Editorial Policy
This policy explains how Gambler Club produces its reviews and rankings: who writes them, how casinos are tested, how scores are built, and what happens when we get something wrong. Every page carries the date it was last verified.
Last updated: 5 October 2026.
1. Principles
- Facts are separated from opinion. Factual claims — payment methods, licence status, withdrawal procedure — are drawn from our own testing or public operator terms.
- Every review lists cons. A review without drawbacks is a review that was not finished.
- Rankings are not for sale. Placement is earned through testing; see the advertising policy.
- No promises of winning. We publish no systems, no bet-sizing advice and no claims that any casino guarantees profit.
- Currency beats volume. Pages are re-tested and re-dated rather than left to drift out of date.
2. Who writes
- Sarah Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief — methodology, casino reviews and all policy pages. Sarah gives final approval to every score.
- Liam Foster, Banking and Payments Editor — deposits and cashouts: Interac, iDebit, e-wallets, crypto and verification timelines.
- Emma Clarke, Slots and Games Reviewer — slots, providers and live casino, including pokies libraries for New Zealand readers.
- Gambler Club Editorial — shared byline for hub pages and news roundups written by the team.
Operators never write, edit or approve content about themselves. A brand still under verification receives no specifics on our pages until its details are checked.
3. How we test casinos
The five-stage casino test
- 1
Registration and verification
We open an account with our own details and complete the identity checks the casino requests
- 2
Deposit
We fund the account with a local method where available — Interac, iDebit, e-wallets or crypto — and note every point of friction
- 3
Play
We test slots, live dealer tables and mobile performance, and we read bonus terms before opting in to anything
- 4
Cashout
We request a withdrawal and time every stage, including verification, until the money reaches us
- 5
Support
We contact support with ordinary player questions and record response times and answer quality
Where a detail is not published by the operator and could not be verified in testing, we write "not stated publicly" rather than estimate.
4. How scores are built
Each casino is scored out of 10 across five criteria, each worth up to two points:
- Licensing (2 points) — whether the casino holds a licence from a recognised regulator, what that licence actually covers, and how the operator handles complaints. Licence claims are checked, not assumed.
- Cashout speed (2 points) — measured against our real withdrawals, including verification time and consistency across methods such as Interac, iDebit, e-wallets and crypto.
- Bonus terms (2 points) — not the headline size of a bonus but its conditions: wagering requirements, maximum bet caps, game weightings, expiry and the clarity of the wording. A modest bonus with fair terms outscores a large one with traps.
- Support (2 points) — availability, English-language quality, response times and whether answers actually resolve problems.
- Game library (2 points) — the number and quality of providers, depth of slots (pokies for New Zealand readers), live dealer tables, jackpots and the mobile experience.
Scores are shown to one decimal in our tables. Player ratings on review pages are a separate scale, based on reader submissions — the two are never mixed.
5. Corrections
Factual errors are fixed as a priority. Email [email protected] with the page address and what is wrong; the page's date is updated, and substantial corrections are noted in the text itself. We do not delete justified criticism, but when an operator's conditions genuinely improve or worsen, the review and score are revised to match.
6. Conflicts of interest
Commission arrangements are disclosed in the advertising policy and the site footer. Reviewers hold only test accounts, and no reviewer's compensation depends on a brand's score.