How do we identify the best in a world where numerous online betting sites are available? OLBG makes the job easier for you. Our expert online betting team, with countless years of combined experience, reviews every nook and cranny of websites and apps for bookmakers and casino sites.
Here, we share the intricate details of how OLBG ratings work - a comprehensive system our expert team uses for reviewing and rating online bookmakers, casinos, slot sites and slot games.
We have a considerable and uniquely experienced team of experts at OLBG with an unrivalled length of experience in the betting industry and many with up to 20 years covering betting sites, casinos and more right here for OLBG.
Few teams, if any, have worked in this industry together for as long in the same company as the one constructed here at OLBG. Before joining the employment ranks, the longest-serving members listed below joined OLBG first as users and betting community members.
The role-call of staff who have switched from being users of OLBG to managing and creating content on the site is hard to compete with.
As of January 2024, these five experts in the team of 23 have a combined experience of 104 years on the same team at OLBG!
With that reassuring information out of the way, let's find out how we rate gambling sites, including bookmakers, casino, slot sites and more..
Across various parts of our site, you’ll see bookmakers rated and listed as the best betting sites in the UK. These rankings can be different, depending on what list you’re looking at and we think it’s important to explain what those lists are, and why there is more than one of them.
When it comes to bookmakers, there are three different rankings that you will come across, and all three are collated in different ways, but the simplest way to think of them is as:
How we rank a bookie for something specific (Top 10 Ratings)
How OLBG users rank a bookie overall (Top Rated)
How we rank a bookie overall (Best Rated)
Our expert team has collected thousands of data points across more than 70 bookmakers, assessing how they perform specifically in terms of sports they cover, or product features that bettors regularly use. You can see these individually in things like Best Tennis Betting Sites and Best Cricket Betting Sites (sports), or Best Bookmaker for Acca Insurance, or Best Bookmaker for In-Play Betting (product features).
Here you can hone in and define which bookmakers offer a specific feature that suits your betting style – great if that’s exactly what you bet on. We have these Top 10s for over 30 categories, which can be found in our Bookie Guides section. We also collect all Top 10s to compare which bookies score highest, most often, and it’s this that populates the list that you can see.
One huge advantage OLBG possess is the voice of our members. These are bettors who use sportsbooks regularly and know a thing or two about betting.
We encourage all OLBG members to rank the bookmakers they use with a simple five-star rating. You’ll see this rating alongside every bookie and some have over 1000 ratings contributing to their average score. At the bottom of a bookmaker review, you’ll also be able to read these user reviews and see why OLBG users have given the score that they have.
For anyone landing on our main bookmakers page, this will be the first list that you see. This list takes everything into account – the data that we have collected for our Top 10s, OLBG member ratings, our own experience using these sites, plus all the things that matter when betting, such as customer service, payout speed, user experience, navigation on their app and so on. This is to provide an overall idea of how good or bad a bookie is when all things are considered.
OLBG has hundreds of casino reviews, rigorously testing various aspects of the best online casinos in the UK. As with bookmakers, our expert team assesses a multitude of areas regarding an online casino product, but ultimately these can be split into two categories: games (slots, roulette, blackjack etc.) and features (user experience, app quality, RTP etc.)
Ultimately there is no distinction in terms of rating casino sites and slot sites. They both fall into the casino reviews section of the site, as every casino leads with a slot game offering and we have dedicated sections to slots and more general live casino and table games.
Each casino review will have in-depth analysis, review and opinion of the slot section. However, you can find our favourites and most recommended, as we have produced a top 20 slot sites selection.
Here the primary factors of why each makes the recommended list, include the range and variety of slot available, the supplying slot studio selection as well as payout speed and free spins offers available. As with all gambling sites featured on OLBG, each has to be UKGC licensed
All our reviews (see Duelz, for example) methodically go through each game type, and highlight things such as the number of games available, the variety, in which software developers are supplying their games and much more. It means that as a user, you’ll be able to easily compare one casino to another.
For game types, OLBG reviews all of the following, individually:
Slots
Progressive jackpots
Live Dealer
Live Studio
Blackjack
Roulette
Poker
Slingo
Scratchcards
Bingo
Virtual Sports
In addition, we’ll also factor in other more niche games, like Sic Bo and baccarat, before rounding up what we like about the casino, what we don’t like, and who the casino will be most suited to.
As with our bookmakers, we can lean on our OLBG members and their own experience. These are the players using these casinos everyday and providing constant feedback.
We encourage all our OLBG members to rank the casinos that they use with a simple five star rating. You’ll see this rating alongside every bookie and some of them have hundreds of contributions to their average score. At the bottom of a casino review, you’ll also be able to read all of these user reviews and see why OLBG users have given the score that we have.
Led by our King of Slots, Chris Taylor, there are lots of online slot game reviews here at OLBG. Our team consider various aspects of every slot game which comprises of various areas.
Every slot isn’t created equal so our aim is to be bluntly truthful with our findings. If a slot game is good, innovative or interesting in any way, this will be reflected in the detailed reviews. Likewise, our expert team will highlight a game’s shortcomings and offer better alternatives.
OLBG’s objective is to provide an honest, factual and accurate representation of a slot game so readers can decide which are the best slots for them. Here are the areas OLBG’s slot reviews focus on:
This section is mainly factual information as well as some analysis (where necessary) against industry benchmarks and standards. It includes:
This section looks at a game’s appearance, the sounds used and the symbols you’ll come across on the reels. With more personal interpretation used, here’s a breakdown of what you’ll find:
OLBG considers the bonus features to be the most important element of a slot review. With modern online slots involving complicated maths engines and a multitude of modifiers and extras, our team goes into detail on each bonus feature.
This includes how they are triggered, what they entail and how they compare to similar/other features in other games. Common bonus features include free spins, wild reels, mystery symbols, multipliers, progressive jackpots, cascading reels and respins.
The final section is, in our opinion, the most important. This brings together all the previous areas highlighted above coupled with the expertise and experience of the expert reviewing the slot game.
Many studios create clones of previous releases which may offer a different theme and lower/higher max win potential (mainly). With thousands of slot games reviewed by our team, this section compares similar slot games, critiquing and praising the bonus features and graphics (where applicable) and the slot details.
Honesty is the crucial factor in the verdict part as readers should know if there are better alternatives out there or games have superior stats or bonus features for example.
