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Our scoring methodology.
Every UKGC-licensed casino we cover is scored on the same four pillars, with the same weights, using the inputs documented below. For the friendlier 700-word version, see How we rate.
Overview
The overall score is a weighted average of four pillar scores, each on a 0–10 scale and refreshed on its own cycle. Pillar scores are themselves weighted averages of the inputs listed in the sections below. The full table:
| Pillar | Weight | Refresh cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Trust | 30% | Weekly (Mondays) |
| Bonus value | 25% | Monthly (1st of month) |
| Payout speed | 25% | Weekly (Mondays) |
| Experience | 20% | Quarterly + event-driven |
Trust pillar — 30%
| Input | Internal weight | How we measure it |
|---|---|---|
| UKGC licence status | 25% | Active, suspended, or revoked. Pulled weekly from the public register. |
| Regulatory record (36 months) | 20% | Fines, public censures, voluntary settlements. Sourced from UKGC enforcement notices. |
| Parent company solvency | 15% | Filed accounts, going-concern disclosures, credit-rating moves where public. |
| Complaint pattern | 15% | IBAS and ADR ruling counts and outcomes over rolling 12 months. |
| Ownership transparency | 10% | Public ultimate-beneficial-owner disclosure; shell-company red flags. |
| T&Cs change frequency | 10% | Diff-tracked T&Cs; unannounced material changes lower the score. |
| Years operating | 5% | Caps at 10 years. Pure age, used as a small tiebreaker. |
Bonus value pillar — 25%
| Input | Internal weight | How we measure it |
|---|---|---|
| Effective expected value | 30% | Modelled return on a £100 deposit assuming published RTP and the bonus T&Cs. |
| Wagering requirement | 20% | x-factor on bonus, deposit, or both. Lower is better. |
| Max-cashout cap | 15% | Cash ceiling on bonus winnings. Uncapped scores highest. |
| Time limit | 15% | Days to clear the wagering. Sub-7-day limits penalised. |
| Game weighting | 10% | How heavily different game types contribute to wagering. |
| Max-bet during wagering | 10% | Cap on stake while bonus is active. Sub-£2 caps penalised. |
Payout speed pillar — 25%
| Input | Internal weight | How we measure it |
|---|---|---|
| Median time to funds (e-wallet) | 40% | Real test withdrawals, measured request-to-receipt. |
| Median time to funds (debit card) | 30% | Same methodology, debit-card rail. |
| KYC friction | 20% | Whether KYC is requested before or only after first withdrawal. |
| Published vs actual timing accuracy | 10% | How close the casino’s quoted window is to reality. |
Experience pillar — 20%
| Input | Internal weight | How we measure it |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile usability | 25% | Lighthouse mobile score plus hand-tested deposit and withdraw flow. |
| Live chat responsiveness | 20% | Median time-to-first-human-reply across three test windows. |
| Game library quality | 15% | Studio range, RTP transparency, exclusive content. Not raw count. |
| Responsible-gambling tool depth | 15% | Number of clicks to deposit limit, time-out, self-exclusion. |
| Site performance (desktop) | 15% | Lighthouse desktop performance score. |
| Onboarding clarity | 10% | Number of fields, time-to-first-deposit, error-state quality. |
Overall score calculation
The overall score is a straight weighted average of the four pillar scores, rounded to one decimal place:
overall = (trust × 0.30) + (bonusValue × 0.25)
+ (payoutSpeed × 0.25) + (experience × 0.20)
example: trust 8.4, bonus 7.0, payout 9.1, experience 7.8
= (8.4 × 0.30) + (7.0 × 0.25) + (9.1 × 0.25) + (7.8 × 0.20)
= 2.52 + 1.75 + 2.275 + 1.56
= 8.105 → 8.1
If the trust pillar drops below 5.0, the overall score is capped at 6.0 regardless of how the other pillars score. We treat trust as a hard floor for editorial reasons documented in the version history below.
Methodology version history
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| v4.2 | 2026-09-01 | Trust pillar: KYC-friction input moved out of payout-speed and merged into trust as a sub-input of complaint pattern. |
| v4.1 | 2026-06-01 | Bonus-value pillar: introduced max-bet-during-wagering as its own 10% input. |
| v4.0 | 2026-03-01 | Trust floor introduced: trust < 5.0 caps overall at 6.0. |
| v3.4 | 2025-11-01 | Experience pillar: added responsible-gambling tool depth as its own 15% input. |
| v3.3 | 2025-08-01 | Payout-speed pillar: switched from mean to median time-to-funds. |
Audit trail — how readers can verify
Every score on sitelikeuk should be traceable. If a number on a review surprises you, here’s how to check our work:
- Open the review and click the score. The breakdown shows every pillar score, every input score, and the date of the last refresh.
- Cross-reference licensing claims against the UKGC public register at gamblingcommission.gov.uk.
- Cross-reference complaint counts against IBAS published rulings.
- If the numbers don’t add up — or if you can find a public source that contradicts ours — email corrections@ledgerbet.uk and we’ll investigate within 48 hours.
If we got something wrong, the review is updated and the original error is preserved above the corrected text along with the date. We don’t quietly edit history. The methodology version above logs every change to the framework itself; review-level corrections are logged on the individual review.
How we rate covers the same ground in non-technical language.