A heavyweight casino-review and player-complaint hub whose CasinoRank claims to be "based solely on data," but which by its own disclosure earns affiliate commissions from the casinos it ranks.
What it's really for An affiliate igaming portal that ranks casinos and runs a complaint-mediation service, paid by signups.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its 'CasinoRank' and player reviews, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Revenue comes chiefly from casino affiliate deals (revenue-share and CPA commissions on players it refers); content pages carry an affiliate disclosure stating "we may make a commission on operator registrations and deposits made through these links." AskGamblers says CasinoRank "can't be influenced by anything other than hard facts" and that affiliate ties don't affect complaint outcomes, but it takes money from the operators it ranks, and an investigation by GiG/Catena's own corporate history shows the site is a commercial affiliate asset bought and sold for €15M-€45M.
Source →- Operating since
- 2005 (21 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Affiliate-funded igaming portal: it earns commissions when players sign up at the casinos it reviews, while also running a free player-complaint mediation service.
- What they do
- Reviews and ranks 1,000+ online casinos via its algorithmic "CasinoRank," hosts community player reviews, and runs the AskGamblers Casino Complaint Service (AGCCS), a mediation service it says has recovered over $70M in withheld player funds.
- What to watch for
- It presents rankings as independent and "based solely on data," yet its own pages disclose affiliate links that pay commissions on the same operators, and critics say negative reviews and complaints are sometimes removed or resolved in casinos' favor (claims AskGamblers disputes).
- Composite score
- 2.30 / 5.00 → grade C
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) completed its acquisition of AskGamblers and sister affiliate sites from Catena Media on 31 January 2023 for EUR 45 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis, confirming AskGamblers is a commercial casino-affiliate asset bought and sold between igaming firms. Source: GiG / Gaming Innovation Group press release →
- AskGamblers describes CasinoRank as 'an unbiased algorithm' where 'each brand's ranking is based solely on data' and that it 'can't be influenced by anything other than hard facts'; weightings are published as Casino details 50%, AGCCS complaint history 25%, player reviews 15%, design 10%, but the underlying algorithm itself is not reproducible. Source: AskGamblers - What is CasinoRank →
- AskGamblers review pages carry an affiliate disclosure: 'Our content contains affiliate links and we may make a commission on operator registrations and deposits made through these links,' confirming it earns money from the operators it ranks; critics allege affiliate bias and removal of negative reviews, which AskGamblers disputes. Source: AskGamblers - Casino Reviews page (affiliate disclosure) →