Editorial Process

1. Editorial Independence

EVG Casinos is an independent publication. We are not owned by a casino operator, not part of an operator-controlled affiliate network, and not bound by any commercial agreement that limits what we can publish about the casinos we review. Our editorial team makes ranking, recommendation, and exclusion decisions based on testing results — not commission rates.

This means: operators with high commercial value to us can be excluded if they fail testing, and operators with modest commercial value can rank #1 if they earn it. Several specific examples of operators we excluded despite available affiliate programs are noted in individual review pages.

No EVG Casinos staff or contributor accepts gifts, hosting, comped balances, or paid placements from any operator we cover. This includes industry conference passes, hosted travel, branded merchandise, and entertainment offered as part of operator outreach.

2. Real-Money Testing Protocol

Every operator we recommend has been tested under the following protocol:

Deposit phase

• Account created using a reviewer's real legal name and verified US address
• Deposit minimum of $250 funded from a reviewer's personal payment method (no operator credits, no shared test accounts)
• At least one deposit completed via cryptocurrency (BTC or LTC standard) to evaluate the dominant US payment rail
• Welcome bonus claimed and applied — terms recorded exactly as enforced, not as advertised

Play phase

• Sufficient bonus-eligible wagering completed to evaluate game stability and bonus mechanics — typically 25%–50% of full clearance
• Game library audit: provider attribution, RTP disclosure, mobile compatibility tested across iOS Safari, iOS Chrome, Android Chrome, Android Samsung Internet
• Live dealer products tested at minimum stakes when available
• Customer support tested at off-peak (3 AM ET) and peak (Sunday afternoon) windows with specific, non-trivial questions
• KYC documentation submitted proactively to measure verification turnaround time

Withdrawal phase

• Withdrawal requested at least once via the same payment method used to deposit
• Timing measured from request submission to wallet/account credit, recorded to the minute
• Any holds, requests for additional verification, or rejection events documented
• For sites that pass first cashout, a second withdrawal is tested 30+ days later to evaluate consistency

Documentation

Each test produces an internal report covering: time-to-deposit, time-to-credit, bonus clearance status, game performance notes, customer support interaction transcripts, KYC turnaround, payout request-to-arrival time, and a final pass/fail recommendation. These reports inform the per-operator review content published on the site.

3. Weighted Scoring Criteria

Each operator is scored against seven weighted criteria. The composite score determines ranking position.

Criterion	Weight	What it measures
Payout speed	25%	Observed crypto withdrawal time (request to wallet). Under 1 hour scores top; over 48 hours disqualifies.
Licensing & track record	20%	Verified license registry status, parent-company longevity, complaint history on independent forums (CasinoMeister, AskGamblers).
Bonus fairness	20%	Effective bonus value (deposit × match ÷ wagering × RTP), max-win caps, game weighting, partial-claim behavior.
Game quality & variety	15%	Software provider mix, RNG certifications, library breadth, live dealer coverage, jackpot pools.
Banking range	10%	Crypto asset coverage, credit card acceptance rate, bank wire, MatchPay/P2P, check.
Mobile experience	5%	Load times, deposit flow, game performance, support accessibility on iOS and Android browsers.
Customer support	5%	Response time, answer substance, human-vs-bot escalation paths during peak and off-peak windows.

4. Quarterly Re-Review Cycle

Operator quality drifts. A site that ran 30-minute crypto payouts last quarter may queue 14-hour cashouts this quarter for reasons unrelated to our review (cashier vendor changes, regulatory pressure, internal payout-team reorganization, etc.). We re-test every recommended operator at least once per calendar quarter to catch this drift.

Re-review process:

• New deposit of at least $100 under a fresh reviewer's account
• Bonus terms verified against last-recorded values; any change flagged
• Withdrawal test re-run; timing recorded
• Customer support tested with at least one non-trivial inquiry
• Composite score recalculated; ranking position adjusted if shift exceeds threshold

Recommended operators that fall below threshold across two consecutive quarters are removed from the recommended list. The removal is noted on the relevant review page with an explanation.

5. Why We Exclude Operators

Operators are excluded from our recommended list when any of the following are present:

• Failed withdrawal test — withdrawal not received within published terms, or received only after escalation to operator's responsible-gambling team or external dispute resolution.
• Unverifiable license — site footer claims a license number that does not appear in the relevant regulator's public registry, or claims a license from a regulator with no functional registry.
• Pattern of unresolved player complaints — three or more substantive complaints on CasinoMeister, AskGamblers, or r/onlinegambling within the past 12 months with no operator response or unsatisfactory resolution.
• Hidden term enforcement — bonus terms enforced more restrictively than published (e.g., undisclosed max-win cap, retroactive game exclusion, wagering reset on partial claims).
• Predatory KYC behavior — KYC requirements escalated only at withdrawal time, with documentation requests calibrated to discourage cashout completion.
• Responsible-gambling tool absence — no deposit limits, no self-exclusion mechanism, no NCPG or equivalent helpline disclosure.

Exclusion is not permanent. Operators that materially improve any of the above can re-qualify for testing at the start of any quarter.

6. Sourcing & Fact-Checking

Factual claims fall into four categories, each with a defined sourcing standard:

• Operator-specific claims (payout time, bonus structure, license number) — sourced from our own testing or the operator's published terms, verified against current values at publication.
• Legal/regulatory claims (state legality, licensing framework, IRS treatment) — sourced from primary statutory text or the relevant regulator's official publication. Linked when published online.
• Industry/market claims (operator longevity, parent company structure, software-provider relationships) — verified against publicly-available corporate filings, license registry records, or established industry reporting.
• Reader-tip claims (operator behavior reported by readers via the Contact form) — independently verified through our own testing before being incorporated into published content.

Every page on EVG Casinos that contains licensing, regulatory, or tax claims is fact-checked by Lauren Chen, our Compliance Editor, before publication. The fact-checker byline is visible on the page.

7. Corrections Policy

When we get something wrong, we fix it visibly. Our corrections policy:

• Reader-submitted corrections are reviewed within 48 business hours of receipt.
• Verified corrections are published with the original error noted explicitly (e.g., "Correction, June 6, 2026: This page previously stated X. The correct figure is Y. The article has been updated.").
• Silent edits to factual content are not permitted. Editorial cleanup (typo fixes, link updates, formatting) does not require a correction note.
• Material corrections that affect a published ranking trigger a fresh re-test of the affected operator and a refreshed review page date.

Corrections can be submitted via the Contact page.

8. Advertising & Affiliate Disclosure

EVG Casinos earns revenue when readers click an affiliate link on the site and subsequently register an account at the operator. The commission structure varies by operator and is typically a percentage of the operator's net revenue from the referred player over time. Specific commission terms for individual operators are not disclosed for commercial reasons, but the existence of every affiliate relationship is disclosed on the page that contains the link and again on our Affiliate Disclosure page.

Affiliate revenue does not affect rankings, ratings, recommendations, or editorial coverage. The independence of testing and scoring is documented above. Where commercial and editorial interests conflict, editorial standards govern.

We do not run paid editorial placements, sponsored "Top X" lists, or operator-purchased awards. We do not publish operator-supplied content as editorial copy. We do not accept payment for inclusion in any list, ranking, or review.