How we rate operators

Grand Bonuses covers players in countries that do not each have their own national comparison site, so the rating on an operator page has to travel: the same brand may be fully regulated in one country on this site and simply unreachable in the next. The score is the mean of five sub-scores, printed openly on the operator page. Below is what each factor measures, what the number cannot tell you about your own country, and why commission has no effect on where an operator sits.

Five factors, equally weighted

No factor is weighted above another. A weighting would be a private judgement dressed as arithmetic; an unweighted mean of five named factors needs no hidden assumption. Each sub-score runs 0 to 5 and is set from published, dated material stored with the record — 314 source references across 52 listed brands.

Licensing. Which authority issued the licence, whether the licence number resolves in that authority's own register, and whether the domain we link to is covered by it. This is where the international picture is honest rather than flattering: a Malta Gaming Authority licence carries a published register and a complaints route, while several Caribbean licences carry neither in any comparable form. Both appear on this site; they do not score alike.
Bonus value. What the offer is worth after the wagering requirement, not what the banner says. Bonus amount, wagering multiple, what the multiple applies to, the maximum stake allowed while wagering, and the expiry. A cross-border extra: whether the offer is available in the reader's currency without a conversion that quietly erodes it.
User experience. Game and market breadth, whether the terms are legible in a language the reader can be expected to read, and whether limits and rules can be found without an account.
Payments. The deposit and withdrawal rails the operator itself publishes, weighted towards those that actually work across borders — cards, e-wallets, bank transfer, and in some markets local instant transfer — plus stated withdrawal conditions and minimums.
Customer support. Channels, hours and languages, per the operator's own published information. In a multi-country audience the language list matters more than it does on a single-market site.

What the bands mean

The overall score is the mean of the five, to one decimal place — the same number in the casino, sports and poker tables as on the operator page.

4.5–5.0: a licence that verifies in a public register, terms that survive being read closely, and payment rails that clear across borders.
4.0–4.4: strong, with one clear weakness — commonly the wagering multiple or a payout minimum that is high for smaller stakes.
3.0–3.9: workable, with two or more soft areas. Read the terms twice, and check the withdrawal section before the bonus section.
Below 3.0: listed for completeness, not recommended.

On 9 of the 52 listed brands the evidence does not carry all five sub-scores, so the scorecard is hidden on those pages rather than completed with numbers we cannot support. Last checked 6 September 2026.

Why a good score is not a promise for your country

A rating describes an operator, not your access to it. We test which brands actually accept traffic from a given country by resolving the operator's own link from that country and recording what comes back; 14 countries have been probed this way, and the result decides which brands appear on a country page at all. The country pages — starting with Ireland — therefore show a shorter list than the main tables, on purpose. Where an operator answers a datacentre address with a block, we record the result as unknown rather than as a refusal: a machine being turned away is not evidence that a person would be. Local law is the reader's to check; several countries in our audience permit only nationally licensed operators, and nothing on this site overrides that.

The bonus arithmetic, and the cross-border part of it

The bonus-value sub-score rests on one sum. A €150 bonus at 45x on the bonus requires €6,750 of wagering before a withdrawal is possible. A €30 bonus at 20x on bonus plus deposit — 20 × €60 — requires €1,200. Price the turnover at a 4% house edge on fully-contributing games and the first costs about €270 on average, the second about €48. The larger headline is the more expensive offer.

Two things specific to a cross-border audience then adjust the score further. First, currency: an offer denominated in euros, played from a country with another currency, loses a slice at deposit and another at withdrawal, and a bonus sized in a currency the player does not hold is worth less than the number printed on it. Second, the withdrawal minimum — a €50 minimum payout on a €30 bonus means the bonus cannot be cashed out on its own terms at all. Both are read from the operator's own pages before a row is written. The wagering calculator runs the headline sum for any offer.

What we cannot verify

Real payout times. We do not deposit or withdraw our own money. Published cashier promises are claims, not measurements.
RTP in practice. A theoretical figure over millions of rounds, silent about any real session.
Support quality under pressure. We read hours and channels; we do not open test cases.
Conduct in a dispute. On an offshore licence this is the weakest point of the whole model, and no comparison table can fix it. Check whether the licensing authority publishes a complaints route before you deposit.

What commission does not change

The site is funded by affiliate commission, described in full on how we make money. It does not move a sub-score, reorder a list, or decide whether a brand is covered. A sub-score is changed by new evidence — new terms, a new payment rail, a licence that has lapsed or moved authority — and licence changes are logged on new licences. If a figure is wrong, write to [email protected] or use the contact page; who writes this is on about us.

A high score means the terms are fair for what they are. It does not mean the game is worth playing: the house edge is unchanged by any bonus, and over time the money moves to the operator. Read responsible gambling, use the operator's own deposit limits, and stop when it is no longer on your terms. 18+.

To see the method applied across the whole roster, use the comparison.

Last reviewed 6 September 2026.