• grandivy.com

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• mansioncasino.com

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• casino.com

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As you can see, we piled up a quite hefty number of options for you. And you can be sure that we reviewed thoughtfully every single one of these online casinos before recommending them to our readers! We already mentioned briefly what we are looking for in an operator and the ones above do check all the boxes!

The Fastest Way to Your Casino

• Games Selection
• Range of Bonuses
• Deposit Options
• Mobile Experience
• Live Casino Offering
• Online Security
• Player Support
• Payouts & Big Wins
• Other Player’s Experiences

New to online casinos? Follow our expert guide here!

Who We Are, Our Core Beliefs & Why You Can Trust Us

We are a dedicated team of seasoned casino experts with a passion for protecting players from unsafe sites and making sure they have fun online. With a collective 20+ years of experience and a deep love of all things online gaming, we aim to help you find the best casino sites for your particular interests, while hopefully helping you discover some new favourite games along the way. We’ll teach you how to spot a fraudulent operator from a mile away and how to pick out the most beneficial bonus offers to optimise your experience.

Enhance Your Casino Experience with us!

Author: Chris Shepherd

I’m a slot lover at heart, so I understand the importance of feeling safe at an online casino while also having the best range of games and bonuses available.

A Guide to the Best Casino Sites & How To Review Them

When choosing an operator, there are a number of criteria which you have to check. You wouldn’t want to play in a site that is not secure, nor in one that has a small variety of games and threatens to bore you fast. You will also not be ecstatic if you are bound to your desktop and don’t have the possibility to play on the go, right? For your comfort, we decided to create this handy guide that you see below. These are the pillars, holding the best casino sites and you should always keep them in your mind!

Variety & Quality of Online Casino Games Selection

Most players are quick to judge a casino site on its range of slots, and for good reason. Slots are often the most popular category but to be a truly great operator, the game library needs to include more than just slots. There is a whole plethora of game styles around, but for a short summary, check the table below. The top sites will have as many of those categories covered as possible and should offer more than just one or two of each variety to satisfy players. A well-curated library can be built on as little as 300 games, though, more often than not, sites with this small a number of titles are more likely to leave players wanting more. To be safe, we’d suggest you play at sites with 600+ titles, though it’s also possible to find casinos with more than 1,000 unique games.

• Online Slots

  A good slot selection requires a variety of styles i.e. classic, video, jackpot, as well as an interesting range of themes. The best libraries are stocked by a multitude of developers and include the latest tech and special features next to simple old favourites to cover all interests.

• Online Blackjack

  One of the most popular casino games, blackjack also has the highest RTP. Look out for a number of different variants on the classic, different language options and wide betting limit ranges. 20+ titles is a decent number but true blackjack fans can expect more from the best blackjack sites.

• Online Roulette

  Roulette players can’t go far wrong with online casinos as most understand the popularity of the game and offer a large number of titles. Again, multiple languages, special variations, high and low table limits and excellent graphics should all be included in a good roulette selection.

• Online Baccarat

  Baccarat is a game that can sometimes feel under-represented at casino sites, while it should be considered a staple table game. Some websites will try to brush players off with just one or two titles; look for those that give this game special attention and offer 10+ titles. Trust us, they exist.

• Video Poker

  Video poker is something of a niche casino game and is not known for high-quality graphics or interesting themes. Like a throwback to when solitaire was an exciting computer game, video poker is for those who appreciate the classics and don’t want to deviate from the core of a good game of solo poker.

• Online Sic Bo

  There are very few sic bo games available online, but the best UK casino sites will offer it just in case any of their players are fans of this simple dice game. Understandably not as popular as other table games, players can bet up to £18,000 on a single throw of the dice.

• Online Keno

  Fans of lottery-style games will enjoy betting on their lucky numbers in a game of keno. There are some interesting variants of this game available, and interesting themes help to keep the game feeling fresh when betting on the same numbers time and again gets a little dry.

• Online Bingo

  With countless sites dedicated solely to online bingo, it’s not surprising that this category can sometimes be overlooked by online casinos. Nevertheless, the game is not a bad substitute for the real thing when you can’t make it out to meet the gals at the bingo hall.

• Online Craps

  This fast-paced game of chance is still pretty popular with online casino players and operators often give a nod to craps by offering one or two titles towards the bottom of the table section. Dice game lovers will be pleased to see lower betting limits online than in land-based casinos.

The less popular game categories are mainly supplied by a small number of large software developers. Microgaming and Playtech, some of the biggest companies in this industry have libraries so vast, they can afford to include games such as craps and keno, we’d recommend checking out Monkey Keno from Microgaming. While smaller developers need to focus on more popular games in order to earn money, some of the products they create are exceptional. 3D Sonya Blackjack from Yggdrasil is a completely new take on an interactive table game and slots from ELK Studios and Thunderkick are constantly winning awards for creativity and design.

Deposit, Withdrawal & Other Payment Options

An important feature of any online casino is its payment methods. It may sound like a no-brainer, but you really want to look for the widest possible range of methods. The best online casinos will support payments from a variety of trusted methods, allowing you to cashout with ease. These can include, but are not limited to, bank transfers, credit/debit card payments, e-Wallet, prepaid cards and more. Each option comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, which we’ve broken down for you below.

*Request via bank transfer

If you’ve never come across any of the terminology associated with online casino payments before, there’s no need to stress. A good deal of it is pretty self-explanatory. Minimum and maximum deposits refer to the lowest and highest amounts you can deposit into your account. This varies between casinos and from method to method. Usually, this information will be available to you in the operator’s payment section. Furthermore, you’ll want to be aware of the processing times carried by each method. For example, withdrawing via debit or credit card may take a few business days to process, whereas getting your cash payout through an e-Wallet service will be instant.

Online Security & Safety

When selecting any website with which to share personal information, you should always be very careful to choose safe and trustworthy operations. This is even more crucial for things like online casinos, as you will need to input a lot of accurate and specific data in order to open a website. This is why you should always closely investigate any site to make sure it is up to scratch. For UK gamblers, it’s easy to identify which sites are secure thanks to the hard work of the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC), the region’s regulatory body. Checking for a licence from the UKGC and for the seal of high-tech security companies such as GoDaddy, VeriSign or DigiCert, will go a long way to ensuring you’re in good hands.

Introducing the UK Gambling Commission

All gambling activities in the UK are regulated to the standards of the Gambling Commission in order to legally operate. Its activities include:

• Issuing gaming licences: All online and land-based casinos must fulfil strict application requirements to receive a licence to operate in the UK.
• Offering player protections: If players have issues with a casino or are treated unfairly by an operator, the UKGC offers support, however it does not deal with common-place disputes.
• Regulating account fund: The UKGC ensures that all player funds are held in separate locations to the casino, so they are protected.

View Approved List of Gambling Sites

“We would like to protect customers from gambling-related harm and keep gambling fair and safe. This strategy sets out our vision for the gambling market we want to see!“

Sarah Gardner – Executive Director

You should be able to see the UKGC seal on any of the best online casino gambling sites you inspect. They will likely proudly display their licence number in the footer of the website itself, and you can also look up any operator directly on the UKGC website to check the status of a licence if you are unsure. Without this, you may be in the midst of a blacklisted casino and should therefore steer clear. Sticking to our recommended operators will ensure this is not the case.

Other Gamblers Experiences, Ratings & Reviews

Just like when you are researching to buy any product online, there are numerous sources from which you can glean unbiased information about online casinos. We always highly recommend having a look at the types of experiences that real players have with any operators to get first-hand feedback – for good or for bad. Often the best casino sites will have a feedback section on their own page, but you can also find unfiltered opinions through social media streams like the operator’s twitter feed and post responses. It’s also a good idea to have a look at any headlines the operator is making in the news, as well as checking community forums like reddit and Quora.

• Social Media

  Responses to operator twitter posts are a great way to get unfiltered feedback directly from the horse’s mouth. Checking out the interactions between a casino and the general public via their twitter or facebook accounts can be a useful source of information.

• News Publishers

  Big problems with any operator will likely make headline news in the UK as the government continues to crack down on unfair services. A quick search for independent and reputable news stories can reveal whether a casino site has been operating in unfair ways or playing by the rules.

• Online Forums

  The internet offers countless opportunities for the general public to share their opinions about basically any topic, and the hugely popular online gambling industry is certainly well-discussed on forums like reddit’s r/poker subreddit, or through the casino channels on Quora.

The more data and opinions that you collect about an online casino, the more informed your decision on whether or not to play there will be. Of course, make sure you take all information you find on the internet with a grain of salt, as the ability to share any opinion at any time can result in some unfair feedback being shared unnecessarily. These three above channels will give you a lot of feedback to sort through, and it is up to you to use your best judgement on what information is trustworthy. It’s also important to recognise the actions taken by a casino to solve a player’s grievance, as the ability to solve a problem is a good factor to take into account.

Traveling Abroad? Gambling in Other English-Speaking Countries

Playing from the UK is all well and good, but there might be times when you’re away from home and still want to access your casino accounts. Say you’re enjoying some R&R while on holiday or looking to liven up a few dull moments on a business trip. It might seem like you can just login and play as always, but that isn’t the case. When playing abroad, things can get a bit more complicated and it’s worth knowing beforehand what to expect. If you frequently travel from the UK to any of the countries below, you might have difficulties checking into your account.

• Australia
• New Zeland
• USA
• India
• South Africa
• Canada
• Nigeria
• Ireland

The issue arises because of different national legislation. To put it incredibly simply, what is legal in Britain won’t necessarily be legal abroad, and vice versa. To prevent players from getting in hot water while in foreign countries, online casinos will typically lock your account to a specific country. This means that you can only access that account from the country where you first registered. This doesn’t mean you’ll have to miss out on playing, though. There are plenty of alternative betting options abroad that you can access. So long as you’re well-versed on the legal situation of the country you’re visiting, you won’t have an issue playing your favourite games.

Find a Site with Additional Gambling & Betting Products

  You may only wish to play blackjack or slots online and so think that you don’t need any other services from your casino betting sites. Or you may think that it’s best to have separate operators for all of your different gambling pastimes. However, you really don’t have to pick and choose. A large number of the best casino website incorporate bookmakers, poker rooms, bingo or a combination of these. So, even if you don’t currently plan to start betting on the turf, there’s no harm in leaving your options open and considering operators that give you the widest choice. 

• Sports Betting

  From Premier League football to local greyhound races, you can place bets on just about any sporting event around the world online today. Sports betting sites also offer excellent seasonal and one-off promotions for big events and competitions. Many household gambling brands have both casino games and bookmaker on the same site, requiring only one account.

• E-Sports

  The fastest rising gambling niche at the moment, the growth of E-Sports is a global phenomenon. Although not all operators have great coverage yet, more and more are realising that games like Counter Strike: Global Offensive generate huge media attention, with events pulling in thousands of fans.

• 3D & Virtual Reality

  It still seems like something from the future, but 3D and virtual reality gaming are already upon us. The casino industry is not far behind the frontrunners either, with some sites offering VR lobbies and products, and openly developing more experiences for the user that go beyond the two-dimensional computer screen.

• Poker

  It is one of the most popular card games in the world and has become a massive online world of its own. Although there are dedicated poker room operators, some casino sites host their own rooms and allow their members to access and play from the same account.

• Bingo

  With its social atmosphere and round-the-clock action, bingo has become as popular online as it ever has been in the high-street halls. As with poker, these days you can find sites that include bingo rooms alongside casino games. 

• Lotto

  While you can’t play the National Lottery through private gambling companies, there are legitimate sites that will accept bets against the outcome of international and national lotteries, offering massive payouts.

Blacklisted Sites – Casinos You Should Avoid

  While there are lots of excellent and entirely trustworthy operators on the market, there are also many bad casino sites. These can be tricky to spot at a glance, especially if you are new to the world of online gambling. Whether they make false claims about their licensing or use dodgy payment methods that lead to you being scammed out of your money, there is little worse than being taken advantage of online. That’s why we have made a short list of sites that you should absolutely avoid, below, and compiled some tips to help you avoid the worst casino sites UK players might think are above board and legal. 

Don’t let these outliers scare you into thinking that gambling online is never safe. This is far from the case, and as long as you stick with reputable companies that are licensed by the UKGC, you should be fine. Click here to jump back to the best casino sites in the UK, which have all been thoroughly tested by the Gambling Commission, third-party officials and ourselves.