methodology · v2.4
How we score operators.
Six pillars. Public weights. Quarterly re-verification. Operators can’t pay to move up — and we publish the math.
The Trust Index, in plain English
Every operator on 1baraban is scored on a 0–10 Trust Index. The score is a weighted average of six pillars, each scored independently on the same 0–10 scale. The pillars and their weights are below — they are public, they are versioned, and they are the same rubric we apply internally before we ever publish a review.
We don’t accept payment for placement. We do accept affiliate revenue when readers click through to operators we’ve already rated — this is disclosed on every page and explained in our affiliate disclosure.
The six pillars
Vertical-specific overrides apply (poker downweights "Bonuses", sportsbooks reweight "Player Experience" toward odds quality). The base weighting below is what runs by default.
License & Safety
30%Regulator tier, licence verifiability, complaint-handling track record, fund segregation.
We treat licensing as a floor, not a feature. Tier-1 regulators (UKGC, MGA, Spelinspektionen, KSA, Gibraltar) score materially higher than offshore licences (Curaçao, Anjouan), because tier-1 jurisdictions impose meaningful complaint-handling, segregation-of-funds, and self-exclusion requirements. We verify every licence number against the regulator's public register at review time and re-verify quarterly. Sanctions and licence suspensions are checked in the regulator's news feed.
Banking & Payouts
20%Real withdrawal speed, fees, deposit/withdrawal method coverage, KYC friction.
Marketing pages claim "instant withdrawals." Reality is messier. We test withdrawal speed with real account placements, recording the time from request to settled funds — separately for crypto and fiat rails. We also score fees (some operators quietly take 1-2% on withdrawals), KYC posture (UKGC mandates full KYC up-front; we verify timing and friction), and method coverage.
Bonuses (true value)
15%Welcome offer expected value after wagering, max-bet rules, eligible-game restrictions.
Headline bonus numbers are misleading. A "200% up to £2,000" bonus with 50× wagering is mathematically negative-EV at typical 96% slot RTP — and from 2026 the UKGC caps wagering at 10×. We score bonuses on expected value after wagering — accounting for wagering multiplier, max-bet during clearing, eligible-game RTP weighting, and expiry. We publish the math.
Player Experience
15%UX quality, mobile, performance, account features, game library depth.
A site that loses your session mid-spin loses points. We score load performance (Core Web Vitals on a mid-range phone over 4G), mobile UX, account-management depth (limit-setting, session timers, transaction history clarity), and game library depth weighted by provider quality — not raw count.
Support
10%Live chat availability, response time, dispute escalation paths.
We initiate at least three support contacts per review across off-peak hours. We score availability (24/7 vs. business hours), response time, and — critically — quality of escalation. An operator that auto-replies "your dispute is under review" for 14 days scores worse than one that gives a real human in 90 seconds, even if both eventually resolve.
Complaints
10%Volume, severity, and resolution rate of public complaints across forums and ADR bodies.
We aggregate public complaint data from regulator ADR (alternative dispute resolution) bodies, AskGamblers, Trustpilot (filtered for verified reviews), and Reddit. We score volume normalised by operator size, severity (a single confiscation case weighs more than 50 "withdrawal was slow" reports), and resolution rate (did the operator engage and resolve, or stonewall?). The (n=) count next to each operator's Complaints score is the sample size.
Score bands
The Trust Index is a continuous 0–10 score, but for quick comparison the bands below correspond to the colours you’ll see on operator cards and gauges.
| Score | Band | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 9.0–10 | Exceptional | Tier-1 license, fast verified payouts, low complaint volume, premium UX. Reserved for operators that materially outperform peers across every pillar. |
| 7.5–8.9 | Recommended | Solid licensing, no significant red flags, competitive offer. The bulk of well-run operators. |
| 6.0–7.4 | Cautious | Functional but with material flaws — slow payouts, weak licensing, complaint volume. Read the review before signing up. |
| 4.0–5.9 | Avoid | Multiple serious issues. We don’t recommend depositing. |
| 0–3.9 | Blacklisted | Confirmed predatory practices, unresolved fund-confiscation reports, or licence suspension. Never deposit. |
Re-verification cadence
Operator scores are not static. We re-verify every operator on a quarterly cadence — license status against the regulator’s register, fresh withdrawal-speed test, fresh complaint scrape, and a re-walkthrough of UX changes. The "Verified" date on every review card and gauge is when this last happened. The "Next review due" date is our commitment.
When an operator’s score changes by more than 0.5 between reviews, we publish a changelog entry on the operator page explaining what changed and why.
Methodology changelog
The methodology itself evolves. Significant changes are logged here.
v2.42026-04-01
Increased Banking & Payouts from 18% → 20%, reduced License & Safety from 32% → 30% to reflect post-2025 banking-rail volatility.
v2.32026-01-15
Added max-bet-during-bonus-clearing as a sub-factor under Bonuses. Documented per-vertical weight overrides.
v2.22025-10-01
Switched complaint-volume normalisation from raw count to count-per-month-per-1k-monthly-active-users.
v2.12025-07-01
Initial public methodology release.
Conflicts of interest
Reviewers do not hold financial positions in the operators they review. Affiliate income is paid at the publisher level — never to individual reviewers, and never tied to a specific operator’s performance in ranking. Reviewers receive bylines and credentials so readers can assess their background directly.
Disagree with a score? Email editorial@1baraban.com with the operator, the pillar, and your evidence. We re-open reviews when readers surface verifiable new information.