One Person, Every Casino's Rules in One Place
I'm Valerii Zalivkin, and I built GambleGrade by myself. The clauses that cost you money are buried in the middle of documents nobody actually reads, so I collect each brand's terms, work through them clause by clause, quote the exact wording that flags a problem, and publish the formula that turns it all into one score. Both parts are verifiable: the operator's own words, and the maths behind the rating.
Who Runs This
Valerii Zalivkin
I built GambleGrade to put every online casino's rules in one place, across all 37 markets it covers. Casino terms are long, change without notice, and bury the costly clauses in the middle - so they get collected here, read clause by clause, quoted and dated, and you see them before the money rather than after.
- 2024Started buildingBegan work on GambleGrade with the mission of gathering all casino rules in one location and working through them clause by clause.
- 2024Formula publishedFinalized and released the six-pillar scoring formula in advance of computing the first score, ensuring the method was transparent from day one.
- 2025Pipelines builtDeveloped the scraping, terms analysis, scoring algorithms, and versioning infrastructure that operate the platform independently.
- 202637 markets liveWent live in August 2026 across all 37 markets concurrently, with each market's rules examined according to its own setting.
The Rules First, The Ranking After
- Rankings driven by which operator pays the most
- Scores backed by unnamed sources or unverifiable claims
- One generic template repackaged for each region
- Ratings shift when partnership money does
- Affiliate deals buried deep in fine print
- No methodology disclosed, no formula weights published
- Outdated content recycled without re-checking facts
- Scores calculated by a published formula anyone can verify
- Every input is concrete and disclosed in full
- 37 markets, each with its own regulatory and payment ruleset
- Ratings recalculate when the underlying data shifts
- Affiliate partnerships listed openly - they do not affect position
- Six pillars of assessment, with documented weights
- Terms-of-service pages re-analyzed and all ratings re-scored monthly
Independence
Affiliate income covers hosting and the cost of running scrapers. The income has no access to the ranking code. A separation built into architecture, not just into promises.
Transparency
Methodology is public. Data sources are named. Formula weights are written down. A score does not go live unless I can walk backward through every step that produced it.
Data-First
I set the weights once. The scoring engine runs from there without me in the loop. No manual override exists. My opinion of a casino has zero influence on where it ranks.
From Finding a Casino to Publishing Its Rating
I build and maintain the scoring formula. Automation handles the heavy lifting - crawling the web, collecting data, running the calculations, and publishing results. Every month the entire catalog gets re-scored against the latest terms and conditions.
Spotting New Casinos & Checking Their Licenses
Daily crawlers search for new operators across 37 markets. When one appears, I verify its license against official regulator records, check the company structure, and flag any sanctions or revoked credentials. Only licensed operators make it into the catalog.
Pulling Data at Scale
Scripts fetch data from regulator APIs, public records, payment processors, and game studios. Thousands of data points are collected automatically - no manual typing, no outdated bonus terms, no frozen snapshots.
Running the Formula
Data gets standardised and fed into the scoring engine, which grades each casino across six pillars: trust and licensing, bonus fairness, payout speed, payment options, UX and mobile experience, and player reviews. The formula produces the ranking. I never adjust scores by hand, and no business deal changes the order.
Checking the Numbers & Writing It Up
I spot-check anomalies, work through edge cases manually, and document what the data actually shows. My role is to explain the numbers - not to manipulate them.
Publishing & Keeping Watch
Once the monthly re-scoring cycle wraps up, new ratings go live automatically. Monitoring tools track license changes and payout shifts, flagging anything that needs a closer look.
Six commitments built into the score
These principles are embedded in the formula. Nothing overrides them.
Position is determined by data, never by money
Casinos cannot buy their way up the list. The platform runs on affiliate revenue, but the ranking itself comes purely from the formula - no financial arrangement changes a casino's position.
The algorithm decides, I do not
I set the weights and choose the data sources once. After that, the scoring engine runs on its own - no manual tweaks, no exceptions, no override buttons.
Built for the person funding the deposit
Every weight, every predatory term flagged, every feature on this site exists because it helps you choose a casino more carefully - not because a casino operator asked for it.
All methodology is visible and testable
The scoring logic is documented publicly. Data sources are named. Each calculation step is published. Anyone with the same inputs can reproduce any casino's rating.
Every rating recalculates monthly
Outdated scores mislead players. Each casino's rating is re-evaluated once per month against current licensing, recent payout test data, and the latest terms snapshot.
Errors and fixes live in the open
When a rating is incorrect or the scraper hits a problem, I log both the error and the correction in a public changelog. Reader reports are tracked the same way.
Why Affiliate Revenue Never Changes a Casino's Score
How the system and process keep casino ratings independent of the revenue that funds GambleGrade.
I run this platform solo, with no sales team pushing for ranking changes. The scoring system reads only from the rating database - affiliate records sit in a completely separate system that the formula can't touch.
Every casino goes through the same six pillars with identical weightings. Trust and licensing, bonus fairness, payout speed, payment methods, mobile experience, player reviews - the inputs stay the same for every brand, commission or not.
When you click certain links, I earn a referral fee - that's always shown at the link. Whether a casino pays affiliate commission only affects whether I get paid; it doesn't move their rating or where they show up in the list.
Casinos can submit factual updates - a new licence, an extra payment option, corrected details. I check each one manually before it goes live. Rating adjustments and ranking changes can't be requested, negotiated, or bought.
Six pillars. One public formula. Scores that don't shift for sponsorship.
I rate every casino across six dimensions using fixed weights and verifiable data. The full breakdown - exact calculation steps, flag definitions, data sources - is published so you can rebuild any score yourself.
Trust & License
Regulator jurisdiction, operator track record, automated analysis of terms-of-service pages for dodgy clauses, live support response times.
Payout Speed
Real withdrawal times pulled from transaction records - same-day payouts rank higher than multi-day waits.
Fair Bonuses
Actual bonus value after accounting for wagering requirements, cashout caps, and restrictive terms.
Customer Reviews
Player feedback collected from Trustpilot, AskGamblers, public forums, and other spaces where players share honest accounts.
Payment Convenience
Range of deposit and withdrawal options - crypto, cards, e-wallets - plus minimum entry and maximum exit limits.
UX & Mobile
Page load times, navigation layout, mobile performance, and reliability under heavy traffic.