About the Author
How I rate casinos.
Twelve years in iGaming. Three as a casino host on the floor. Every deposit on this site came out of my own wallet.
“If I won’t deposit my own money on it, it doesn’t go on the list. That’s the whole rule. Everything else is bookkeeping.”
I started in this business at twenty-two, running roulette tables in a brick-and-mortar casino in Limerick. By twenty-five I was a VIP host, which meant I spent my days finding out, in detail, how the house actually treats the people on the other side of the felt.
When I moved online in 2014, I expected the affiliate sites to be honest. They weren’t. Most were ranking casinos by commission, calling it a review, and getting paid both ways. I built LepreSean because I wanted somewhere I could send my brother and sleep at night.
There’s no team. There’s me, a notebook, and a Skrill account I empty every month testing payouts. If a casino takes more than seven days to send my money back, it’s not on this site, no matter what they offer.
The Five-Step Test
What I check, in order.
- 01
License is real and current.
Curaçao GCB, MGA, UKGC, Kahnawake. I check the regulator's public register, not the badge on the casino's footer. A revoked Curaçao license that the site still displays is the most common scam signal. About one in six fails here.
- 02
Deposit clears, with my money.
Skrill, Visa, BTC. I put $50 to $200 in and time how long it takes to credit. Anything over thirty minutes for cards or two hours for crypto is a soft red flag. Anything that asks for a passport photo before the first deposit is a hard fail.
- 03
Bonus terms are not booby-trapped.
I read the T&Cs end to end. 35× on the bonus is fine. 35× on deposit-plus-bonus is borderline. Max-bet caps under €5 while a wagering requirement is active is a trap. Game weightings that exclude every game you'd actually want to play is the same trap with a bow on it.
- 04
I play to cash-out.
Real sessions. Slots, blackjack, a live table, the sportsbook if there is one. I'm looking for game-load latency, live-dealer audio sync, support response time when I open a ticket, and whether the cashier actually shows my balance correctly. This step takes a week.
- 05
Withdrawal hits in seven days or less.
The number I publish is the average across three separate withdrawals at three different amounts. If KYC kicks in, that clock pauses for the document review and resumes when they confirm. Casinos that stall, ask for re-uploads of documents they already have, or split the withdrawal into smaller payments don't make the cut.
The Rejected Pile
35 of 47 didn’t make it.
Most of the rejected casinos this month failed on step 5. They’ll take your deposit in eleven minutes and then send you twelve consecutive emails asking for utility bills, driver’s licenses, selfies, and a Skrill statement going back six months.
Two failed on step 1. One had a Curaçao license that was revoked in February and still displayed on the footer. The other had a fictional MGA number that didn’t resolve on the MGA register.
None of those are on this site. None of them ever will be, no matter what they offer in commission.
How LepreSean Makes Money
Affiliate commission. That’s the whole answer.
When you click a Claim Bonus button and sign up, the casino pays LepreSean a finder’s fee. Sometimes that’s a flat CPA. Sometimes it’s a share of the rake. It varies casino to casino and I publish the relationship type on every review.
Commission rate does not influence ranking. I run that test once a year by ranking the shortlist on commission alone and comparing it to the actual ranking. If the lists ever match, fire me.
You don’t pay more for using my link. You pay less if you don’t — most exclusive deals on the site are negotiated above the casino’s public welcome offer.
Sean Murphy
Founder · 12 yrs iGaming · ex-Casino Host
Questions, tips, casino you want me to test, or a story about a payout that took six weeks? Send it over. I read every one.
18+ only. Gambling can be addictive. If play stops being fun, stop. GamCare and BeGambleAware are real and they help.