Casino Awards

Casino Awards carries out independent research on online casinos that offer service to customers. Casino Awards assesses the most important aspects of online casinos’ service qualities. The outstanding brands will be featured on our website.

Award for Responsible Advertising

Advertising is one of the most widely used marketing methods in the online gaming industry. Online casinos rely heavily on adverts of new offers and promotions to attract new customers and to beat competition from other online casinos. However, this is where consumers’ interest is at risk; some advertised offers and promotions typically appeared to be more generous than they are. They often use terms associated with risk-free betting such as “free” to entice potential gamblers to sign up, but in reality, many terms and conditions are tied with those offers, the purpose is to minimise any real generosity offered by those online casinos. For example, newly signed up customers are promised “free cash”, however, this “free cash” is only available after a certain amount of real cash is deposited with the casino; often, consumers won’t be aware of such conditions until encountering difficulties attempting to withdraw. Thus, the word “free” used in the advert is considered unfair and misleading, thus harming the consumers’ interest. Other similar examples include “free spins” requiring minimum wagering, “no deposit bonus” requiring wagering a multiple of the bonus amount received before qualify for withdrawing.

In 2019, all online casinos’ marketing practices are required to comply with the advertising standards issued by The Advertising Standards Authority and Advertising/marketing rules and regulations issued by the gambling regulator of the respective jurisdiction. The aim is to ensure that any marketing is done in an open and transparent fashion, ultimately to enforce online casinos to be socially responsible. Consequently, there will be no misleading offers and promotions to better protect the financial, psychological, and emotional wellbeing of customers. However, this is insufficient to end the questionable marketing practices. The gambling regulator of the respective jurisdiction is not responsible for checking if the adverts comply with the current advertising standards, and this is where Casino Awards comes in. We check the advertisers’ offers and promotions, terms, and conditions. Online casinos with consistently high standards of advertising will be published. This will ensure that the consumers are thoroughly clear about the advertised content so that no misleading information is being passed onto consumers, consequently preventing uninformed decisions being made.

Award for Game Fairness

It is important to understand the concept of Return to Player Rate to understand how fairness in casino games are defined.

One common measure used to assess casino games’ fairness is the Return to Player ratio, also known as RTP. It is defined as gamblers’ total winning as a percentage of total cash gambled­ of any given game over time. The difference between the two measures is the game’s gross profit.

Different game categories, different games have different RTPs. For example, in European roulette, that is there 37 numbers include 1 zero on the wheel, by only betting on either black or red or green (zero) with 1:1 payout, the Return to Player is about 97.3%; however in American Roulettes, the game 38 numbers including 2 zeros, the Return to Player is 94.74%. The comparison of two RTPs confirms that European Roulette has better odds of winning than American Roulette over time.

The RTP is calculated as mean or average over a large number of games plays most likely over a long period, only then the calculated RTP will approach the true value of the theoretical RTP thanks to the law of large numbers. The average RTP over a small number of games plays are likely to be biassed and not representative of the true RTP, that is why some gamblers can get below or above RTP winnings in the short terms, but cumulatively, over the long run, the RTP is the most gamblers can expect to receive.

No casino would offer game with a theoretical RTP that is equal to or greater than 100%, if the RTP is exactly 100%, that would mean casino operators are letting people playing their games without making any profit; if the RTP is greater than 100%, then the casino is handing out cash over time.

So the higher the RTP, the better it is for the gamblers; the lower the RTP, the better it is for the casinos. Gamblers’ winning is casinos’ payout. This is why there is every incentive in casinos’ favour to lower the RTP as much as possible. This is why casinos in the are required by gambling regulator of the respective jurisdiction to make their RTPs clear to prospective players so that the gamblers are informed about the likelihood of winning over the long term, thus helping gamblers to better protect their financial interest.

Typically, the game with the highest RTP is Blackjack, which has an RTP of 99%, the second place is European Roulette which has an RTP of 97.3%, online slots have an RTP of 96%, etc. so if winning as much cash is your objective, then looking for the game has the highest RTP when playing online.

In theory, an online casino could alter the return to player rate to their favour, i.e., rigging the games; however, in reality, few choose to do so. Such practice is not only unethical but also highly illegal. Unethical online casino operators not only face getting their gambling license revoked, but they could also face criminal prosecution and severe financial penalties. Therefore, it is ultimately in the interest of online casinos to offer fair games. By having regular checks and audits by independent bodies shows that online casinos are operating ethically and comply with the industry standard specified by the gambling regulator of the respective jurisdiction.

gambling regulator of the respective jurisdiction has published a list of approved 3rd party organisations whose job is to test the games and equipment of online casinos. The aim is to ensure that the odds of the games being offered are indeed fair, not biased against the interests of their customers.

Some of the Test Houses include BMM Testlabs, eCOGRA, Expleo Technology UK, GLI Gaming Limited, Gaming Associates Europe Ltd, Gaming Laboratories International LLC, iTech Global Pty Limited,  Quinel M. Ltd, Trisigma B.V., etc.

If an online casino has passed the tests by one of these organisations, i,e, that the odds of the games closely resemble the theoretical odds, it can be concluded this casino is indeed playing fair and not operating fraudulently to make extra profit by cheating their customers.

Customers are advised to take the checks and audits into consideration when choosing an online casino. Casino Awards will regularly screen and update the information on the test reports on online casinos, so only the most trusted online casinos are included in the Awarding process.

Award for The Best Customer Service

Technical and transactional issues often arise when playing at online casinos. Therefore, it is very important to have access to help when needed. Online casinos with a readily accessible and helpful customer service team can get to those issues quickly and get them resolved as early as possible. This is especially true for issues concerning transactions, i.e., deposits and withdraws.

In the year 2019, many online casinos offer 24/7 telephone, live chat, and email support. For getting the most responsive customer support response, telephone and live chat are the best options. When it comes to choosing the right online casinos, casinos with 24/7 telephone and live chat support should be given priority consideration. In our assessment, online casinos with the best customer service are also the ones that are most trusted in the community. Online Casino Awards participates anonymously at online casinos to assess the various aspects of customer service quality. The outcome is then taken into consideration during the awarding process.

To be able to withdraw reliably and quickly are the most important aspects of the online casino experience. Most online casinos offer hassle-free 24-hour withdrawals, some are even quicker, though withdrawal speed difference does exist, it largely depends on the chosen method of payment, some are quicker than others.

Before making a deposit, it is advisable to familiarise yourself with the withdraw terms and conditions, specifically, what payment options are available, daily withdraw limit, estimated process time, any charges or fees. Because at this stage, you can plan to avoid any surprises. You may wish to use a preferred method of withdrawal, also check beforehand to ensure that the payment method is offered. Some casinos only offer withdrawal using the same method as deposits to prevent any suspicious transactions, e.g., money laundering, identity theft.

Although withdrawal is a fairly straightforward process, some customers do encounter trouble. This is especially true for people who have signed up with bonus offers. Again, since 2018, the gambling regulator of the respective jurisdiction has tightened up the rules on how online casinos should advertise their offers and promotions. The terms and conditions of those offers and promotions must be made as clear as possible. Please refer to our Open and Transparent Advertising section for more details. In other words, consumers would be able to have sufficient information on any aspect of playing at online casinos.

Casino Awards regularly publishes lists of online casinos that offer the quickest withdrawal and largest daily withdraw limit.