every opportunity you have.

There’s a lot to look for when you pick a new casino site, especially as you’re likely to be cashing in your bonus for a one-time-only cash-in.

The software is an issue for some players. If you like a particular provider of games, then you’ll want to know that you can enjoy them at your new casino site. Check out the software you like that is available at the site you want to use.

If you want live games you should be able to find out about their availability in a good casino review.

And as you’d look for quality in a casino site, look for quality in a casino review if you’re going to trust it.

It should be high in information and low in fluff. It should be well written and reasonably concise. A good casino review should explain terms that aren’t commonly known. And it should be completely clear and understandable.

If you start to see those sorts of reviews then you could be on to a good online casino review site and you should keep going back to it. If it also consistently offers you access to good quality bonuses that’s even better.

And if you can get the latest industry news, find out about what the games companies are up to, and maybe see some previews of what’s coming down the pipeline then that’s bonus after bonus after bonus!

Enjoy reviews, use them wisely and review them yourselves to a certain extent.

Online Casino Reviews FAQ

There are maybe as many casino review sites as there are casinos these days. But how do you understand these sites, and how can you make the best use of them to help you find good quality casino sites with all the games you love.

This question and answer document will help you navigate the enormous ecosystem of the online casino reviews world.

What is an online casino review site?

Do you know how many casino sites there are available to UK users? No, we don’t either, to be honest, but it is easily in the thousands. The UK Gambling Commission regulates the sector and it has issued 51,000+ licences. Some of the companies that hold licences operate multiple sites. This means that players need help to find the best sites. Reviews are the best way to do this.

Are online casino reviews honest?

Some are and some aren’t. All journalism in capitalism is compromised in some way, and trade and the industry-specific press is especially at risk from this. Any specialist publication will attract advertising from the sector that it covers. It immediately has a conflict of interest – potentially.

This is everywhere, from newspapers (the Daily Telegraph lost one of their most famous writers when he spotted they weren’t running stories critical of one of their biggest advertisers) to review sites.

Sometimes the relationship is too close though. You’ll never find it explicitly explained to you, but the best you can do is find sites that have good quality written content that seems legitimate – no site is perfect, so no review should say they are – and see how your experience aligns with that.

Are online casino reviews safe?

Hopefully, you’ll only look at sites that review only legal and legitimate sites. In the UK that means sites that are licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. That’s a good check on any review site – check that it has good ratings for security and safety.

How do I read online casino reviews?

One of the little known facts of internet life is that most internet content is not read! It’s not even meant to be read. It’s there largely for search engines.

As search engines get cleverer and cleverer this makes less of an impact. If you’re as old as I am you’ll be able to remember sites that gamed simple keyword counting by simply repeating phrases like BEST CASINO EVER over and over again.

Things aren’t like that now, but review sites need to provide quite a lot of content to prove they are legitimate to the search engines.

You can probably skip some of it, and focus on the things that matter to you: check out the pros and cons and the conclusions first, and make sure that games you enjoy playing are listed.

Should I click on links in online casino reviews?

There is no harm in clicking on links on legitimate sites. A lot of online casino review sites get rewarded if a player uses the link in their review to sign up at a site. If you enjoy an online review site then click on their links and sign up via them, and turn your ad blocking off while you’re on the site.

Can online casino reviews help you win on casino sites?

There’s a lot of material posted online that purports to tell people that they can win at slots or other games of chance by behaving in a certain way. This, sadly, includes some casino reviews websites.

This is not true. Slots and other casino games are governed by chance and you cannot cheat chance. There are some minor tweaks you can make that will make a very small impact on how much money you spend and how quickly. And there are all sorts of good and useful things to be read about online safety and gambling safety in particular.

But there is no secret to winning and you should take guides offering that as a red flag anywhere you see them.

What is the variance of the Super Bar-X slot machine?

Super Bar-X is a medium variance slot game. High volatility slot game pay out less often on average but the chance to hit big wins in a short time span is higher.

Should I pay to use online casino reviews?

You should not. These sites are funded by advertising and what is called affiliate money – that’s money from sending customers to websites. That’s completely legitimate, but there’s really no need to pay for such sites with a couple of exceptions.

If a site offers more than just reviews, for example, a very good quality forum or another social service then it’s possible that they need to charge for hosting and moderation and so on, and that’s legitimate.

And if a site has very special and good quality information then it may also be worth paying for. There are some sites out there that are fantastically well produced and researched. If you enjoy casino games and find a site you love that covers them and they ask for your money then you may want to consider paying.

What is the most important thing in an online casino review?

The reviews on online casino sites tend to focus on fairly similar areas:

Banking,

Games,

Live games,

Customer service, and so on.

All of these are very important and you should read up on them.

Most important though is your safety and security, and that’s what we’d like you to look for every time you ever look at a casino review.

How do I find online casino reviews?

Online casino reviews are everywhere. You are very likely to find millions of results from a simple Google search. The best way to find something good quality is via personal recommendation though, and if that’s something that’s available to you in this area then you should use that. Search engines, as we’ve said, are getting cleverer and cleverer but they are still poor judges of quality.

Do you need online casino reviews?

We, with our conflict of interest declared, believe that you do.

While the independence of review sites might be a little bit compromised it is in no way as compromised as the only other source on this matter, and that is the sites themselves. Good sites will go into the small print of a site and give you the real truth behind all the attractive headlines on a site. And that’s worth your time.