Why Our Methodology Is Public
Most betting review sites won't show you how they score — because many simply republish affiliate marketing material. We publish our methodology because the whole value of a review site is trust. If you can't verify how a rating was produced, the rating is worthless. This page documents exactly what we test, how we score, and what we refuse to accept from operators.
The Testing Pipeline: Real Money, Every Time
Every bookmaker in our rankings goes through the same pipeline:
- 1. Registration & KYC — we sign up with real details and document the verification process and how long it takes
- 2. Deposit test — a real deposit ($15–$50) via the site's most popular method, timed
- 3. Bonus claim — we claim the welcome offer and audit every term against industry norms
- 4. Betting test — pre-match and live bets across football and cricket, testing bet acceptance speed
- 5. Odds audit — 50 markets compared against 6 rival bookmakers to measure margins
- 6. Withdrawal test — a real withdrawal request, timed with a stopwatch to the minute
- 7. Support test — three live-chat contacts with real questions, response times logged
The 5 Scoring Categories
Each bookmaker is scored 1–10 in five categories, then weighted into a final 5-star rating:
| Category | Weight | What we measure |
|---|---|---|
| Odds & Markets | 25% | Margin on 50 markets, market depth, niche sports |
| Bonuses | 20% | Bonus size, wagering fairness, max bet rules, expiry |
| Payments | 20% | Deposit speed, measured withdrawal time, fees, method variety |
| Live Betting | 20% | Bet acceptance speed, streaming, cash out, live market depth |
| Support & Trust | 15% | Licences, complaint history, support quality, responsible gambling tools |
Trust Scoring: Licensing and Beyond
Trust isn't vibes — it's checkable facts. UKGC and MGA licences score highest because they give players real dispute resolution. Curacao licences are legal but offer fewer protections, so those sites must compensate with payout history and transparent behaviour to score well. We also check operator complaint patterns, payout disputes and sanctions history before publishing any review.
Bonus Scoring: Size Is Not Value
A 200% bonus with 60x wagering on deposit+bonus scores worse than a 100% bonus with 25x on bonus only. We calculate the effective value of every offer — expected cost to clear, max bet rules, game weighting and expiry — and score that, not the marketing headline. Our bonus guide teaches you to do the same maths.
How Affiliate Relationships Work (And Don't)
PagBets.org earns affiliate commissions when readers register through our links — this is how the site stays free. Three rules keep that from corrupting our content: scores are produced by test data before any commercial conversation; reviews are never shown to operators before publication; and commercial teams cannot change a rating. Our full disclosure is on the Affiliate Disclosure page.
Update Cadence
Markets move fast. Every review carries its last-updated date, and we re-test each bookmaker at least quarterly. Bonus changes, licence changes or withdrawal complaints trigger an immediate re-test. If a site's score drops, the published review drops with it — no exceptions.
