Online Casino Reviews
Our trusted online casino reviews focus a great deal on the reliability of all casinos we research. An individual casino’s reputation is a key element of our evaluation process. OUSC discusses whether a website has the games you want, but we offer more than a simple discussion of blackjack, roulette, and slots. Where many sites discuss only the software, games, and payment methods, we go one step further: we discuss the gritty details of an online casinos reputation.
When it’s time for a player to choose an online casino, that person has hundreds of casinos to consider. The most important decision a gambler makes is: choosing a reliable online casino. Players need operators with good payment processing, helpful customer support, and a solid reputation in the industry; all part of our comprehensive and honest casino reviews.
Gold Certified Casinos
Online Casinos that meet the highest level of quality and safety
Best Overall Casino
Best Mobile Casino
Best Live Dealers
Best Casino Bonuses
Best Online Slots
Silver Certified Casinos
Online Casinos that exhibit above average quality
Bronze Certified Casinos
Online Casinos that meet the basic requirements of a fair and safe casino
Online United States Casinos – Reviews
Finding a reliable casino is of prime importance when you gamble online. All the fun of playing and winning doesn’t matter if you don’t receive the payoff. In effect, you’re lost from the beginning.
Pick the worst online casinos and it’s not a matter of losing your winnings, but all the money you deposited. Remember: if you can’t trust an operator to pay your winnings, you might not be able to trust them with the personal information you provided. Choosing a trustworthy online casino is, therefore, the key to your enjoyment of Internet gambling.
Collectively, OUSC’s staff has been involved in the gambling industry for several decades, so we understand what’s important when reviewing a casino. We know the current landscape of the gambling world. We’ve heard of all the tricks and traps used by bad operators. Understanding what players are sometimes up against, we use our collective knowledge to your benefit.
We have grouped the online casino reviews into three categories:
A reputable online casino meets all our criteria and standards for a full recommendation.
The non-recommended sites don’t receive our approval nor a warning to avoid them.
Blacklisted sites are those we consider dangerous for gamblers to use. We recommend readers avoid online casinos on that make it onto our blacklist.
How We Review Online Casinos
The OUSC staff has many years of experience in the gaming industry. We understand the player experience because we’ve been players ourselves. We put gamblers first by helping people find safe and reliable casinos.
OUSC strives for transparency. Our casino review process is detailed and thorough. Below is how we arrive at our conclusions. Gamblers don’t have the time to research every single website, so we shorten the process for them.
Research Player Experiences
We want to know what current gamblers are saying. The anonymity of the Internet means players share their opinions, both good and bad. A bit of research tells us a lot about a site. We understand that some players are disgruntled because they lost. We understand customers like to complain. We understand that competitors sometimes post bad online casino reviews, pretending to be gamblers. For that reason, we don’t look at one lone opinion, but the totality of player experiences. That consensus is reported here.
Scour Watchdog Sites
To verify the consensus opinion, we go to the best watchdog sites. Casinomeister has been a trusted online casino reviews source of information for players, affiliates, and operators since 1998. Each year, it has a comprehensive list of complaints. AskGamblers has a database of complaints, too, along with updated information on bonus codes, industry news, and the latest games. AskGamblers has an easy-to-access portal of the latest complaints, so we research the late-breaking news.
Timely Payments
One of our key points of interest is whether a site offers payment in a timely manner. While the fastest payment process is nice, our reviewers are more interested in a reasonable withdrawal process. We want a nice balance between speed and security. In this era, there is no reason for long delays.
Issue Resolution
We check to ensure that there are no past issues with a company. When there have been, we require a casino tangibly demonstrate they have resolved those issues. Showing a concern for their reputation and their players’ experience is important. Management changes. Ownership also changes. Old issues can be resolved sometimes. You can also check players and casino conflict and possible resolutions at AskGamblers, another website with great insight.
Bonuses and Promotions
Our reviewers concern themselves with factors that the less detailed reviewers discuss, such as bonuses, special promotions, and VIP rewards. These remain important to know, so don’t think we’ll neglect bonus offers and rewards.
List of Games
Reviews wouldn’t be complete without a guide to the games offered. Our reviews contain key information on the software providers and the games sites offer.
Customer Service
Finally, technical issues happen from time to time. People need to know that a casino has a friendly and reliable customer support staff. This information is can be found in our online casino customer support page.
Instant Play and Download Casinos
Once you start your research, you will find that there are two ways to play online: download and instant play. The first is downloading the online casino software to your computer, allowing to have a higher quality experience. The second is instant play, where you can play at the online casino from any device, just by sign in up.
Our goal is to make the best online casino reviews, being the most thorough in the online gambling industry. We encourage players to contact us if they have any problems or concerns about one of our online casino reviews. If you need a clarification on one of our points, send us an inquiry. If you think we have misrepresented a casino, give us your opinion and the reasons you think we’re wrong.
In these instances, it’s best to define terms. Below is a brief discussion of the reasons we blacklist a site or decline to recommend it.
Blacklisted Casinos – Not Recommended
A blacklisted casino has demonstrated to our reviewers either high levels of incompetence or outright fraud. These are the worst of the worst: operators who should be avoided at all costs. We still write a casino review to show what they have to offer but recommend players not join based on the negative feedback.
Casinos which do not pay winnings are at the top of our blacklist. This includes sites which simply do not pay when it’s time for a withdrawal or those with a reputation for making up so-called policy violations to avoid paying.
Casinos Not Up to Standard – Proceed At Your Own Risk
We have a category for casinos which are not on the blacklist but are not recommended, either. These casinos are not fraudulent but do not meet our standards. A variety of reasons might cause us to avoid recommending them.
These sites might pay but pay slowly. If a casino has a reputation for being unfair, that can affect our online casino reviews. Unfair policies put players at a considerable and consistent disadvantage. Badly worded policies also might trick gamblers, whether intentionally or not.
Sites with inferior games are not recommended. If a casino’s games have a high house edge or an unreliable technology, we decline to give those sites a good recommendation.
Closed Casinos
A closed casino no longer accepts new registrants or supports online gambling. Sometimes a closed casino has had its domain seized by a regulator, due to a criminal investigation. Other times, the online casino isn’t profitable or has its player database bought by a competitor. If a criminal investigation causes a casino’s closure, accounts might be frozen or confiscated. Closed sites usually try to pay out their customers and affiliates, but that is not always the case when their assets are seized.
The closed casinos reviewed in this section all once were US-facing online casinos. Six of these casinos were owned by NetAd Management and the Affactive Group affiliate program, while the other four casinos were owned by Milore Limited and the Revenue Jet affiliate program. The owners of all ten sites, Ziv Orenstein and Gery Shalon, were arrested for the JPMorgan-Chase cyber-attack of 2014, so all 10 online casinos were closed. These were considered rogue casinos before they closed, which is why readers should read warnings about sites before depositing money there.
How to Choose the Best Online Casinos
Once you’ve gone through our list of standards and reviews of online casinos, you might have some questions. How do you choose which casino to play at? What is the most important factor when choosing a casino?
I suggest players make a checklist of factors, ranked in order of importance. This helps players evaluate as they go, according to their own criteria.
Each player is going to have a different checklist, but I’ve taken the time to list factors you should consider. Use your checklist to determine whether to play at a site. Only play if all factors are checked in the casino’s favor.
- Reliability
- Security
- Fast Payouts
- Realistic Bonuses
- Good Promotions
- Best Games
You might place these factors in a different order. Make certain a site has a reputation for reliability and trustworthiness. It’s no use winning if you can’t collect your winnings. For that reason, the casino’s reputation for payment is #1 in our expert opinion.
Security is another key factor. If you can’t depend on the casino to protect your credit card information and privacy, then you shouldn’t be playing at that site. Make certain a casino has a solid verification process and secure encryption technology, so withdrawals are secure.
Fast payouts are important, too. When you want to cash out, a casino shouldn’t drag out the process. To do so is like a bank refusing to pay when a depositor asks for a withdrawal; it’s a stalling tactic to hold onto your money longer. Also, some casinos delay, hoping you’ll cancel the withdrawal and start gambling again.
Bonuses and Promotions
Choose sites with realistic bonus offers. The deposit bonus, no deposit bonus, and reloads need to be attainable. The match rate should be to your advantage. A wagering requirement should give you a chance to cash out a bonus. Players don’t need a casino which plays word games in its terms and conditions.
Solid VIP rewards are a must. The welcome bonus is nice. At the end of the day, if you’re picking a website for the long haul, you want an online casino which offers solid VIP rewards on an ongoing basis. Most sites have a silver rewards, gold rewards, and platinum rewards level. Make a realistic evaluation of your level of play, then see whether that VIP tier is advantageous to you.
Finally, after all of those factors are met, I take a look at games selection. Table games usually have the same house edge from casino to casino, so table games in my book come down to the layout of the virtual table and its gameplay. Selection of common variants is key. When playing slot machines online, I want a casino with the most games that I enjoy, along with a few of my all-time favorites. Memorize the software provider of your favorite games.
Conclusion
Because of the thoroughness of our evaluation process, some of our best online casino reviews are going to be in-depth and comprehensive. We hope they’re brief enough to hold your attention, but we want to serve the greater interest in providing useful reviews you can trust. Ultimately, if players don’t have a good gaming experience, they might stop playing and the entire online gambling industry suffers.
*In order to gamble you must be 18+ years or older. Gamble Responsibly.
