At SlotsCalendar, we are constantly improving our research methods and becoming the most trusted source of information in the gambling industry. Our site and expertise have a base of reliable reviews, documented recommendations, and loyal readers.
Our team of experts works rigorously to provide in-depth evaluations of various gambling platforms, ensuring you have all the necessary information to make informed decisions. It would be impossible for our highly experienced team to do that without solid principles that continue to guide our mindsets.
These are the values we promote and consider to be the basis of our work:
- Transparency
- Integrity
- Fairness
- Consistency
Our standardised approach guarantees that all our reviews allow our readers to benefit from unbiased and the most accurate insights. We think that being open and truthful is essential when it comes to assessing and endorsing online gambling platforms. Therefore, our reviews focus on strict criteria, and we never compromise our standards. You can trust that our information is impartial, reliable, and up-to-date.
An Overview of Our Goals and How We Achieve Them
Based on our principles and adding accessibility to all UK players, we are doing nothing but putting you first. Our focus is on being straightforward, easy to understand, and straight to the subject regarding the information we gather and learn from our analyses.
Only our team of experts gets to review anything on our site, meaning that you can trust what you read because it comes from a place of honesty and expertise. We always mean what we say and will always signal if a casino brand is not safe or worthy of your time.
But we understand very well that we must earn your trust, so in the following paragraphs, we will show what happens behind the curtain. We are constantly working very hard to make sure you are not just keeping up with the gambling world, but you have all the tools to help you stay ahead of the curve. SlotsCalendar is not just a platform built on passion; it is a platform where casino lovers can find everything they need.
You may consider us the IMDB of the gambling industry.
As we have grown, we have added loads of cool stuff to ensure you have a great time reading one of our reviews. From the latest games to deep dives into the online gambling worlds, on our platform, you will definitely find the games you love.
To put it in a simpler context, our team dedicates its time to you. We are building an online hub where you can find the latest news, the most fantastic bonuses, and the most honest casino reviews from the UK. We are your number one stop for the best gambling experience, and that is because we are offering:
- More than 20,000 online slots that you can play for free, options for real money gaming, and expert reviews!
- We feature and meticulously assess top casino brands through evaluations
- Find excellent bonuses for all UK players
- We have fantastic giveaways, social events and tournaments with great prizes to keep you coming back
- Hundreds of blogs and publications that are easy to understand
- The latest news and special interviews from the most notorious actors in the industry
The Purpose of Our Work
We want to be the most reliable source for honest and transparent online casino reviews. Our goal is to set new standards surpassing what the internet has seen. Are you curious to find out how we plan to do it?
It all starts with our evaluation process, where we use a scoring system that focuses on the essential characteristics of a casual player’s style. We want to fully understand what you are looking for in terms of experience, functionality, payment services, and more. Therefore, we will provide a set of criteria to help you choose a casino, considering various factors.
We use a scoring system that assesses a casino’s safety, game library, and bonus offerings, among other categories. We highlight the pros and cons, giving you our honest verdict you can rely on. Unlike other reviewers who use a subjective filter for their opinions, we gather data objectively to maintain our impartiality and ensure quality.
Our general purpose is to revolutionise the affiliate industry, with transparency and integrity as the main principles. So, what are the tangible results of our work?
- As a player, you benefit from our objective reviews
- Casinos will improve their operations
- Gambling providers deliver a better experience thanks to positive competition
It is now the perfect time to join our quest to help the industry improve and provide a fairer gaming experience for everyone.
Our Commitment to Expert Collaboration
Our review team consists of hard-working professionals from the content department. They meticulously check every casino and its services before it’s featured on SlotsCalendar. This happens with our featured bonuses or games, including slots, live casino games, and mini-games.
Their expertise and careful attention ensure that every blog post, guide or comparison piece is unique and covers all the necessary topics, making our platform rich with exclusive information.
All the members of our teams are experts, and this happens thanks to the particular approach we have on every material we are working on. Our editors constantly expand their knowledge by keeping up with the latest industry news and applying solid research methods. However, it’s crucial that we pay attention to what users like you have to say, and we adapt our content based on how you perceive it.
Another critical action we take is to keep our content team independent of our business dealings, ensuring that any partnerships we have will never influence the reviews you read.
By doing that, we avoid any bias, and our editorial team doesn’t let companies’ feedback affect the quality of their transparent reviews. They base their opinions on their own experiences and will keep doing that.
We would not be able to deliver at such high quality if it wasn’t for our leaders. Viorel Stan, with a background of more than 14 years in both the B2C and B2B sectors of the iGaming industry, leads our team.
His roles as Co-founder, CEO and Chief Editor at GSH Online Media, which includes BetBrain and SlotsCalendar, showcase his dynamic leadership and deep understanding of the gambling world.
Viorel’s goal is to provide our readers with valuable gambling insights, emphasise the importance of playing responsibly, and ensure that our content meets the highest standards of quality and information.
How Do We Conduct a Casino Review?
We perfectly understand how important it is for you to play at a casino that delivers the best experience regarding games, security, customer support service and payment options. Our review process stays the same for all the casinos we encounter, even those from the same managing company.
We always go the extra mile with our reviews, trying to find as much information as possible about each operator. For example, if a casino provides a 24/7 live chat service, our experts will test that functionality. Sometimes, it is accurate, and we give credit in our report, but occasionally, nobody answers our chat request, which means we must be transparent about it.
And this is only a short example of how far we can go. Would you like additional information about our process? Check the following paragraphs!
How do we Test The Level of Security and Trust?
Betting and gambling imply the transaction of real money. And when anything involves money, you have to be and, at the same time, feel safe. One of the most important criteria for a casino to get its green card is to prove to our experienced analysts that it is safe and secure.
On top of that, we have to trust an operator with our personal and financial data, so you get why we stress this matter so much.
- Licence: A casino’s legal obligation to provide gambling services to any user is to obtain licencing from a trustworthy institution like UKGC.
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission is the regulatory body responsible for supervising and controlling gaming in all its forms in the UK. Any platform that offers sports betting, casino games, slots, lotteries, bingo, poker or any other betting game that involves winning based on RNG results must obtain a UKGC licence.
The primary responsibility of UKGC is to ensure that a casino meets all the criteria, respects all the rules of security, and respects the law. UKGC can always change the regulatory environment and develop new laws at times. All gambling providers must act accordingly.
Suppose you read any of our casino reviews. In that case, you will notice that the first thing we do before anything else is to verify if the casino has a licence, if it’s still available, and from what institution. We only recommend casinos that have UKGC licences since it is the regulatory institution we trust to do regular checks and constantly optimise the licencing process, making it more stringent. And a more rigorous licencing process means players can enjoy their games in a safer environment.
- Games Collection: It is vital for our UK players that a casino provides legit games on its platform.
Most unlicensed casinos exploit their status and use counterfeit versions of popular slots and games. We will always notify our readers in our review about such attempts. We do it because these unauthorised copies have the same graphics, symbols and sound effects, but the RTP will usually be much lower. This leads us to:
- The Authenticity of RTP: Not only do we check where the games come from and what developer is responsible for them, but we also check to see if the payout potential of a casino game is the same as showcased in the RTP.
- SSL Certificate: Having an SSL certification is not revolutionary at present. The hosting providers will now activate an encryption protocol on your website without additional cost. SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer, and it is a must-have layer of security which keeps all the data you exchange with the casino safe from theft.
- Forum Scraping for History Background: We go as far as we need in our search for information that can tell us something about any casino. Although a forum might not be the most trustworthy source, we can always find some players who talk and discuss their experience with an operator.
We never take players’ opinions for granted because most belong to players who lost money and tend to say bad things only because they are not lucky. But reading an entire discussion helps us find similarities and common points. We compare those with what we know from our analysis, and you will get the most objective argument.
- KYC Process: We will do the KYC process for every casino we review to have a complete overview of the casino and get access to all functionalities. We include data about financial transactions in our reviews, and to unlock the possibility of withdrawing money, most casinos will ask you to verify your identity.
For the safety and knowledge of our readers, we verify our accounts and write an entire guide on how you can do that, too. And because we have the experience, we also know what advice to give you to check this from your list as fast as possible.
- The Protection of Data: The casual player will never check how the casino protects his personal information.
Most casuals will agree with the privacy policy without even reading it. But that is where all the processing steps are public, and the casinos allow you to read and find out how they use your data. This is where our work is once again needed. We go through every chapter of any privacy policy so that we can guarantee that every casino we recommend will not use your data without specific consent.
- Generic Terms and Conditions: Reviewing the fine print is crucial as part of our evaluation procedure.
We carefully examine the terms and conditions of a particular platform to achieve several objectives. Our goal is to identify provisions that may result in unfair treatment to you.
We pay close attention to clauses that use ambiguous terminology, hidden provisions buried in lengthy paragraphs, or any other questionable details that could negatively affect your experience.
- Financial Security: One of our main priorities is to ensure your money is safe when betting on any platform we recommend. Therefore, we will do all the necessary checks to guarantee that your finances are not at risk.
Our experts will only approve casinos that offer secure payments, meet industry standards, and provide a reliable payment service overall. These are the only casinos we feature on our website.
After rigorous tests, we make sure they pose no financial risk. That’s why you will only see casinos that have a UKGC licence. Because this is the institution we trust the most to make sure that the British have access only to the best casino services. Financial security doesn’t have to be a choice criterion, so we want to eliminate this risk.
Responsible Gambling
Your well-being as a casino customer must be one of the brand’s top concerns, and one of the ways to accomplish this is by promoting responsible gambling. Gaming and playing casino games is fundamentally an entertainment genre, and you should approach it as such.
Despite the enjoyment component, this pastime has some negatives, and the casino must guarantee that it gives the required support when this occurs. A platform with a significant emphasis on responsible gambling should have the following rules:
- Self-Exclusion: The possibility of stopping betting by restricting yourself from having access to online gambling platforms.
One of the most critical steps in our reviewing process is to conduct extensive inspections of the self-exclusion alternatives. We aim to evaluate whether they are helpful and easy to use to encourage healthy, responsible gambling behaviour.
- A knowledgeable customer support team: We go the extra mile by acting as players needing help. We call the numbers available on the website, use the live chat, and do everything we can to test the competence of the staff.
Any customer support assistant has to deliver prompt and efficient service, and in our reviews, you will see that we talk about the quality of this service no matter the result.
We seek qualified staff who can handle gambling-related concerns as professionally as possible.
The resulting response helps us determine the amount of a casino’s commitment to your health, mainly by providing resources and assistance to promote responsible gaming.
- Our contribution to this topic: We are constantly participating in the growth of more responsible behaviours and actions.
We continue to do what we know best and publish articles that provide in-depth examinations of many views on the issue and its application in the industry. Topics covered include the essential principles of responsible gambling, the ins and outs of regulations, players’ protection, and practical suggestions.
By doing this, we assure that everyone who uses online gaming services and benefits from our recommendations has an enjoyable experience.
Game Categories
The game collection is the main attraction of an online casino. And we know that before anything else, this is where you interact with the level of quality of a gambling platform the most.
The industry is constantly expanding, and due to this high-speed innovation, an enormous number of options in terms of software providers and game portfolios appear. Therefore, our commitment to excellence ensures you only get the most incredible experience possible.
Here is what a game collection should feature to meet our high standards:
- Top games and providers should be accessible: A casino is as efficient as the software it showcases.
And if they have aspirations for the best casino in the world title, they must use the best software available. They can achieve this goal using games from well-known providers such as Playtech, NetEnt or Microgaming.
Most times, when a game or functionality catches your eye with its unique characteristics, it is usually the property of one of the providers mentioned above.
These providers continue to prove they can deliver the highest quality, as evidenced by their ability to demonstrate mastery of graphics, sound and animation designs, and creative gameplay mechanisms.
- Total number of games and providers: We always look for a complete collection of games. Currently, a casino can succeed only if it delivers high numbers.
The most notorious online casinos offer various games and a diverse gaming experience. This increases the entertainment value, especially when it incorporates distinctiveness.
The more games you can play in a collection, the more likely you find something suitable for your style. We understand that the bigger the variety of games, the more dedication a casino demonstrates.
- High RTP Games: The Return To Player value is how we determine if a game is giving the players from the UK a better chance to win and fulfil their dreams.
A slot or a virtual table game can have several variations with different RTP values. So, when a casino offers the better version with the highest RTP, it shows they are willing to give back.
Another scenario is when the operator takes the matter into its own hands and adds something to the game to increase its RTP. It can be an extra feature or a tournament dedicated to a game category.
- Giving access to “Free To Play” Versions: The distribution of free demo versions of the games is more of a mutual agreement between a game provider and the casino. This practice allows UK players to enjoy the excitement of a game without risking any real money from their budget.
But if this is not the case with the casino you are playing on, you can always count on SlotsCalendar to get the free version of any game that piques your attention.
- Jackpots: It cannot get bigger than winning a huge progressive jackpot and taking home up to millions!
The possibility of scoring such a big win is attractive to players, which is why it is probable to find them right on the homepage of a casino website.
Jackpots are part of our analyses because we recognise the excitement of this feature.
Payments
Payments are in a strong correlation with your finances. Payment methods are the primary tool for engaging in transactional actions with an online casino. Therefore, we must ensure that all UK players can quickly and safely deposit or withdraw funds; we analyse the payment methods offered by all the casinos we review.
All of our reviews contain comprehensive information about the whole process of depositing or withdrawing money. Consider them guides that can help you with any financial action you take on the platform.
- What payment methods are available: The number of payment methods available is a good indicator of the current safety level of a casino.
You will often see casinos with more than ten payment methods available, which is a good indicator of security and an efficient way of increasing reputation and attracting a bigger audience.
- Methods of depositing: When you deposit, the platform allows you to begin playing. This process should be quick and easy; otherwise, it raises suspicions.
Eliminating tedious procedural components and unnecessary complexities will help you enjoy your experience even more, which is critical for fast and convenient gaming.
- Cost of transactions: Our search technique identifies any costs the casino may charge for any transactions you complete.
All the information is available on the website, and to find these transactional costs, we carefully review the delicate print parts, such as the terms and conditions. We also check the payment service of each gambling site and conduct additional research by reading about other users’ experiences with that casino.
We quickly find these on forums or discussions players have online when they share opinions.
- The Processing time: Most casinos will instantly take your money if you decide to deposit, but the processing time becomes more critical when it is different for withdrawals.
We understand how intense it is to request a withdrawal and wait more than a few days for the money to arrive. We carefully check the withdrawal time of any casino we review and highlight those with the fastest processing times.
The quickest payment methods have an advantage over their competitors due to their efficiency and promptness.
Customer Service
The more time you spend betting at an online gambling platform, the chances that you may need support increases. We strongly believe that casinos should take care of their players, no matter what, and offer support with any problem or question a punter might have.
And there are various methods a casino can implement to give you the best assistance experience, such as:
- Multiple Communication Channels: Players from the UK use different methods of communication. We think that to be as efficient as possible, a casino should offer various communication channels for their support service.
Having as many communication channels as possible, such as phone, social media, live chat, and email, demonstrates the platform’s commitment to efficiency in its customer service approach.
Right from the start, a casino should establish a process that involves specialised assistance. This will help resolve issues and demonstrate the casino’s commitment to a good gaming experience.
- How accessible it is: We consider ease of access one of the leading efficiency indicators. We test the customer support service to give honest, detailed opinions from our first impression of the system.
- Schedule: Since casino games are available 24/7, we expect that the customer support service will respect the same schedule.
We are constantly looking for casinos that dedicate resources for this particular service. As long as there is at least one contact method that is available non-stop, we will give our approval.
- Customer Support Expertise: We evaluate not only the response time but also its quality.
When we test such services, we want to see how fast and precise the response we get is. As players, we do not want to face problems while doing what we love the most. We expect the customer care assistant to be proficient, use simple words, and have the ability to give us solutions as fast as possible.
Bonuses and Promotions Offer
One of our main objectives is constantly improving the quality of your betting sessions. We both know that the highest level of happiness in the casino is when you win. Therefore, some free incentives and bonuses from the operators will be handy.
Most casinos will highlight these incentives on their first page. They use them mainly to attract players, but it is also an advantage for those too. We recommend some if you, as a player, can benefit from free cash, spins, cashback, reload bonuses, or any other form of incentivisation.
Our analysts already test all the bonuses you can see on our platform, and the most qualitative of them can be split into two main categories:
- Free Incentives: Some free bonuses will primarily target a specific category of players. However, any player should receive gifts, free cash and more free incentives if they are part of the casino community. That’s why you will always see these offers available on our website.
- Welcome bonuses: The welcome offer is the main attraction in the industry. It is so popular that no casino lacks this type of incentive.
They aim to persuade prospective customers who wish to invest time and money in a particular casino. This strategy effectively increases the casino’s brand image, mainly if a notorious platform provides a bonus.
Once you make your initial deposit, the casino will reward you with the deal’s benefits, boosting the start of your gaming experience.
There are a lot of benefits that hide under the name of welcome bonuses. You can unveil free spins, free cash, and, the most famous of all, the no-deposit bonuses.
- Fair T&Cs: The T&C section is where the magic happens. It is the core of the bonus, and by reading it, you will understand how it works, how you can claim it, and under what conditions.
What we are trying to say by “fair” is that we purposely check these with our team to find out if the casino is trying to hide some impossible requirements that an average player cannot meet.
We do our best to highlight those in the “Advantage & Disadvantage” section we add to each bonus review.
- Loyalty or VIP Scheme: We have the welcome bonus prioritising new players, while VIP schemes are exclusive to loyal, existing ones.
Not only is it an important addition to a casino’s portfolio, but it will encourage you to return and keep betting because you get access to exclusive promotions and perks. If returning to a casino proves beneficial, gamblers like you may have a legitimate motive to do so.
Casino User Experience and Interface
You should feel in your element while navigating game sections, promotions or settings. An online casino should make you feel like everything is accessible with one or two clicks. Switching from one game to another doesn’t have to be difficult. But overall, it is all about how the platform looks, how easy it is to understand and navigate it, and how good the performance is.
Our evaluations give you our professional perspective on how good the UX & UI are and how to use them to improve your experience. Here is what we are looking for:
- The process of creating an account: The registration process is how UK players first interact with an online gambling platform. It has to be quick and easy and give concise guidelines.
The less confusing and roundabout a registration form is, the more time you will save. As a result, players will tend to adhere to the platform that gives them faster access to games and betting services.
The competitive advantage of this feature is beneficial in the online casino sector, especially given its ongoing expansion. This element can also help with engagement, especially if a platform’s streamlined design allows it to retain new users.
- The platform usability: You can sense the level of professionalism a casino has in no more than ten minutes.
If the interface welcomes you with quality graphics but also provides enough information so that you can understand where to find your games or settings, that is an operator who will get your green card.
- Available on multiple platforms: We do our tests on multiple platforms simultaneously, comparing how responsive the features are or if there are any differences in game availability.
No matter what device you play, you should be able to use all of its services with the same optimisation level. An indisputable advantage is a simple, smooth mobile experience that does not compromise game graphics or overall functionality.
- Availability in multiple countries: The ultimate goal of a casino is to become international and accessible to as many countries as possible.
While aligning to various jurisdictions and laws, a casino should build its functionality so that it can adapt to legal modifications worldwide.
That is why the casinos you are used to playing from UK regions can also be accessed from other countries worldwide.
This is also an advantage, considering you might want to go on vacation and leave the UK for a few days. Thanks to initiatives like this, casinos are available to you, even if you move out of the UK.
The Casino Platform
From the construction point of view, there are two main types of casinos worldwide. They choose to build their platform using software and programs from outside providers, or they will develop in-house solutions for their needs.
- Software from external providers: Many specialised platform developers in the business can produce finely created products with various features and a solid software base, making third-party platforms a more viable option.
- In-house development: A casino can have more control over its operations’ innovative and customisable aspects when it develops its platforms internally.
We can understand that from a financial point of view, developing your software solutions in-house is way more complicated, mainly because these also need maintenance attention that has to be provided internally.
Ultimately, choosing between these two approaches comes down to a few key considerations, such as the available funds, the technical expertise or internal staff.
Explaining Blacklisted Casinos
Since our main priority is to find secure and high-quality platforms, the ones that fail to meet our expectations end up being blacklisted. We regularly come back to them and check for improvements so that we can recommend them to the world.
To decide if a casino is worthy enough to have a highlighted spot on our website, we must consider a list of factors that will dictate whether or not the casino deserves your attention.
- Ambiguous terms and conditions
- Poor Customer Service
- Deceptive Licencing
- Prolonged withdrawal processing durations
- Unclear and challenging to understand terms and conditions
Our rating system is designed so that we can highlight any casino we find to have poor overall service quality.
Given that the casinos we assess could offer different services at different points in their operating lifecycle, we pledge to consistently update and maintain our grades according to the brand’s current offerings.
The “blacklist” tag will only be given to those casinos who lack security or prove themselves to promote an unfair methodology or misconduct of players.
Approved & Rated Online Casinos
When we are done checking everything on our list and know exactly where a casino stands, we are ready to give our final verdict and write a comprehensive review.
Since we place high importance on honesty and transparency, we assess each casino’s advantages and disadvantages fairly. In addition, we provide gamers with as much pertinent information as possible.
We have strict and evergreen editorial guidelines, providing insight into the processes we adhere to behind the scenes.
However, it’s also critical to comprehend that SlotsCalendar works as an affiliate website. This means some sites or links we recommend are sponsored or affiliate.
Being an affiliate does not affect the level of transparency or impartiality in casino game reviews. Our way of evaluating will only improve and become more stringent.
Furthermore, kindly remember that our page could only change with our previous notice. We strictly update our page, which is why this occurs.
Our goal is to offer the best possible quality without costing you our assistance.
To fund our operations, however, we can demand advertising fees from the online casinos on this platform.
We get paid only when users from SlotsCalendar register, load their accounts or begin playing at any of the casinos featured on our website.
Although the fees do not affect our evaluations or the following ratings, they might affect where these casinos appear on our site.
We align our policy with every step we take, so brands that do not pass our rigorous analyses will not pay us any fees.
We Ensure Our Reviews are Up-To-Date
Like us, casinos worldwide continuously try to become better versions of themselves. They improve their response rates, add new games, and optimise the overall user experience.
We do regular checks to keep up with their evolution, ensuring we update our reviews with their freshly incorporated functions or new additions.
This is one of our ways of keeping you informed. We send newsletters and use in-house software to analyse and notify our readers about bonus changes.
You will be the first to know even when a casino changes its terms and conditions slightly.
Once a review has been published, no matter how much time passes, our analysts will ensure that it is constantly updated with the latest information.
Why is this important for you as a player? You must keep ahead of all the advancements a casino makes, especially if it’s the casino you frequently choose to play at.
Important Note: We try to update our bonuses as fast as possible, but sometimes, an operator may modify the T&Cs of a promotion without notifying us. Anyway, we recommend you put your trust in our highly-prepared team, as they are consistently staying up-to-date no matter what.
How Are We Different from Other Review Websites?
We are passionate, and our belief in SlotsCalendar’s vision is stronger than ever. Everything we do has one essential purpose: to revolutionise the iGaming industry and raise the standards to a new level.
Our distinctive evaluation approach sets us apart from the competition and enables us to provide you with a thorough and informative analysis. We are open to evaluating casinos through exhaustive research that makes no compromises.
How does a comparison look between our methodology and the common average casino reviews from all over the internet?
SlotsCalendar Reviews | Average Casino Reviews |
✅We highlight true differences with each of our ratings | 🛑Other casino reviews include the subjective nature of personal experience, which might not be as important for most players |
✅We include negative aspects in our reviews so that UK players can have a comprehensive, honest review that they can decide upon | 🛑Tend to avoid disadvantages or negative aspects |
✅We guarantee comprehensive coverage by addressing all aspects of every review, even the negative ones. It is up to you if you choose to ignore them. | 🛑 Inflated claims made about casinos to increase clicks and traffic |
✅Objective analysis is our main priority since subjective experiences differ from one player to another | 🛑The absence of a consistent data structure makes it more challenging to determine or locate reliable and vital information. |
✅We give comprehensive assessments by presenting a lot of data |
Let’s Find You A New Place to Play At
Now, all you have to do is browse through some of our reviews and find a platform that can satisfy any need.
We are sure you will find the best online casino for your style. Now is the moment to have the best time of your life gambling with SlotsCalendar!