Editorial Policy

Rules We Don't Break

1. Commission rates do not influence rankings. Our scoring model evaluates every casino across 40+ criteria in six weighted dimensions. Commission rate is not one of those criteria. No operator has been moved up or down in our rankings because of what they pay us.
2. No paid editorial top placements. We do not sell editorial ranking positions. A casino paying for a featured or sponsored slot receives the same objective score it would have received otherwise. Featured slots are visually and structurally separated from editorial rankings.
3. We rate high-paying operators low when evidence warrants. Our rankings include operators we rate below 6/10 that pay us commissions. We have not adjusted their scores upward to protect commercial relationships.
4. We disclose affiliate relationships on every page. Every page containing affiliate links includes visible disclosure. We do not hide or disguise commercial relationships. Full details on our affiliate disclosure page.
5. Rejected operators are never promoted. Casinos that fail our methodology thresholds for trust, licensing, or player protection do not appear in top lists. They may appear in comparison tables as rejected operators, clearly marked.
6. We don't fabricate experience. Our reviews state what the casino offers, what terms apply, and what our analysis shows. We do not invent stories about depositing, playing, or withdrawing unless those events actually happened.
7. Methodology changes are versioned. When we change how we score casinos, we publish a note so readers can see what changed and when. The full methodology is available on our scoring methodology page.
8. We correct mistakes publicly. If we make a factual error in a review and a reader flags it, we correct the review, note the correction, and thank the reader.

What We Don't Do

• We don't take lump-sum payments to move an operator up the rankings, regardless of the amount offered.
• We don't hide sponsored content inside editorial content.
• We don't copy-paste generic casino descriptions supplied by operators.
• We don't remove negative reviews or soften criticism because a commercial partner complained.
• We don't attribute writing to fabricated authors or fake personas.

What “Editorial Team” Means on ClearCasinos

The ClearCasinos Editorial Team is the oversight function behind every page on the site. Editorial review covers factual accuracy, methodology compliance, regulator verification, and adherence to the rules above.

Individual casino reviews and guides are attributed to named contributors wherever possible. Reports and market analyses that reflect team-level editorial work — regulator updates, tax framework changes, market closures — are attributed to the editorial team rather than to any single byline, because the oversight, verification, and final editorial judgment are team-wide responsibilities.

The team is led by the site founder and includes contributors responsible for casino testing, bonus math verification, licensing database checks, and editorial review.

Conflicts of Interest

Our commercial relationships — affiliate agreements, sponsored placements, enhanced listings, banner advertising — are the kind of commercial relationships that could, in a less disciplined setup, influence editorial judgment. We manage this by:

• Keeping the scoring model and criteria weighting public and versioned
• Applying the model uniformly to all operators, whether they pay us or not
• Separating sponsored slots from editorial rankings visually and structurally
• Disclosing affiliate relationships on every page with affiliate links
• Publishing this policy so that any deviation is externally visible