Katerina Gadzheva,iGaming.org

A reliable casino review is the intersection of first-hand testing, investigative research, and understanding player complaints. Reviewing a gambling site today, in the era of AI dominance, is daunting. Some writers, myself included, find it challenging, but a breath of fresh air at the same time. After years of mediocre reviews dominating the SERPs, now human writers need to up their game and start delivering value to stay relevant. How to achieve it? It’s easy as long as you really put the time and effort into testing the casino first. So let me give you some real insights into the casino review process as a writer for Silentbet with 10+ years of experience and 500+ online casinos tested to date. So for any writers out there who want to hone their skills, here are some guidelines. My first tip is… Play First, Write Later It comes as no surprise that valuable reviews are the fruit of real tests performed by players. In my opinion, a person who does not play casino games or bet on sports online has no business rating and reviewing a casino platform. A real review comes from experience. Anyone who writes about, say, new Bitcoin casinos, for example, is required to have background knowledge of both the gambling industry and the crypto market. Otherwise, you end up with a generic one-size-fits-all piece of writing that has no added value for readers. However, if a writer is also a player, the game changes. A player will put the platform to the test for real. They will open an account and use a crypto wallet to make a deposit. They will see if there are any hidden fees for transactions and whether BTC bonuses come with reasonable play-through terms. During the process of testing the casino first-hand, problems will naturally arise. It is almost inevitable. There isn’t a perfect online casino out there, no matter what some affiliate sites may claim. So once a writer encounters real users’ problems, they will be better equipped to address them in writing. Which is where the added value I already mentioned comes into focus. The bottom line is: you cannot write a casino review before testing the platform by registering and playing for real. But a writer’s job does not stop here. It is fun to play as part of your job. The real work comes later. And it is partly what makes the review-writing process intimidating for some people. I’m referring to… Doing Extensive Background Research Digging deeper than service level is what will make your review really stand out. A real test of a casino site is necessary. A background check of the company that owns the brand is what will set your content apart. And I mean really doing your homework. Pull out all the stops by doing extensive research before you start writing your casino review. Try to find the mailing address of the company owning the casino. Dig deeper and see where both the company and the casino are licensed. Is it in an offshore location, as that may be a red flag? Explain to your readers why this matters. Ultimately, the best you can do is connect the dots between the real people who run the casino project behind the scenes and the ones on the casino's About Us pages. Owners, founders, CEOs. Name them, provided you can back up your claims with real proof. Check for sister sites. What is their reputation? You know the saying about the rotten apple that ruins the bunch and all that. Find out how much of a presence the casino has on social media and whether they are active there. What kind of posts do they share, and the reason behind them? And lastly, see if they engage with their players. There isn’t a bigger red flag than a casino that is unreachable and unresponsive when an issue arises. Of course, there is one final step I recommend a writer do before they can give any casino review a wrap. That is… Finding User Pain Points The selling point of any casino review is whether the author correctly identifies and addresses users' pain points. How do you find them? I’ll tell you what I do. I go where all the other real players are - in forums, chatrooms, and complaint forms. I check Trustpilot, for sure. I do it all to get a feel of the public’s opinion on a given casino brand. That way, I end up with a casino review that highlights my experience, showcases my research, and addresses the brand’s reputation appropriately. You want to stay relevant? Then you must make Google’s new search work for you, as Forbes said in their article. And a little word of warning - refrain from using AI as a substitute. True, it can help with the work, but it cannot replace the experience behind the work. Relying too much on it is a problem. AI may strip your personality and overturn everything you worked for.

Katerina Gadzheva

Katerina Gadzheva

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