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How we work
How we check a game
Every number on this site is either a figure the game itself publishes or something we watched on screen from Ireland. This page sets out which is which, what we decline to publish, and what takes a casino off the site no matter what it pays us.
The principle
A game guide is only worth reading if its numbers survive contact with the version of the game you will actually be dealt. Most do not. House-edge figures get copied between review sites for years without anyone rechecking which rule set they describe, and the rule set is the whole thing — the same blackjack table paying 6:5 instead of 3:2 is a different game in the only sense that matters to your money.
So the rule we work to is narrow: we publish the figure the game's own rules state, and we say which rule set it applies to. Where a title is configurable and we cannot confirm which version an operator has deployed, that uncertainty goes on the page instead of being smoothed over.
The four steps, every casino, in the same order
1 · Open the site from Ireland
Not a VPN-flattened global build — the lobby an Irish visitor is actually served, with the country and currency the site selects for them. A casino that will not open from Ireland gets no write-up rather than a borrowed one.
2 · Record what the lobby offers
Which titles the casino pushes to an Irish visitor, which live-dealer studios it carries, how the tables are segmented by stake, and which payment logos it displays before sign-up. We screenshot it rather than describe it from memory.
3 · Take the numbers from the rules, not from other sites
Return to player, house edge and payout tables come from the game's own rules screen or the studio's documentation. Where a figure depends on a rule variation — single or double zero, dealer standing on soft 17, the presence of surrender — we state the variation the figure belongs to, because quoting a house edge without it is close to meaningless.
4 · Mark what is missing
Rules not published before sign-up, RTP not stated, operator not named, licence not found — each is written plainly on that casino's entry rather than quietly filled in with a plausible figure.
What we will not do
We do not present a play session as evidence about a game's return. A few hundred spins or a few dozen hands tells you about variance and nothing whatsoever about a long-run percentage, and any site presenting that as a test is selling you something. Where we describe what a game felt like to play, it is labelled as an impression rather than a measurement.
We do not publish user ratings either. Unverified rating widgets on affiliate sites are trivially gameable and tend to say more about who had an incentive to fill them in than about the casino.
And we do not publish payout times we have not measured. An operator's stated processing window is the operator's claim, and we attribute it as one.
How the running order is decided
There is no composite score on this site, so the order is editorial judgement rather than arithmetic, and we would rather say so than dress a preference up as a formula. What goes into it: the depth and quality of the game range actually shown to Irish players, which live-dealer studios are carried, whether the rule variations on offer are the player-friendly ones, whether the site publishes its rules and returns before you sign up, and what it shows of itself before asking for an email address.
What does not go into it is what any operator pays us. Where two casinos on the list are run by the same operator and show Irish players the same lobby, we say so on both entries rather than letting them occupy two slots as though they were independent choices.
What disqualifies a casino outright
Some findings are not a scoring deduction. They remove a casino from the site regardless of its other qualities or its commercial terms:
1 · A withheld payout
If a legitimate withdrawal is refused or indefinitely stalled without a defensible reason, nothing else about the game range matters.
2 · No verifiable licence
We need to be able to check the licence exists and is current. An unverifiable claim is treated as no licence.
3 · Games running at undisclosed reduced returns
Deploying a configurable title at a lower return than the version players would reasonably expect, without saying so anywhere a player would find it.
4 · Retroactive term changes
Altering the conditions of an offer after a player has already accepted it.
5 · Obstructive verification
Verification demands that escalate specifically when a withdrawal is requested, rather than being handled at account level.
How money changes hands, and what it does not change
We earn affiliate commission when a reader opens an account through our links, at no cost to the reader. That is how the research is funded, and it is disclosed in the footer of every page on this site.
What it does not do is set the order or the wording. Commission rates differ between operators, and if we ranked on them this list would look different. The commitments we hold ourselves to:
- Commercial terms are never an input to a ranking position.
- A casino that fails a disqualifying check is removed regardless of what it pays.
- We do not accept payment for a specific position or for favourable wording.
- Every page carrying affiliate links says so, in the footer, on every page.
- Where we have not checked something, we say we have not checked it rather than repeat the operator's claim.
When we check again, and reader reports
Lobbies change. Operators add and drop studios, swap one supplier's roulette for another's, and occasionally re-deploy a title at a different return. So we re-check periodically, and out of cycle when something prompts it: a change of ownership or licensing, a shift in the game range, a pattern of reader reports, or a casino that starts or stops serving Ireland.
What we can see from the outside has a hard limit. A rules screen tells you what is promised, not what happens after you deposit and try to withdraw. If your experience does not match what we have published — a different rule set at the table, a return that is not the one stated, a withdrawal that stalls — write to [email protected]. A consistent pattern of reader reports is one of the triggers that sends us back to an operator.
Related
- Online slots — RTP bands, volatility and what a hit rate actually tells you.
- Blackjack — the rule variations that move the house edge, and by how much.
- Roulette — wheel types, what each bet pays, and betting systems debunked.
- About CelticTables — who writes this site and how it is funded.
- Responsible gambling — limits, tools and support in Ireland.
18+ Play within limits
Every game we describe is built so the operator wins over time, and understanding the maths does not change that — it only helps you see what a session costs. Set a limit before you start and use the deposit, loss and time controls in your account. If gambling has stopped being fun, free and confidential support is available from the Gambling Care Ireland helpline on 1800 936 725 — see our responsible gambling page.