Choosing an online casino can be tricky. There are constant advertisements for them on television, but those only show the most successful brands. Some leading sportsbooks have branched out into the world of online casinos, but that’s not really where their expertise lies. Simply Googling “online casinos in the UK” turns up hundreds of options.
Thankfully, online casino guides exist to give players a bit of help when they’re choosing where to start playing. These guides give detailed information and ratings for all the online casinos available, and the bonuses they offer. Some also review individual games, payment methods, and everything else players need to know to pick the ideal online casino to meet their needs.
Finding the highest-rated casinos is easy to do with these online casino guides. However not all online casinos are equally good, some don’t provide adequate information, others aren’t kept up to date, and some don’t give unbiased reviews.
We’ve compiled a list of the most trusted sources for casino reviews and rankings. We have a standardised list of criteria that we use to rate these casino review sites. We’ll break down that list and then go over the top five places to find the highest-rated casinos for UK players. To begin, we’ll explain what the key features of an online casino are.
What to Look for in an Online Casino
The perfect online casino for each person depends on personal preference and gameplay style. However, there are some factors that are essential for everyone. The first is licensing and security. Any legitimate online casino will be fully licensed to operate in the UK. An online casino should also be protected by encryption software. This protects players’ data and financial information.
The games library is a key part of player enjoyment. The biggest library isn’t necessarily the best, it depends on what types of games each player enjoys the most. The bonuses and promotions a casino offers are also a major factor for most players.
The best online casinos will also accept a range of trusted payment methods. There should be a selection of options for both deposits and withdrawals that include bank/wire transfers, debit cards, and online payment apps.
Lastly, trusted online casinos have customer support teams that are easy to contact and responsive. When a problem comes up, it’s comforting to know there is a team that can help you solve it. It is always nice to see multiple ways to contact customer support as well.
Our Criteria
When reviewing an online casino guide, there are three factors that matter most. These are
Clarity—the reviews on the site should be easy to read and understand. The criteria that they use to rate the online casinos should make sense. The overall rating of the casinos should line up with the ratings of each element of the casino.
Thoroughness—the best guides will examine every important element of an online casino. A thorough review is more likely to be an accurate review. It is also a positive when we see a guide site that provides a handy breakdown of the review at the top of the page. Many use charts to do this efficiently.
Transparency—transparency is what makes it possible to trust a review site. The top online casino guides are transparent about how they rank and review each of the casinos on their site. It’s not a problem if a guide site is also an affiliate, but they need to be transparent about that fact as well.
Up to date—online casinos are businesses that start-up, change names, change hands and change the regions they operate in fairly quickly. Online casino review guides need to stay up to date with all of these changes and with any changes in quality over time.
Open to responses—not every guide has a way for readers to leave their own reviews, but it is a very nice addition to any review site. Reading reviews from actual players can paint a much clearer picture of the online casino as a whole and give insights that wouldn’t be picked up during a traditional reviewing process.
Below are 5 of the top sites where UK players can find the highest-rated online casinos:
#5 Best UK Online Casino Sites—3/5 Stars
Best UK Online Casino Sites isn’t technically a review site. They have a list of the best online casinos and it’s a list that has most of the same casinos that are on other guide sites. They have established review criteria and star ratings for each of the online casinos on their lists. They rate online casinos based on safety and fairness, versatility, and gaming library. They also have special bonus codes for each site.
All of these are positives. The only negative is unfortunately a big one. They don’t actually publish their reviews of these online casinos. Their ratings are apparently partly dependent on customer reviews. Without being able to read the reviews, it’s impossible to get a real picture of the online casinos or the accuracy of the ratings. It’s a good site to start with to find potential online casinos, but afterwards, an actual guide should be consulted.
#4 OLBG—4/5 Stars
OLBG is one of the original betting guide sites on the Internet. OLBG stands for OnLine Betting Guide, and they’ve been providing gamblers with information since 2002. It began as a tipster site, providing expert sports betting information to members. Since then, they’ve expanded to reviewing sportsbooks and online casinos.
OLBG is the best review site in the business—for sportsbooks and sports betting tips. Their decades of experience in this area and passion for the topic puts them at the top of the reviewing game. With online casinos, however, they haven’t reached that same level. Their reviews are thorough and clear, but they aren’t as detailed as they could be. In addition, they don’t have as complete a library of reviews as we would like to see.
Since they haven’t been reviewing online casinos for as long as they’ve been reviewing sportsbooks, this isn’t surprising. It’s likely that over the next few years, they’ll bring the online casino guide side of their website up to the same standard.
#3 Gambling.com—4.5/5 Stars
Gambling.com is one of our favourite online casino guides. It is incredibly thorough and encyclopaedic. However, there can be almost too much information for players who are just looking for a quick overview. For those who want in-depth reviews, it’s the perfect site. Their “At a Glance” feature at the top of each review is a good way to get a quick insight into an online casino before reading more.
The one thing missing from their reviews is a space for player opinions and reviews. It would be nice to see this feature added as it makes the reviews more complete. This absence doesn’t impact the quality of their reviews, which are always read by their dedicated Fact Checker before they’re published.
#2 CasinoTopsOnline—4.6/5 Stars
CasinoTopsOnline is the most thorough casino review site that we’ve found. Their team is made up of experts from every sector of the online casino market, including games, payment methods, and even bonus types. They also have a strong focus on mobile playability, which is very important for most of today’s players. Their reviews are a good length. They aren’t too long to read or too short to be informational.
We do have to address the elephant in the room with CasinoTopsOnline—it’s not designed just for UK players. Its main purpose is to provide casino reviews and rankings for players around the world. This means that a lot of the casinos listed won’t actually be accessible to players in the UK. However, they do have an entire section of the site dedicated to UK casinos so that makes up for the more general focus.
Plus with their international focus, CasinoTopsOnline is a great resource if you’re planning a holiday abroad and want to know if there are any reputable local online casinos in your destination.
#1 Ask Gamblers—4.7/5 Stars
Ask Gamblers is the top online casino review site based on our criteria. They are transparent about all of their rankings, and they give players the opportunity to write their own reviews of each casino on the site. They also have multiple review sections besides just online casinos. They review games, create curated lists of casinos, review betting sites and have compiled a list of major customer complaints against online casinos.
The only reason we haven’t been able to give this site the full five stars is because of the design of the site. There is a large pop-up ad for each casino that takes up half of the page and follows as you scroll down. It makes the pages too busy, and it can be distracting.
