How to Use Online Casino Reviews to Your Advantage

Posted by Harry Kane on Friday, May 22, 2020

When you head online in search of an online casino in the modern age, there’s two things that initially catch your eye. Firstly, there’s the sheer number of online casinos available in the digital age, as the market becomes increasingly competitive with every passing year.

Secondly, the market for independent casino review and casino sites is also continuing to showcase tremendous growth, as customers look to distinguish between a larger number of operators and make informed decisions.

But can you ensure that you use online casino reviews to your advantage, and what are they key things to look for in these publications? Let’s find out!

1. Identify the Key Datasets and Information

This should be your first port of call when appraising online casino reviews, as you must come to rely on those that offer comprehensive datasets that are the most relevant to you.

The challenge here is that your interpretation of key information points may differ from those around you, while the reviewer in question may also have an alternative set of priorities when gambling online.

Of course, there are some generic pieces of data that all players should focus on, particularly those pertaining to welcome bonuses, customer service and viable payment methods.

When it comes to welcome bonuses, it’s important for players (especially beginners) to seek out reviews that explain the structure of each promotion and the associated wagering requirements.

This enables you to understand the precise amount of cash that you’ll have to play through to unlock any potential bonus winnings, with this often set at anywhere between 20 and 50x the total value of the bonus.

It will also help you to understand specific game weightings, as there are some that don’t contribute 100% to the wagering requirements and may require you to bet more to access your winnings.

In the case of customer service and payment options, these remain critical aspects of the online gambling experience, so it’s crucial to understand them in detail before registering with a specific casino.

In an ideal world, the reviewer will have tested the customer service channels on offer, and been able to report on response times and whether or not the agents are courteous.

When it comes to payment options, you’ll need to know how to process deposits and withdrawals when playing at a particular casino, particularly if you favour one method over the others on offer.

In some cases, you may also find that the terms of specific bonuses and promotions require you to credit your account specific method. Similarly, some methods charge a transaction fee, which can eat into your bankroll over time.

2. Understand Your Experience Level and Gaps in Knowledge

Of course, casino reviews also vary considerably, as while some can feature up to 3,000 reviews and not say much others can be two-thirds smaller and offer you access to detailed and valuable information.

It’s therefore important to prioritise reviews based on their level of detail (as opposed to their length and total word count), while also targeting those that are able to fill gaps in your own knowledge base.

For example, let’s say that you’re relatively new to the market and have minimal understanding of how to register with an online casino and claim welcome bonuses.

In this scenario, you’ll need to seek out reviews that guide you through this process at specific casinos, with step-by-step instructions and tips on how to guarantee a seamless experience.

On a similar note, it’s crucial that you seek out reviews which are tailored to suit your existing level of experience, as this enables you to strike the right balance between accessing relevant information that’s also easy to understand.

Otherwise, you may find yourself struggling to get to grips with industry jargon and terminology, making it hard to comprehend the information being provided.

We’ve already touched on terms such as ‘wagering requirements’ and ‘game weightings’, and while these will be known amongst seasoned gamblers, they can be complex and confusing to newcomers.

Ultimately, we recognise that it may take some time to search the available casino reviews and select those that offer the most value and relevance to you, but this is a sensible step that can serve you well over time.

3. First-hand Reviews of the Casino Experience

We’d definitely recommend reading detailed and well-written casino views, so long as they’re published on a reputable site and objective in their nature.

However, it’s also important to supplement the information found in this type of review, ideally with first-hand and first-person feedback that has been delivered directly by individuals who have played at the casino.

You can find this on some independent review websites, which universal platforms such as Trustpilot also offers access to first-person customer reviews of specific iGaming brands.

While these reviews are subjective and not always well-written, they at least offer an insight into a particular player journey or experience that unfolded on a real casino site. They can also highlight precise issues or advantages that may have been left off official reviews, enabling you to make a more informed decision in some instances.

The key thing to remember here is balance, as while paying customers are objective by nature they have specific experiences that create a subjective mindset. More specifically, they may have had an unfortunate experience pertaining to a withdrawal or customer service interaction, but there’s no real way of determining whether this indicative of the brand in question or simply a one-off aberration.

With this in mind, it’s important that you draw from a number of different casino reviews, including those that are official and others which have been generated directly by users.

By aggregating these types of data and insight over time, you can appraise online casinos more thoroughly and get a far greater idea of what to expect as a player.

This can lead to more informed decision making, while ensuring that you use the information on offer to its fullest potential.