How to Judge an Online Casino: Licence, RTP, Payouts

The phrase “best online casino” is a claim about a comparison, and a comparison needs a unit. Without one, the phrase means nothing more than the site making it. This page sets out the units: who issued the licence, what RTP is published and for which version, how long a withdrawal actually took and when that was measured, what the wagering terms require, and which four clauses in the terms decide whether a win is paid. Every operator figure below is printed with the condition that determines it. Where a figure is not published, that is stated rather than filled in.

Affiliate commission is earned on some operator links on this page. That is disclosed here, before any operator link appears. The arithmetic is unaffected: a licence number is a licence number, and a measured withdrawal time is a measurement. A page that shades a figure toward the commission is worthless to the reader and therefore to the site.

Licence and who issued it

A licence is not a logo. It is an authorisation issued by a named regulator, and the regulator determines what recourse a player has. The two that appear most often on sites serving UK and European players are the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) and the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA). Others include the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, and Curacao eGaming. The regulator matters because it sets the complaints route: UKGC licensees must be part of a designated alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme, and the ADR provider is named in the terms. MGA licensees have a different process. A Curacao licence does not carry the same player-protection framework.

Check the licence number on the regulator’s own register, not on the operator’s footer. A footer can say anything. The register is the source.

Published RTP and the version it belongs to

RTP is a long-run figure: total returned to players divided by total wagered, over millions of spins. It is not a prediction for a session. The same slot title ships at several RTPs, and the operator chooses which version to deploy. A game published at 96.0% on one site can be the same title at 94.0% on another. The figure is only meaningful with the version attached.

For table games, the RTP depends on the rule set. European roulette with a single zero returns 97.30%; American roulette with double zero returns 94.74%. Blackjack depends on deck count, whether the dealer stands or hits on soft 17, and whether blackjack pays 3:2 or 6:5. A 6:5 payout on a single-deck game can push the house edge above 1.5%, where a 3:2 game with favourable rules can sit near 0.5%.

Where an operator does not publish RTP per game, the figure is not published. It is not estimated here.

Measured withdrawal time and the date it was measured

Withdrawal time is not a property of the operator alone. It depends on the payment method, the verification status of the account, and the operator’s own processing queue. A card withdrawal and an e-wallet withdrawal from the same account on the same day can differ by days. A figure without a method and a date is not a measurement.

Below is a comparison of four operators on the figures that can be checked. The date column is the date the figures were checked. Where a figure is not published, the cell says so.

Operator C is included to show what an incomplete record looks like. A licence from Curacao is not equivalent to a UKGC or MGA licence, and the absence of published RTP and withdrawal times is itself a finding. The ordering above is alphabetical by operator name. It is not a ranking. The figures do not support a ranking, because they measure different things: a higher RTP on one game does not make an operator better overall, and a faster withdrawal on one method does not apply to all methods.

The four clauses that decide whether a win is paid

Bonus terms are long, but four clauses do most of the work.

Max conversion. This caps how much of a bonus win can be converted to cash. A 10x max conversion on a 100 bonus means no more than 1,000 can be withdrawn from that bonus, regardless of how much is won. Winnings above the cap are removed. The clause is usually in the bonus terms, not the general terms.

Max bet while a bonus is active. This caps the stake per spin or per hand while any bonus is in play. A 5 max bet means a 10 spin breaches the term, and the breach can void the bonus and any winnings from it. The cap often applies until the wagering requirement is met, not just until the bonus is credited.

Dormancy. An account with no activity for a set period can be charged a monthly fee. The fee is deducted from the balance. A 5 per month dormancy fee on a 20 balance will empty the account in four months. The period and the fee are in the general terms.

Identity verification timing. This is when the operator requires documents. Before first deposit is stricter than before first withdrawal. The timing determines whether a player can withdraw at all without documents, and how long the withdrawal takes once documents are submitted.

A worked calculation: the effect of a max bet clause

Suppose a bonus of 100 with a 10x max conversion and a 5 max bet. The wagering requirement is 30x the bonus, so 3,000 must be wagered before any withdrawal. At a 5 max bet, that is 600 spins at 5 each. If the game returns 96.0%, the expected loss over those 600 spins is:

600 spins × 5 per spin = 3,000 total wagered.

3,000 × (1 − 0.96) = 3,000 × 0.04 = 120 expected loss.

The bonus is 100. The expected loss exceeds the bonus by 20. The max conversion cap of 10x means the most that can be withdrawn from bonus winnings is 1,000, but the expected outcome before the cap is a net loss of 20. The cap does not change the expectation; it truncates the upper tail. The clause that matters here is the max bet, because it forces 600 spins to clear the requirement, and the expected loss on those spins is 120.

If the max bet were 10, the same 3,000 would take 300 spins at 10 each. The expected loss is the same: 3,000 × 0.04 = 120. The number of spins changes, the total wagered does not, and the expectation does not. This is why staking systems do not change expected return: they change the distribution of outcomes, not the mean.

What people get wrong

The most common error is treating a published RTP as a promise for a session. A 96.0% RTP does not mean 96.0% back after 100 spins. It means that over millions of spins, the total returned approaches 96.0% of total wagered. In a session of 100 spins at 1 each, the standard deviation is large enough that losing 50 or winning 50 is unremarkable. The figure is a long-run average, and the long run is longer than any session.

The second error is treating a withdrawal time as a property of the operator. It is a property of the operator, the method, and the verification status on the day. A 24-hour e-wallet withdrawal measured on 2025-01-15 does not mean every e-wallet withdrawal takes 24 hours. It means one was measured at 24 hours on that date.

The third error is reading a max conversion clause as a cap on winnings. It is a cap on conversion. Winnings above the cap are not paid, but the clause does not prevent the player from winning; it prevents the win from being withdrawn. The distinction is the difference between a bonus that is worth less than it appears and a bonus that is fraudulent. It is usually the former.

These mistakes are natural because the numbers are presented as if they were personal. A 96.0% RTP is printed next to a game a player is about to open, and the mind attaches it to the next hour. A withdrawal time is printed next to a logo, and the mind attaches it to the next withdrawal. The figures are not personal. They are properties of a system over a long run, and the run is longer than the player’s session.

What to check before depositing

Check the licence number on the regulator’s register. Check the RTP for the specific game version, not the game title. Check the withdrawal method and the date the time was measured. Check the four clauses: max conversion, max bet, dormancy, and identity verification timing. If a figure is not published, treat it as not published. The absence is information.

The legal position differs by jurisdiction. Online gambling is regulated differently in different countries, and it is an offence in some. Check the law where you are. If you are under 18, or under the legal age in your jurisdiction, do not gamble. If gambling is causing harm, help is available: in the UK, GamCare and BeGambleAware; in the US, the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700; in other countries, the local equivalent.