Online Casino Reviews – UK Casinos

Our Online Casino Review Process

The more that we play and review online casinos, the more refined our online casino review process has become. We want to walk you through how we review and rate the casinos that you’ll find on our website.

• Regulation and licensing
• Customer support
• Responsible gambling
• Bonuses & promotions
• Wagering requirements
• Casino games selection
• Payment methods
• Deposit & withdrawal limits
• Payout times

Regulation and Licensing

We start with regulation and licensing as it’s arguably the most important part of player protection. An online casino needs a licence to be featured on FSND. First of all, online casinos that accept players from the United Kingdom must receive a remote gaming licence from the U.K. Gambling Commission in order to offer their services.

That doesn’t mean that casinos without a UKGC licence aren’t trustworthy, they may just not want to offer their online casino games to players from the UK.

If we feature online casinos that aren’t licenced by the UKGC then this will be made clear with a disclaimer in our review.

We’ll also make sure that the casino does have a licence from another reputable online gambling regulator, like the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) or Curaçao eGaming.

Customer Support

Next in our review process, is how good is an online casino’s customer support. We include this high-up on our list as if you have an issue whilst playing you should be able to get it resolved as soon as possible. This is why it’s important that casinos have more than one contact method.

• Email
• Live chat
• Telephone support
• FAQs guide

The absolute minimum that an online casino should offer in terms of customer support is email and live chat. This is usually satisfactory for most players, however, it’s a nice bonus if they also offer telephone support, and a detailed frequently asked questions guide.

Secondly, online casinos should make sure that their customer support is active at key hours of the day. We give top ratings to casinos that offer 24/7 support, all of the tier 1 casinos offer this, which is great. Granted some new casino sites aren’t able to offer 24/7 support due to having limited resources, but as already mentioned they should have support agents working at their peak hours.

Lastly, the agents that you deal with should be polite, considerate and openly listen to your problem before trying to fix or explain the issue.

We take customer support very seriously here, and you the player should know that you’re signing up to a casino that offers fantastic support.

Responsible Gambling

Responsible gambling has become a hot topic in the last few years, and rightly so. This is especially true in the UK, where the Gambling Commission is looking to protect the player more and more.

Casinos should now have teams dedicated to responsible gambling. They also need to offer the necessary tools that are going to reduce online gambling harm. Like the following:

• Deposit limits
• Reality check time limits
• Wager limits
• Self-exclusion

The idea is for online casinos to be proactive instead of being reactive when it comes to responsible gambling. We’re definitely seeing this when we play at new online casinos, with the limits and checks, as well as, emails reminding us that you need to be safe when gambling. Meaning that you should only gamble with an amount that you can afford.

Bonuses and Promotions

Bonuses had to make it into our review process. What the best casino sites do, is tailor an offer specifically for your type of play.

For a slots player, free spins are the best route, but for a live casino player, blackjack or roulette would be their preferred choice. But, if their bets only count 10% towards overall wagering, then what’s the point? When a casino offers a specific live casino bonus, this is how you can separate the top online casinos from the average ones.

Whilst some people might not like to play with bonuses due to the added wagering requirements, to those people we say that you need to find a no wagering casino!

Wagering Requirements

When rating an online casino, checking its wagering requirements is vital. Obviously, no wagering casinos get 10 out of 10 marks when we rate them for this section.

On the other scale, casinos that have wagering requirements that are above 50x don’t score well in this category. Average wagering requirements are somewhere between 30-40x, that’s the general sweet spot.

If you don’t like to play with a casino bonus, then wagering requirements aren’t really a deal-breaker when it comes to picking an online casino.

But if you do like to get the best bang for your buck then we advise playing at a casino that’s wagering requirements are set anywhere between 0 and 40 times.

Casino Games Selection

Next is which casino games are on offer. Some players might want a huge selection of games, however, others might want to play slots from one or two providers.

Personally, we think the best UK slot sites should have a wide variety so we can explore new and old games. We evaluate how many slots each casino offers, and which providers supply these.

Another key part of this section is looking at their live casino games offering. The best live casino sites out there will have more than 1 live casino provider. Here are live casino providers that we look out for at UK online casinos.

• Evolution Gaming
• Playtech
• NetEnt Live
• Pragmatic Play
• Authentic Gaming

Payment Methods

It’s all well and good if a casino offers over 1500 games, but if they don’t also have a wide-selection of payment methods then they drop down in our casino reviews list. The most common payment methods that you expect any online casino to offer are.

• VISA
• Mastercard
• Skrill
• Neteller
• Paysafecard

For a casino to get top marks in this review category, we want them to offer PayPal, Apple Pay and pay-by-phone.

Deposit and Withdrawal Limits

Limitations on deposits and withdrawals can be extremely frustrating for a player. That’s why we include this in our casino review process.

As a standard, we’re happy to play at casinos that offer a £10 minimum deposit and withdrawal. Anything below this is excellent, but if the limits are higher, then you may start to question why this is.

We’ll still play at casinos with a £20 minimum withdrawal, but they definitely won’t be our first choice.

Payout Processing Duration

Carrying on the payment theme, the quicker the withdrawal process, the better! This time can vary on which deposit method was used, but we still want to know that the casino’s team has processed the payment and now it’s in the hands of the payment Gods.

FAQs

Are online casinos safe?

All online casinos that are regulated by the U.K. Gambling Commission are considered safe to play at. They’ve earned their licence, and have to uphold certain requirements to retain it too.

Which is the best UK online casino?

This is a highly debatable question, and the answer would definitely differ per person. People have different preferences after all. You can see our up-to-date opinion on this question on our best casino sites page.

Do I have to verify my account?

Yes, in the United Kingdom all players must verify their account before they can make a deposit. This means having to send documents (passport, driving licence, utility bill) to the customer support team of the casino where you’ve registered. Make sure to register with your current address and correct name. That might sound obvious, but it definitely happens.

Can I use a credit card to deposit?

No. The Gambling Commission introduced a ban on players depositing with credit cards in April 2020. You also can’t deposit with a credit card via an e-wallet. This ban was introduced to reduce problem gambling.