Online Casino Rating System

The categories and ratings shown in each of my online casino reviews represent a carefully developed system for rating various aspects of online casinos from a video poker player's perspective. Each category can have a rating from zero to ten. Each rating is then weighted according to its relative importance towards the experience, and these results are then summed to determine the overall rating of a casino. The following table is a summary of the categories and their weight:

Summary of Rating Categories
Category	Weight
AutoHold	5%
Betting Limits	10%
Comp Program	10%
Game Selection	20%
Game Speed	20%
Multi-Hand	10%
Paytable Quality	25%
Total	100%

AutoHold

Some casinos offer an AutoHold feature. Sometimes the AutoHold feature is simple, meaning that it holds a dealt winning hand without regard to whether or not it is the best play. Sometimes the AutoHold is advanced because it actually evaluates the hand and holds the card(s) which represent the best play. The following ratings are possible for this category:

AutoHold Type	Rating
Advanced	10
Simple	7
None	0

In the event that AutoHold is not available for all games, the rating is multiplied by the number of games where AutoHold is available, then divided by the total number of games, and then rounded to the nearest whole number.

Betting Limits

Nobody wants to be forced to wager more than they feel comfortable betting, and nobody wants a maximum bet so small that the chances of winning big are impossible. The ratings in this category are designed to favor casinos who offer the largest range of bet sizes. The following table illustrates how this rating is determined:

Minimum Bet	Maximum Bet
	1.24 or less	1.25 to 4.99	5.00 to 9.99	10.00 to 19.99	20.00 to 24.99	25.00 to 49.99	50.00 to 99.99	100.00 or more
0.01 to 0.04	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
0.05 to 0.09	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
0.10 to 0.24	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
0.25 to 0.49	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
0.50 to 0.99	0	0	1	2	3	4	5	6
1.00 to 1.99	0	0	0	1	2	3	4	5
2.00 to 4.99	-	0	0	0	1	2	3	4
5.00 to 9.99	-	-	0	0	0	1	2	3
10.00 to 19.99	-	-	-	0	0	0	1	2
20.00 or more	-	-	-	-	0	0	0	1

"Minimum Bet" refers to the smallest possible bet that can be placed on any video poker game. Usually this would be a single-coin bet placed on a single-hand game.

"Maximum Bet" refers to the largest possible bet that can be placed on any video poker game. Usually, but not necessarily always, this is achieved by playing the maximum number of coins at the largest coin size on a multi-hand game.

Comp Program

A casino's comp program contributes to the overall return experienced. The following table illustrates the possible values for this category. The cash back rate used is the rate that applies to video poker games. For casinos which offer multiple tiers depending on player status, the cash back rate for a new player (i.e. the lowest tier) is used to determine the rating. If different video poker games offer a different cash back rate, the lowest cash back rate is used.

Cash Back Rate	Base Rating
0.200% or more	10
0.150% to 0.199%	9
0.100% to 0.149%	8
0.075% to 0.099%	7
0.050% to 0.074%	6
0.040% to 0.049%	5
0.030% to 0.039%	4
0.020% to 0.029%	3
0.010% to 0.019%	2
0.001% to 0.009%	1
None	0

Some casinos have additional restrictions that apply to the redemption of comp points. If there is a minimum amount that can be redeemed, the Base Rating is multiplied by a modifier based on how large the minimum redemption amount is:

Minimum	Modifier
0.01 to 1.00	1.0
1.01 to 5.00	0.9
5.01 to 10.00	0.8
10.01 to 20.00	0.7
20.01 or more	0.6

How often comps can be redeemed also contributes to the quality of the comp program. The following modifiers apply based on how often a player can redeem their comps:

Available	Modifier
Immediately	1.0
Daily	0.9
Weekly	0.8
Monthly	0.7

The final rating for this category is determined by multiplying the appropriate value from each of the three tables above, and then rounding to the nearest whole number.

Game Selection

Casinos who offer a small number of games do not receive as high a rating as those who offer a lot of games. The following table illustrates how the rating for this category is determined:

Number of Video Poker Games	Rating
25 or more	10
20 to 24	9
15 to 19	8
10 to 14	7
6 to 9	6
5	5
4	4
3	3
2	2
1	1
None	0

Game Speed

A slow game can take the fun out of playing. This category is rated by timing how long it takes to be dealt a hand in the single-hand version, and adding to it the rating for how long it takes to draw replacement cards in a multi-hand game when playing the maximum number of hands. For each casino reviewed, at least 10 hands were played and the times averaged. For casinos which do not offer multi-hand games, the amount of time it took to receive a replacement hand in the single-hand game was used instead. Obviously the speed of one's internet connection can play a significant role. The casinos were timed using a broadband connection.

Single-Hand Games (Deal)			Multi-Hand Games (Draw)
Duration	Rating		Duration	Rating
0.0 to 0.9 seconds	5		0.0 to 0.9 seconds	5
1.0 to 1.9 seconds	4		1.0 to 1.9 seconds	4
2.0 to 2.9 seconds	3		2.0 to 2.9 seconds	3
3.0 to 3.9 seconds	2		3.0 to 3.9 seconds	2
4.0 to 4.9 seconds	1		4.0 to 4.9 seconds	1
5 seconds or longer	0		5 seconds or longer	0

Multi-Hand

Many people, myself included, prefer multi-hand games over single-hand games. This category rates casinos based on both the maximum number of hands that can be played at once, as well as the number of "steps" that are offered. For example, if only single-hand and 4-hand games are offered, there are two steps. If single-hand, 4-hand and 50-hand games are offered, there are 3 steps. This category is rated by adding the appropriate values from the two tables below together:

Maximum Hands	Rating		Number of Steps	Rating
100 or more	5		5 or more	5
50 to 99	4		4	4
25 to 49	3		3	3
10 to 24	2		2	2
2 to 9	1		1	0
Single-Hand only	0

Paytable Quality

The single most important factor in my online casino ratings is the quality of the paytables. The first thing I do is calculate the average return of all paytables. Games with a progressive jackpot are not included in this calculation. The rating is determined by the average return as follows:

Average Return	Rating
99.2000% or higher	10
99.0000% to 99.1999%	9
98.8000% to 98.9999%	8
98.6000% to 98.7999%	7
98.4000% to 98.5999%	6
98.2000% to 98.3999%	5
98.0000% to 98.1999%	4
97.5000% to 97.9999%	3
97.0000% to 97.4999%	2
96.5000% to 96.9999%	1
less than 96.5000%	0