Every operator file on this site is built the same way, in the same order, and against the same questions. That is the whole method: no weighting that changes from page to page, no score that moves because a deal changed. What follows is the checklist, in the order we work through it.
We start with the paperwork. Which authority issued the licence, what number is on it, and does the register still list the site as active. We record the company behind the brand and the jurisdiction it answers to. Online casino play is not licensed inside South Africa, so an offshore permit is the only thing standing between a player and a dispute — which is exactly why we write down whose permit it is rather than printing a badge.
A casino that takes rand is not the same as a casino that pays out in rand without friction. We check the deposit menu (Instant EFT, cards, vouchers, crypto), the minimum deposit, the withdrawal menu, the stated clearing time, the monthly cap, and whether currency conversion is applied twice. A site that only converts to rand gets that written on its file.
We take the headline figure from the operator’s own terms page, then read the conditions: wagering multiple, whether it applies to bonus or bonus plus deposit, maximum bet while a bonus is live, maximum cash-out, expiry, and game weighting. If the number on the promotion page and the number in the terms disagree, the terms win and the disagreement goes in the file.
We look at who supplies the lobby rather than counting titles. A library of 3 000 games from two aggregators tells you less than a shorter list from studios that publish RTP and submit to independent testing. Live tables are checked separately — table limits in rand matter more to a South African player than the number of roulette variants.
We contact support in English, at an ordinary hour and at an awkward one, and record how long a real answer takes. We read public complaint threads for the pattern rather than the volume: a large site collects complaints, a bad site collects the same complaint over and over.
Deposit limits, loss limits, session reminders, cooling-off and self-exclusion — we check that they exist, that they can be set without contacting support, and that a limit takes effect immediately rather than after a waiting period.
Some links on this site are commercial. If you open an account through one, the operator may pay us a commission — it costs you nothing and it does not buy a position. Order in our sector tables comes from the checks above; an operator that fails them is not listed, whatever the commercial terms. Where an operator has no agreement with us at all, we still keep the file, because the index is only useful if it covers the market rather than our partners.