How We Rate & Review Australian Online Casinos – The BetSharp Ranking System

Before we launched AustralianGamblers, we needed a very specific and thorough way of reviewing and rating Australian online casinos. So, we tasked our star team members – Mike Waters and Matthew Scott – to create a bulletproof ranking methodology.

Enter the BetSharp Ranking System, which aims to break down each gambling site to its last detail so that you, the player, can know exactly what to expect. On this page, we will lay out all the details that go into our rankings.

Getting Started

First things first, we need to know which betting and casino sites accept Australian players, so it all starts with an in-depth Google search.

We spend hours (or days, in some cases), searching for relevant online casinos before writing and publishing each article on our page. Once the research is complete, we usually have a pool ranging from 60 to 110 online casinos.

Then, the real work begins.

Checking Licensing Information

The first thing we check is whether the Australian online casino holds a valid operating license from a respected authority.

The license is always displayed on the bottom of each casino’s homepage, but we take it a step further by verifying the stated license number with the gambling commission. We do this because there are plenty of sites slapping fake badges and license numbers.

During this process, we eliminate anywhere from 15-30 casinos because they don’t meet the safety standards.

Company Background

Every online casino has a company that runs it, so we do a quick search on whether the company is operating above board. If it’s involved in any open disputes that put the casino at risk of shutting down, we eliminate it on the spot.

Creating an Account

Once we have a pool of licensed online casinos ready to review, our main research expert, Mike Waters, creates an account with each site. At the same time, Mike sends over all the necessary documents to verify his account so that it’s ready for payouts right away.

The casinos that make the sign-up or verification process hard, like asking for unnecessary information or demanding extra documentation for verification are eliminated at this step.

At this point, we are usually left with 40-60 sites that meet the above criteria.

Depositing Real Money

Our planned deposit to truly review a casino is $250 – which is exactly how much Mike deposits at each of the remaining websites. The amount is just right so that we can test all the available payment methods and check for any issues and fees during the process.

At the same time, we claim the welcome bonus (if one is available) at each casino to check whether there are any hidden terms buried deep within the fine print.

At this point, once again, we eliminate a few more sites because of issues during the process or unfair bonus terms and conditions.

Playing Games

In Mike’s words: “I love this job and everything that comes with it, but man I enjoy playing new games on the company’s dime.” So, as you can see, this is his personal favourite.

At this stage, Mike tries out anywhere from 15 to 30 different games, including pokies, blackjack, roulette, and live dealer games. This allows us to gauge the quality and whether our readers can expect laggy or smooth gameplay.

The games are tested on mobile and tablet devices (iOS and Android), as well as on desktop computers.

We also consider the overall variety of games — but it’s quality that truly matters to us here.

Testing the Support Team

We are very much aware that eventually, you will need to contact customer support — whether just needing information or coming across an issue.

To this end, we always test all support channels that are available for us to use. Most of the casino sites that aren’t eliminated at this point have reliable support, but some are still using AI-powered live chat, which we don’t appreciate.

Our requirements are:

  • Email replies within 6 hours
  • Live chat replies within 5 minutes
  • Social media replies within 1 hour
  • A thorough FAQ page that covers all payment information

Responsible Gambling Tools

Having access to deposit limits, cool-off periods, session timers, and self-exclusion options is vital for an enjoyable online gambling experience — and this is something Mike checks at each site he reviews before proceeding forward.

Payout Process

Next up for testing is quite possibly the most important thing – how fast the casino pays out.

At this point, Mike is usually down to $100 or he was lucky enough to win and has a higher amount ready to be withdrawn from each site. Since the verification process is already complete, payouts should be a breeze, right? 

We thought so, but this is actually where we eliminate the remaining 50% of casinos that went through all of the previous steps.

Verified account users should never have to wait more than 24 hours for their payout to be processed — regardless of the payment method used.

Selecting the Most Suitable Casinos

Now comes the final step — choosing which casinos are the best ones for each article. At this stage, we typically have anywhere from 15 to 25 gambling sites left, so we still need to narrow them down further.

How do we do this? We ask ourselves a few questions:

  • How fast did the gambling site process our payout? – If the answer is in less than 1 hour, we assign extra points.
  • How many casino games do they have? – If the standard is having around 2,000 games and a casino offers over 7,000, we assign more points.
  • Are there any reload bonuses? – Loyal players need to be awarded as well, so we always check the promos for active users and their terms.
  • How many payment methods are there? – Granted, some of our recommended sites only accept Visa and Mastercard, but having more options means getting more points from our team.
  • Do they offer a downloadable casino app? – Most casino platforms nowadays are optimised for mobile, but having an app is always better.
  • How big are the payout limits? – We give more points to gambling websites that offer higher withdrawal limits because it makes it easier for high rollers to get paid out.
  • Is there a loyalty program with cashback? – Casino players care about cashback and VIP programs, so we assign more points to sites that offer a good cashback percentage with no rollover requirements.

Once all is said and done, we have a top 10 list ready for players to choose from.

The Awards

To make it easy for our readers to select a site based on their needs, we assign awards based on what each casino does best. The awards are clearly visible at the top of each of our posts.

Our Benchmark Scores

Within each review here at AustralianGamblers, we provide a 1 out of 5 score for each benchmark that we review the casino on. Below is an outline of what exactly we mean with these numbers.

Rating Meaning
1 – 2 / 5 If we assign a 1 – 2 / 5 score, we are talking about a very poor gambling site overall. Because our review process is thorough, the sites that we recommend don’t get such a low score.
2 – 3.5 / 5 If we assign a 2 – 3.5 / 5 score, the casino site is doing a decent job, but still fails to meet our strict criteria and has a lot of room for improvement.
3.5 – 4.5 / 5 If we assign a 3.5 – 4.5 / 5 score, we have found a handful of stand-out features at the casino and feel confident in recommending it. However, it also means that there are shortcomings that prevent it from getting top marks.
4.5 – 5 / 5 If we assign a 4.5 – 5 / 5 score, the site met all of our criteria and scored highly across all of the benchmarks we tested it on. These online casinos are the ones that offer the best experience.

 

Check our editorial policy for more insight into how we fact-check, edit, and handle the content from this point forward.