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Editorial Process & Review Methodology

Every operator we recommend goes through the same 14-day testing cycle. Every page on this site is fact-checked before publication. Here's exactly how we work.

The 14-day testing cycle

We do not review any operator that we have not personally tested with real money for a minimum of fourteen days. The full cycle:

Days 1–2: Onboarding

  • Account creation from a NY IP address. Time the signup flow.
  • KYC verification with a real government-issued ID. Time the verification end-to-end.
  • First deposit at a low test amount ($10–$50 depending on operator minimum).
  • Document any friction (verification errors, payment method limits, geolocation issues).

Days 3–7: Gameplay testing

  • Daily sessions of at least 30 minutes across slot, table, and live-dealer game categories (where available).
  • Track bet sizes, session length, win/loss, and any UX friction in a shared testing log.
  • Test on both desktop (Safari and Chrome) and mobile (iOS Safari, Android Chrome).
  • Note responsiveness, layout issues, sound quality, animation smoothness.

Days 8–10: Customer service test

  • One live-chat ticket on a routine question (e.g., "how does the welcome bonus wagering requirement work?"). Time the response and grade the accuracy.
  • One email ticket on a more complex question (e.g., "I'd like to know how parimutuel resolution affects RTP on slot X"). Time the response.
  • One social-media public mention (where the operator has an active account). Note whether it gets a response and how quickly.

Days 11–13: Redemption test

  • Request a withdrawal at or near the operator's median threshold.
  • Document every status change and timestamp from request to cleared funds.
  • Note any additional verification requests that get triggered.

Day 14: Scoring & write-up

  • Score the operator across our six weighted categories.
  • Draft the review with a named writer.
  • Fact-check pass by a second editor.
  • Compliance review (for any legal/tax claims) by Lena Ortiz.
  • Publish — or hold for additional testing if there are unresolved issues.

Scoring model

We score every operator on six categories with fixed weights:

CategoryWeightWhat we look at
Game library & software quality25%Total title count, provider diversity, RTP transparency, technical reliability
Redemption speed & customer service20%End-to-end withdrawal timing; CS response time and accuracy
Bonus value (effective, not headline)20%Realistic expected value of the welcome bonus after wagering requirements and game-eligibility constraints
Mobile UX15%Mobile web speed, cashier flow, navigation usability, layout robustness
Trust & licensing signals10%Visible licensing, ownership transparency, third-party audits, RG tools availability
Player-protection tools10%Deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion, reality checks — all five must be present for full marks

A site that fails the trust category is not recommended, no matter how it scores on other categories. We've held two operators out of our top-five rankings in 2026 for trust failures we won't detail publicly (one for misrepresenting RTP in customer-service responses; one for accepting NY traffic in violation of S5935A's geofencing requirements).

Fact-checking & corrections

Every commercial page goes through two fact-checking passes:

  1. Writer self-check. Source every numeric claim (welcome offer amounts, withdrawal speeds, game library counts) to an operator's published terms or our own testing log. Source every legal claim to a NY State statute, regulator filing, or named legal expert.
  2. Editor cross-check. A different team member re-verifies every numeric and legal claim independently.

If we find an error after publication:

  • Correct it the same day the error is verified.
  • Add a dated correction note at the top of the affected section.
  • Update the page's dateModified in schema.
  • If the error materially changed a recommendation, send a correction note via our alerts list.

To submit a correction: [email protected].

Conflict of interest policy

  • Writers may not hold equity in any reviewed operator.
  • Writers must disclose any prior employment relationship with a reviewed operator. (One current example: Lena Ortiz previously worked as in-house counsel for a NJ-regulated operator. She does not review that operator. Devon Brooks fact-checks any page involving them.)
  • Writers must disclose any free play credit received from an operator (we generally decline these; on the rare occasion we accept, we document the dollar value in the review).
  • The site's affiliate-commission status is disclosed on every page (see affiliate disclosure).

How we handle legislative coverage

For pages discussing NY gambling law (S5935A, S2614, future bills):

  • Lena Ortiz fact-checks every legal claim before publication.
  • Sources are linked directly to bill text on nysenate.gov, NYSGC filings, or named legal experts.
  • Legislative status pages are reviewed at least weekly; more often when bills are in committee.
  • When a legal status changes (a bill passes or dies, a regulation issues), we update the affected pages within 48 hours.

What we don't do

  • We don't publish "guest posts" from operator PR teams.
  • We don't use generative AI to produce review content. (We use AI for grammar, fact-look-up, and code — never for synthesizing experiential claims.)
  • We don't accept editorial influence in exchange for commission rates.
  • We don't recommend operators that violate U.S. gambling law as it applies to NY residents.

How to contact the editorial team

Editorial inquiries: [email protected]
Corrections: [email protected]
Compliance / legal claims: [email protected]