How we rate sportsbooks
Every score is built from evidence anyone can check: regulator registers and enforcement notices, App Store ratings, and the features, payment terms and offer terms the sportsbook publishes. Each review lists its sources.
Step 1: the license gate
A sportsbook appears on a market page only if it is licensed there: by the UK Gambling Commission, by US state gaming regulators, or registered with the AGCO and operating in iGaming Ontario’s market. In the UK we link each review to the licensee’s entry in the Gambling Commission’s public register. A sportsbook that loses its license in a market is removed from that market.
Step 2: five weighted criteria
Each criterion is scored from 0 to 10, separately for every market a sportsbook serves. The overall score is the weighted average, shown to one decimal place.
| Criterion | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory record | 25% | Fines, settlements and penalties issued by the regulators in this market since 1 January 2023, from regulator registers and announcements. |
| Betting product | 25% | Documented features: live streaming, cash out, bet builders, in-play depth and distinctive tools. |
| App quality | 20% | The app’s average App Store rating in this market, converted to a 0–10 scale. |
| Payments & payouts | 15% | Deposit methods, minimums and stated withdrawal times by method. |
| Welcome offer terms | 15% | Value against the qualifying stake, minimum odds, expiry and restrictions. Not scored in Ontario. |
In Ontario the Registrar’s Standards ban public advertising of bonuses, so there is no offer score; the other four weights are rescaled to add up to 100%.
Step 3: the two calculated criteria
Regulatory record
Every sportsbook starts at 10. We deduct for each fine, settlement or penalty imposed by a regulator in that market since 1 January 2023, based on its size:
| Amount of the action | Deduction |
|---|---|
| Under 100,000 (in local currency) | −0.25 each, at most −1 in total |
| 100,000 to under 1 million | −1 |
| 1 million to under 10 million | −2 |
| 10 million or more | −3.5 |
The score never falls below 3. Settlements announced together for the same failings are counted as one action. Actions before 2023, or against a parent company’s unrelated business (such as a land-based casino), are shown in the review for context but not scored.
App quality
We take the app’s average rating on the App Store in that market and convert it: 3.5 stars or lower scores 0, 5.0 scores 10, and the scale is linear in between (so 4.7 stars scores 8.0 and 4.8 scores 8.7). Where a separate Ontario rating isn’t published, we use the US rating and say so on the review.
Step 4: the three editorial criteria
Betting product, payments and welcome offer are scored by our editors against the documented facts, and every score comes with a one-line reason on the review.
- Betting product: live streaming coverage, cash out (full and partial), bet builders and same-game parlays, in-play depth and tools no rival offers.
- Payments & payouts: the range of deposit methods, minimum deposits, published withdrawal times by method, and restrictions such as excluded e-wallets.
- Welcome offer terms: value relative to the qualifying stake, minimum odds, how free bets may be used, expiry, and payment-method exclusions. A large headline figure with tight restrictions can score below a smaller, simpler offer.
Sources and limits
We use primary sources where they exist: the Gambling Commission register and announcements, AGCO announcements, state regulators’ orders and the App Store. Features, payment times and offers come from the operators and from established review sites, which are cited on each review; where sources disagree we say so or use the more conservative figure. Withdrawal times are those published or reported by those sources.
We have not opened accounts, deposited or placed bets with these sportsbooks for these reviews. Offers and app ratings change often, so we re-check them at least once a month and the full review at least every 90 days; each review shows the date its facts were last checked.
Independence
Sportsbooks may pay us a commission when readers open an account through our links. Commission never changes a score, no sportsbook can pay for a position, and sportsbooks don’t see reviews before publication. Read the full editorial policy and disclosure.