Every SWRNN page is supposed to survive a simple test: would this still be true if the brand paid us more? If the answer depends on the money, the page is wrong. Here is the rubric we actually use.
1. Product class first
Before licensing, we name the product. Licensed US sportsbook, licensed US casino, offshore book, offshore casino, DFS pick’em, prediction market, sweepstakes casino, crypto casino. A page that writes offshore-book copy for PrizePicks or DraftKings Texas is a failed page. A page that writes “sign up” copy for a brand that geo-blocks the reader is a failed page.
2. Licensing and corporate history
Who issued the license, what it covers, whether it is current, and what happens if you have a dispute. Curaçao lapsed is not “licensed in Curaçao.” Comoros paperwork is not a US regulator. A state gaming commission is not a marketing badge; it is a place a player can actually complain. We also trace ownership and name changes — Bovada is not Bodog on paper; 888 exiting New Jersey in 2024 is not a footnote.
3. Legal, legit, and safe are three words
Legal is the statute and the license for this product in this place. Legit is whether the company is real and pays. Safe is recourse plus who is blocked. We will not use them as synonyms. State pages have to hit all three as queries because that is what people type. A restricted state labeled legal is the one error that can hurt someone.
4. State and country research
For a state page we search the current gambling law, the regulator (or the honest absence of one), and the brand’s actual footprint there. We classify legal / gray / restricted in that order of strictness. Country pages use that country’s law, not a US template with the country name swapped. Ignition sending Canada to Bodog is a routing fact. Roobet blocking the UK is a geo-block. Both belong on the page that claims to cover that country.
5. Cashiers, not slogans
Methods, minimums, maximums, fees, and a typical clock after approval. “Instant” is not a method. Pending time is not processing time. Crypto, cards, checks, PayPal, Play+, contract settlement, Sweeps redemption — name the rail that actually exists. PayPal pages are allowed to say no.
6. Bonuses with dates
We read the terms: rollover, game weighting, max cashout, expiry, whether the code has to be entered before the deposit. Every bonus on a brand file carries last-verified. If it is older than sixty days, we check it before we repeat it. We do not invent codes. Onshore and DFS brands do not get a Bovada code so the page has a button.
7. Ratings
The stars on SWRNN are a hash of the URL slug into a 3.8–4.6 range. They are consistent across deploys. They are not a lab RTP test and they are not for sale. If you only look at the stars you are using the site wrong. The review is the dated sentences about the license and the cashier.
8. Best Of lists
A Best Of hub is a roundup of brands that already have review hubs here. Rank is national framing: licensed first where a licensed product exists, then the offshore rooms we would actually name, with block lists attached. Sweepstakes and DFS stay in their own pile. A Best Of state page re-orders that list for that statute. Best Online Casino Texas should not open with DraftKings casino. Best Online Sportsbook New Jersey should not open with Bovada as if it were legal. If two state pages in the same Best Of silo look like twins, one of them failed this rubric.
9. What we will not do
Invent regulators. Call a gray state legal. Put a Bovada button on a DraftKings Texas page. Treat PrizePicks as a sportsbook. Treat Stake.us as Stake.com. Promise that gambling is a way to get paid. Affiliate buttons, where they exist, do not buy a quieter sentence. For help, see Responsible Gambling.