The Casino Guru Safety Index explained
The Safety Index looks at how fair and safe Irish online casinos are. Scores are based only on how players are treated, not on flashy features or fast payments. We’ve reviewed over 2,700 casinos, and only 700+ make the cut for our recommended 7.5 score. Here’s how we work out the score and what it means for you.
How the Safety Index is built
We build our Safety Index by carefully looking at many different factors. We go beyond what’s on the surface to see how fairly each casino treats its players.
Here are some key things we look at when deciding the final score, and what each one means for your safety as a player.
The size of the casino
We estimate each casino’s revenue from the past four years to determine how likely it is to pay out a large win. This also means that smaller casinos have capped scores because they can't guarantee they can pay out jackpot winnings.
New casinos get a Fresh rating, along with a capped numerical score, because they haven’t been around long enough for us to judge them on every point. We review our casino ratings regularly, and even brand-new Irish casinos’ scores may change, especially if they prove to be a safe and legal site for players.
How it handles complaints
We use black points to indicate how the casino deals with complaints. The number of points depends on how serious the issue is and how much money is involved. The more black points the casino gets from complaints, the lower its Safety Index rating. We also collect complaints from other websites and forums to form a complete picture of a casino.
We take several steps to make sure this process is fair:
- Complaints alone don’t lower a casino’s score – We also consider the casino’s size, since a casino with a million players will naturally get more complaints than one with only a thousand.
- Not every complaint is valid – Many disputes are actually player mistakes, and those don’t count against the casino.
- Older complaints matter less – A dispute from six years ago doesn’t affect the score as much as one from last month. Casinos can change owners or management, and the score reflects that.
- Resolving complaints makes a difference – The number of black points a casino has can be lowered after each complaint is resolved. They also get extra points if they pay a player, for example, even when they could have refused.
We also have our own complaint resolution service to help players resolve their disputes with casinos. This lets us see directly how casinos act when real money is at stake and a player has a problem.
Did you know? We’ve helped resolve more than 22,000 complaints, with the outcome directly feeding back into the casino’s Safety Index score.
Why sister casinos affect the score
Many online casinos aren’t independent. They share owners, management, or affiliate programmes with other sites.
If a casino is part of a group with a bad complaints record, its Safety Index score will reflect this. This reputation works both ways. Being part of a large, well-run group can lift a smaller casino’s score because of the strong reputation and revenue behind it.
The strength of the link decides how much transfers. For example, shared management counts for more than a shared affiliate programme.
How is the Safety Index calculated?
Our team of 25 full-time reviewers collects all the data needed for the Safety Index. We use an algorithm to calculate each rating, and our experts check every result to make sure it’s accurate and consistent.
Our review team works separately from our commercial department. They don’t sell products or speak with advertisers. Their only job is to find out what casinos are really like and report it accurately.
Did you know? It takes about four hours to review each casino. Every month, we finish around 500 reviews from our database of more than 11,000 casinos.
What the numbers actually mean
Our Safety Index scores go from 0 to 10. Instead of memorising all the labels, just focus on these main levels:
- Above 7.5 – Highly recommended. Every top-rated Irish casino has cleared this score.
- Above 8 – High. Many casinos in our Irish toplist feature this score.
- 9 and above – Very high. Reserved for large casinos with very few justified complaints against them.
- Fresh – Too new to rate. Not a warning, just an absence of evidence.
A score below 7.5 doesn’t automatically mean a casino is a scam. It could just be a small or new casino, or one with a few unresolved disputes.
What makes for an unfair casino?
After we set the base score using criteria like size and complaints, we then look for practices that make a casino less enjoyable to play at and deduct points when we find them.
The Safety Index and Irish licensing
The Index's main goal is safety, so we first check whether a casino has a licence. If there’s no licence or a fake one, the score goes down. While we don’t compare regulators (a Maltese licence isn’t better than a Gibraltar one), there are some licenses we consider less reputable, like Curaçao and Anjouan. These casinos are still fair and legal, but don’t possess such strong licensing regulatory authority.
Ireland's new regulations
Ireland is creating a new regulatory system under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, run by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI). It’s being rolled out in phases, starting with remote betting licences, which cover online and phone-based sports betting. Applications for gaming licences, which include online casinos, will open throughout 2027 and 2028.
This means that no online casino has a GRAI gaming licence right now. The only exception is brands that offer both sports betting and casino games, like TonyBet. However, that GRAI licence will only cover its sportsbook, not the online casino. Check the GRAI licensing database for the latest updates.
For now, Irish players can choose top-rated casinos that are licensed in places like the UK, Malta and Gibraltar. We consider these regulators to be among the more respected in the industry and plenty of casinos licensed by them score high on our Safety Index.
Going beyond the Safety Index
A good score means you’re less likely to have problems with a casino, but it doesn’t guarantee you won’t. If you run into trouble, contact our complaints team.
We’ll review your case, check the casino’s terms, and let you know honestly whether we think we can resolve the dispute. If so, we’ll reach out to the casino for you.
Most people hear back from us within 72 hours, and most cases are resolved in about 21 days. More complicated disputes can take longer, especially if the casino is slow to respond.
We never charge players or take a share of any recovered money. Every outcome affects the casino’s Safety Index, no matter how your case ends.
Dealing with problem gambling
Responsible gambling tools don't feed into the Safety Index, the same way bonuses and games don’t. However, their importance cannot be overlooked, and we check for them in every in-depth casino review we complete.
Safer gambling options and resources give you control over your own play before anything goes wrong. Here's what to look for when you're weighing up a casino:
- Deposit limits – Set a daily, weekly or monthly cap on what you can put in, so a bad session can't turn into a bad month.
- Loss and wagering limits – Cap what you can lose or stake over a set period, which gives you a firmer ceiling than deposit limits alone.
- Session limits and reality checks – Time reminders that tell you how long you've been playing, since it's easy to lose track.
- Time-outs – A short cooling-off period, usually 24 hours to six weeks, that locks you out without closing your account.
- Self-exclusion – A longer block, from six months upwards, for when you need a proper break.
- Self-assessment tests – A few honest questions that help you work out whether your gambling has become a problem.
If gambling is no longer enjoyable, that’s a different issue. In Ireland, you can get real help from organisations such as:
- GamblingCare: 1800 936 725
- Gamblers Anonymous: +353 1 8721133
- Extern Problem Gambling: 089 241 5401
You don't have to wait until things get serious to get in touch.
FAQs
Resources
- Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland:
https://www.grai.ie/ - Gambling Regulation Act 2024:
https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2024/act/48/enacted/en/html - GRAI Licence Register:
https://www.grai.ie/register/licence-register - Malta Gaming Authority:
https://www.mga.org.mt/ - UK Gambling Commission:
https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/ - Casino Guru fair gambling codex:
https://casino.guru/guide/fair-gambling - Casino Guru complaint resolution:
https://casino.guru/complaints/all - Extern Problem Gambling Ireland:
https://www.problemgambling.ie/ - Gamblers Anonymous:
https://www.gamblersanonymous.ie/ - GamblingCare:
https://www.gamblingcare.ie/
