Methodology
How scoring works — and
what money can't buy.
Every review site in this industry is paid by the casinos it reviews. So are we — that's what funds independent research and keeps the support desk free for players. The difference is structural: at 99Gamblers, commercial deals buy clearly labeled placement only. They cannot touch the Trust Score, and this page is the public contract that makes that checkable.
The firewall
- 01Money buys labeled placement only. Sponsored slots are marked "sponsored." Default rankings sort purely by Trust Score.
- 02Scores follow evidence. Where we lack evidence for a pillar, the pillar is excluded and its weight redistributed — we publish "no data" instead of inventing a number.
- 03Hard caps override everything. A license we can't verify on the issuing register caps the score at 30. Confirmed unpaid player debt zeroes it — regardless of any commercial relationship.
- 04Delisting is real. A partner that stops paying players — or us — is delisted with the reason published. Commission owed is never a reason to stay quiet.
- 05The desk feeds the score. Response rate, response time, and resolution rate from our support channel become a scored pillar per casino.
| Pillar | Weight | What we measure |
|---|---|---|
| Verified payouts | 30% | Speed, success rate, and consistency of our own recurring deposit→withdrawal test cycles. Every data point links to an on-chain transaction. |
| License & compliance | 15% | License checked directly against the issuing register (Curaçao CGA, Anjouan, MGA), entity identified, geo-compliance posture. |
| Complaint record | 15% | Response rate, response time, and resolution rate on player disputes. Inactive until our resolution desk opens; weight is redistributed. |
| Terms fairness | 10% | Bonus wagering realism, withdrawal limits, dormancy and confiscation clauses, unilateral-change rights in the T&Cs. |
| Provable fairness | 10% | Independently verifiable provably-fair implementation for originals; RTP disclosure quality for third-party games. |
| Player value | 10% | Real, delivered value: rakeback/lossback actually paid, bonus terms as advertised. Measured, not marketed. |
| Transparency | 10% | Ownership disclosure, published game edges, proof-of-reserves or hot-wallet visibility, responsiveness to our verification requests. |
THE FIREWALL TEXT ON THIS PAGE AND THE SCORING ENGINE SHARE ONE SOURCE FILE — THE PUBLIC PROMISE AND THE CODE CANNOT DRIFT APART.
Verification standards
- Licenses are checked against the issuing register (Curaçao CGA, Anjouan, MGA) — never taken from a casino's footer.
- Claimed launch dates for new casinos are cross-checked against license issue dates, domain registration, and archive captures.
- Simulated or placeholder data, wherever it temporarily exists, is labeled as such in the interface.
- Incident histories cite documented events — court records, regulator actions, and on-the-record reporting.