We make money from casino affiliate commissions. You should know that upfront, understand how it works, and understand why it doesn’t bias our reviews—or at least, why we’ve built systems to make sure it doesn’t.
This page explains exactly how we make money, what that means for you, and the safeguards we’ve put in place so our financial interests don’t override our commitment to honest reviews.
How We Make Money: The Actual Structure
Slots-online.co isn’t funded by ads or sponsorships. We make revenue exclusively through affiliate commissions from online casinos. Here’s how it works:
When you sign up at a casino through one of our links, the casino pays us a commission. The commission structure varies by casino and is typically a combination of:
- Revenue share: A percentage of what you gamble in your first year (varies by casino, typically 30-50% of their net revenue from your play)
- CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): A fixed payment for successful signups (varies by casino, typically £10-£50 per signup depending on the operator)
Different casinos offer different commission rates. Some offer higher revenue shares but lower CPA. Some do the opposite. Some have minimum performance thresholds (if we don’t send them enough players, the commission structure changes or they drop the relationship).
What this means in plain English: We earn more money when players sign up through our links and gamble more at those casinos. A casino we rate 9/10 that earns us 40% commission generates the same amount of revenue as a casino we rate 5/10 that earns us 30% commission—it depends on how much players actually gamble, not on our rating.
Why This Structure Matters (And Why It’s Potentially Problematic)
The reason I’m being transparent about this is simple: it creates a financial incentive that could bias our reviews.
A casino offering 50% affiliate commission has more money to pay us than a casino offering 30% commission. The financial incentive is to rate the 50% casino higher so more people sign up through us.
This happens at a lot of review sites. They don’t usually admit it, but it happens. The casino offering bigger affiliate payments gets better reviews. It’s not conscious corruption. It’s just human nature—money influences judgment.
We acknowledge this incentive exists. We can’t pretend it doesn’t. But we’ve built operational structures to make sure it doesn’t determine our ratings.
How We Avoid Letting Money Determine Ratings
Multiple independent reviewers assess each casino before publishing.
No single person rates a casino. Multiple team members test independently and document their findings. Then we compare results. If one reviewer rates a casino 7/10 and another rates it 5/10, we discuss why there’s a difference. We reach a consensus rating through actual debate, not by averaging scores.
This catches individual bias. If someone subconsciously rates a casino higher because of its commission rate, the other reviewers’ independent assessments will contradict them.
Our editorial process doesn’t know affiliate rates until after rating.
When we’re testing and assessing a casino, we’re not looking at how much commission they offer. The rating decision happens first. After we’ve decided on a rating, we check the affiliate structure. This prevents commission rates from influencing the rating process.
We decline affiliate relationships with some casinos.
If a casino approaches us with extremely high commission rates but poor terms, dodgy licensing, or obvious red flags, we can decline to become an affiliate. We don’t review every casino. We choose to review casinos we’d recommend to people we know, regardless of commission structure.
Conversely, we sometimes review UKGC-licensed casinos with strong reputations that offer relatively lower affiliate commissions because they’re genuinely good casinos.
We rate casinos with lower commission higher than casinos with higher commission if the lower-commission casino is objectively better.
This is a real test of whether our incentives actually influence our ratings. When a 30% commission casino is better than a 50% commission casino, we rate it higher. We do this regularly. It costs us money. But it proves our ratings aren’t driven by commission structure.
We update reviews when terms change, even if updates hurt us financially.
A casino we rated 8/10 might change its bonus terms to become more predatory. When we discover this, we downrate the review and update it publicly. This reduces our affiliate commission from that casino because fewer people will sign up through us. We do it anyway because the rating matters more than the commission.
Editorial Independence: What We Don’t Do
We don’t accept direct payments for reviews or ratings.
A casino can’t pay us money to rate them higher. If a casino offered us £5,000 to bump their rating from 6/10 to 8/10, we’d decline. Full stop.
Our only financial relationship with casinos is the affiliate commission structure. That’s it. No sponsored content. No paid reviews. No “promoted” reviews that are secretly advertisements.
We don’t accept free bonuses or testing funds from casinos.
When we review a casino, we deposit our own money. We don’t accept free bonus codes or testing accounts funded by the casino. This prevents casinos from influencing our assessment by giving us inflated bonuses or special treatment.
We test the same bonuses and terms that regular players would see.
We don’t allow casinos to influence our editorial process.
No casino has editorial approval over reviews before publication. We don’t send draft reviews to casinos for feedback. We publish reviews we believe are accurate. If a casino later disputes something, we investigate, but the casino doesn’t get to approve or modify the review before it goes live.
We don’t write puff pieces or sponsored guides.
We don’t have “advertorial” content that’s secretly marketing material. Every guide, every comparison, every article is written with editorial integrity. If we’re comparing casinos, we’re giving you honest pros and cons, not marketing copy dressed up as journalism.
What This Means for You
You can trust that our ratings reflect actual quality, not commission potential.
We have incentive to rate casinos high (so more people sign up and we earn commission). We have safeguards to prevent that incentive from determining our ratings. The systems are designed so that financial incentive is counteracted by editorial process.
Affiliate links are clearly marked.
Every casino link on slots-online.co is clearly identified as an affiliate link. You know we earn commission if you sign up through us. You can choose to sign up directly with the casino if you prefer (you’ll get the same terms and bonuses, we just won’t earn commission).
We’re transparent about conflicts of interest.
We acknowledge that affiliate incentives exist. We don’t pretend they don’t. We explain how we manage them. You can read this policy and understand exactly how our financial interests are structured.
We prioritise player protection over revenue.
We’ve sometimes rated casinos low or refused to review them entirely even though they offered us affiliate commissions. We’ve promoted GamStop and responsible gambling even though it reduces how much players gamble and therefore reduces our affiliate revenue.
When there’s a conflict between making more money and protecting players, we choose player protection.
How Commission Affects Our Ratings (Or Doesn’t)
Here’s the actual question you should ask: “Does slots-online.co rate casinos higher if they offer bigger commissions?”
The answer is no, based on our process. But let me explain why:
A casino offering 50% commission earns us money based on player activity. A casino offering 30% commission earns us money based on the same player activity. The commission rate itself doesn’t determine our revenue—player engagement does.
So Casino A (50% commission) and Casino B (30% commission) might generate identical revenue for us depending on how many players they attract and how much those players gamble. A high-commission casino that nobody signs up for through our links earns us less money than a low-commission casino that’s popular.
This actually aligns our incentives with yours. We want to recommend casinos where players will actually stay and play, not casinos that burn them out. That’s how we make the most money.
The Casinos We Won’t Review (Or Won’t Accept Affiliate Relationships With)
We’ve declined to become affiliates of casinos for various reasons:
- Licensing was unclear or from jurisdictions with minimal standards
- Bonus terms were demonstrably predatory (impossible wagering, arbitrary withdrawal caps)
- Customer complaints indicated systematic problems (withdrawal delays, unresponsive support)
- The casino explicitly targeted problem gamblers or made responsible gambling tools hard to access
- The operator had regulatory violations at other properties
We also sometimes review UKGC-licensed casinos that approach us for affiliate relationships but we don’t actively promote them with prominent links if we have concerns about their terms or practices, regardless of commission offered.
Our Rating Process and Editorial Control
When we rate a casino, the process is:
- Multiple reviewers test independently
- Initial ratings are recorded before discussing commission structure
- Reviewers compare findings and reach consensus through discussion
- The editor makes the final call if consensus isn’t reached
- The rating is documented and published
- Affiliate relationships and commissions are noted, but after the rating decision
This means the commission structure can’t influence the rating process because the rating is already determined before we even look at what the casino pays us.
Updates and Corrections
We update reviews when casino terms change (particularly bonuses), when customer feedback indicates problems we didn’t catch, or when new information emerges.
We don’t have a formal appeals process for casinos to dispute ratings. If a casino believes our review contains factually inaccurate information, they can contact us with evidence. We investigate. If they’re right, we correct the review and note the correction.
But casinos can’t request a re-rating or demand changes to editorial opinions. They can only challenge factual accuracy.
Why We’re Transparent About This (Even Though It’s Complicated)
Most gambling review sites don’t explain their affiliate structure this clearly. They hide it. They don’t want you to know how much commission influences them.
We’re transparent because:
- You deserve to know how the sites you trust are funded
- It builds credibility to acknowledge conflicts of interest and explain how we manage them
- It shows we’re confident in our editorial process (if we weren’t, we wouldn’t want scrutiny)
- It’s the right thing to do to be honest about potential bias
The Bottom Line
We make money from affiliate commissions. That’s how we fund the site. It creates financial incentives that could bias our reviews. We acknowledge that upfront and we’ve built processes to prevent it from happening.
We rate casinos based on quality, testing, and editorial judgment. Not based on commission potential.
You can trust our reviews because we’re transparent about conflicts of interest and we have systems designed to counteract them.
If that’s not good enough for you, you don’t have to click our links. You can go directly to casinos and sign up. You’ll get the same terms and bonuses either way. We just won’t earn commission.
But if you do click our links, know that the recommendations you’re following reflect our genuine assessment of casino quality, not our financial incentives.
Last Updated on July 7, 2026