How we make money.

The short version

• We earn a commission when readers click an affiliate link and sign up at an operator.
• We do not earn anything when readers visit our site, read a review, or use the AI concierge.
• Our editorial score does not depend on whether an operator pays us. Some of the highest-scored operators on this site pay us nothing.
• We never accept payment in exchange for a higher score, a featured slot, or favourable language.
• Every outbound link to an operator is marked rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" and tagged with our affiliate ID where one exists.

How affiliate revenue actually works

When you click "Visit [Operator]" on a review and proceed to deposit, the operator pays us a commission. Three structures are common in iGaming affiliate marketing:

• RevShare — a recurring percentage of the operator’s net gaming revenue from referred players, typically 25–45% for the lifetime of the player’s account.
• CPA (cost per acquisition) — a one-time payment per qualifying deposit, typically £100–£400.
• Hybrid — a smaller CPA up-front plus a smaller RevShare ongoing.

We tell operators which structure we want; they don’t tell us. The structure has no effect on editorial score. It does, however, affect our preference at the negotiation table — RevShare aligns our incentives with the player’s long-term experience (we earn when they keep playing, which they only do if the operator is good), which is why we default to it.

What affiliate revenue does NOT buy

• Higher scores. The Trust Index is the output of our public methodology. We score, then we approach for affiliate. Not the other way around.
• Featured placement. Hub-page rankings sort by Trust Index. There is no paid "Top Pick" badge.
• Editorial language softening. If an operator has a Curaçao license and slow withdrawals, we say so — even if they’re a top-paying affiliate.
• Removal of negative coverage. Operators occasionally request edits to remove listed cons. We don’t.
• Pre-publication review. Operators do not see reviews before they publish.

Operators with no commercial relationship

Some operators on this site pay us nothing. Either we haven’t been accepted into their affiliate programme yet, or they don’t run one, or the deal terms didn’t make economic sense. They are still rated. They are still rankable. The "Visit [Operator]" button still goes to their site — it just doesn’t carry our tracking ID.

This is also true in the reverse: if a high-paying affiliate relationship would distort our coverage of the broader market — for example, by giving us a financial reason to over-cover one operator’s vertical — we will turn it down or constrain it.

Where to escalate

If you believe a review on this site has been influenced by commercial considerations, please email editorial@1baraban.com with the operator name and the specific claim. We re-open reviews when readers surface verifiable concerns.