This page details our company’s expectations regarding the content published on CasinoFreak, along with our well-established procedures for research and sourcing information, ensuring accuracy in the data we present, and crafting consistent content that aligns with our readers’ best interests.
Our editorial mission is to educate, sustain long-term relationships of trust, and promptly inform our readers about anything that would impact how they engage with online gambling products.
Editorial Guidelines Overview
CasinoFreak’s Audience
Editorial Values
Content Accuracy and Fact-Checking
Data Accuracy
Plagiarism and Copyright
Objectivity and Independence
Responsible Gambling
Legal and Ethical Standards
User Engagement and Interaction
Editorial Review Process
Tone and Style
Continuous Improvement
CasinoFreak's Audience
Everyone is welcome on CasinoFreak, but we do create content with a specific audience in mind. We believe that people looking to gamble will gamble, so there’s no point in trying to make gambling seem more appealing or persuade anyone to take on this hobby.
Instead, our content is written primarily for people who’ve already decided gambling might suit them. We cater to beginners and professionals alike and aim to present them with carefully researched and experience-backed information regarding available gambling products.
Whom do we write for
It’s a common misconception that, since casino operators are the ones getting our invoices, we are working for them. In fact, casinos are only the middlemen in this equation since it’s our readers actually paying us, every time they trust us and choose a casino we advertise.
Our relationship with our readers is our priority, while casino operators are left with our boring, legalese communications. We don’t want them getting too friendly.
Editorial Values
Our content team, representing writers, editors, bloggers, and subject matter experts, is held to the same ethical and editorial standards.
We reject the traditional affiliate marketing style, where the main focus is to persuade. Instead, we stay down-to-earth and don't take ourselves too seriously.
This is why we encourage our writers to provide genuine opinions and advice, thinking of how these could benefit the reader rather than convince them to gamble.
Our vision is to create the most comprehensive, trustworthy information hub, where gamblers can catch a break from the promotional content that's all too common in this industry.
We want to provide players with the entire story and teach them how to navigate the gambling space with more confidence regarding their level of safety and control.
Content Accuracy and Fact-Checking
The CasinoFreak team has a sense of humour, but we’re not joking around. We’ve all got a solid understanding of the way our content impacts our readers’ financial decisions, and we’re obnoxiously careful regarding the accuracy of our content.
Our editorial team is trained to review diversified sources, think critically when assessing information, and avoid echo chambers, so we can deliver content that’s reliable, objective, and perspective-rich.
All the factual data presented on our site comes from reputable sources, including:
- Official government reports
- Well-established professional and academic publications
- Official statistics and forecasts
- Recognized industry and non-industry experts
Data Accuracy
We will never publish content containing facts without citing the appropriate, reliable sources. Fact-checking is performed once by our editors and then again by our Product Managers before content goes live.
Moreover, we employ several teams to conduct research, perform quality control, and communicate with brands, software developers, subject matter experts, and relevant professionals.
The accuracy of our data, whether it pertains to describing casinos, reviewing and recommending gambling products, or general advice for players is our utmost priority.
Maintaining Accuracy in Casino-Related Data
CasinoFreak advertises a large number of online casinos, providing readers with essential details regarding them. As such, the accuracy of the information we present is paramount for preserving a trust-based relationship with our readers.
Our Marketing and Affiliation teams are responsible for assessing the quality of the casino brands and maintaining the related data on our website. We maintain direct contact with casino representatives and cross-check several sources for information pertaining to licenses and certifications.
Moreover, we conduct regular audits and demand prompt updates regarding policy changes from our partners.
Data Accuracy in Promotions & Bonuses
Our Promotions team works in close contact with our Marketing and Affiliation teams to determine the accurate bonuses and promotions we display on our site.
The Promotions team has an extensive list of processes they need to conduct to ensure the bonuses we promote are correctly presented and up-to-date.
They employ regular audits to ensure our entire offer matches the current promotions, cross-reference various reputable sources such as official websites and when all else fails, they contact the operators directly.
Data Accuracy for Software Information
Our teams maintain direct communication with reputable software providers, allowing us to deliver the latest news and updates in a timely manner - we don't publish guesswork.
When referencing publicly available information, we solely use official sources, while relying on our direct communication channels to fill in any minor gaps our readers might require.
Moreover, CasinoFreak managed to curate a database of essential yet generic information on every software provider our readers might be interested in.
Referencing our own research is the usual starting point for any further investigation, which is why we put extra effort and care into keeping this database properly updated.
Payment Information Accuracy
CasinoFreak isn't messing around when it comes to money. The financial information we provide comes from official sources and is triple-checked before it lands on our site. We include sources for all of the details pertaining to a player's finances.
Regarding a certain payment method's availability in our advertised brands, we take strict measures to ensure the accuracy of our claims. We maintain communication through direct channels with our advertised casinos and conduct testing via registered accounts.
General information regarding trusted payment providers is obtained from multiple credible sources and only published after meticulous research and fact-checking.
Plagiarism and Copyright
CasinoFreak is nothing without authenticity. All our content is written from scratch and is the proprietary work of our staff.
We disclose using AI tools for some tasks, such as preliminary quality assurance, organizing and planning our content calendar, or generating starting points for microcopy, such as headlines.
However, the end content is completely human-generated, as proved by several stages of verification. Our content goes through plagiarism and AI detection software before it even reaches our editors.
Complementary forms of media, such as graphics, illustrations, and explanatory videos are created in-house. Where appropriate, we use screenshots and game footage in accordance with the international standards for Fair Use.
Objectivity and Independence
CasinoFreak is editorially independent in its reporting. Our monetization model is covered on our Advertiser Disclosure page. Our team will accept no form of payment to modify content in favor of our casino partners or to paint a more positive image of a brand when it is not deserved.
Our primary allegiance is to our readers, so we won't, under any circumstances, let our financial interests influence our topics, and we don't rank or review any gambling products based on any type of financial relationship with the brands we advertise.
Instead, we make sure the talent we employ has appropriate experience in gambling, and we encourage them to be completely honest and objective while crafting the content we'll ultimately publish.
We trust our editorial team to perform ruthless research and enrich the information we provide with genuine personal stories and pieces of advice.
However, we've accounted for the human factor and devised a complete Quality Assurance process through which we eliminate any subjective bits of information.
Moreover, on CasinoFreak, we don't cover any of the following:
- Mentioning or sourcing information from any of our competitors. We aim to keep it classy and avoid putting down competing businesses. Moreover, it's not our intention to recycle information since proper research is essential to the CasinoFreak editorial team.
- Sensitive to borderline illegal topics. We are firmly against promoting underage or otherwise illegal or potentially harmful gambling. We ensure our content does not appeal to children or vulnerable groups, such as gamblers undergoing treatment for a gambling disorder.
- Moreover, we have a strict policy against discrimination, racism, or sexism, and we aim to create a diverse, inclusive space where gamblers from all walks of life can get the information they seek.
Responsible Gambling
As of now, there are no words in the English language that could express the depth of our commitment to Responsible Gambling practices without sounding hyperbolic and, thus, untruthful.
Our team strongly believes that there is a safe way to enjoy gambling but is not blind to the potentially devastating consequences this activity could have if it got out of hand.
Therefore, we strive to make this space safer for all our readers by offering science-backed information and actionable tips throughout our content.
Moreover, we maintain a collection of in-depth articles to help identify potential addictions and find appropriate help in our Support Center.
Considering our niche, we believe it is our ethical duty to help readers avoid gambling issues and provide all the necessary resources for those facing any problems.
Legal and Ethical Standards
Our content might not be shortlisted for a Pulitzer anytime soon, but we strongly believe it's essential to deliver well-researched, transparent, and useful information.
Links direct to relevant pages on our site or to our sources, when mentioned. No links on our site will ever misdirect readers to another page than the text implied.
Our readers's data is collected for the sole purpose of improving our services and kept safe, only for as long as necessary, as detailed in our Privacy Policy.
Our content is categorized by Google as YMYL (Your Money or Your Life), meaning CasinoFreak needs to adhere to the strictest standards of honesty and integrity, as the information we present could impact our readers’ future happiness, health, financial stability or safety.
We understand working in our niche requires a high level of responsibility towards our readers, a responsibility that we embrace and use to guide our entire editorial process.
User Engagement and Interaction
Oftentimes, our content encourages readers to engage with our site by leaving ratings and reviews for the gambling products they've tried. We're sure you've heard this before, but we value our readers’ feedback.
Our staff works tirelessly to test several platforms, games, and features, but we're far from being a true army. Genuine player feedback helps bridge the gaps in our content and adds a layer of information that we might not have access to.
The truth is our staff is trained to look for specific pain points, but we won't ever get the same level of immersion and experience with a particular brand as our players. So we're more than grateful to those CasinoFreak readers who take the time to leave ratings and reviews so we can all enjoy a richer, more detailed image.
Naturally, our gratitude means that we took a pledge never to tamper with any of these reviews. Under no circumstances will we accept payments from brands to modify or delete our readers' comments.
However, we need to remind players that reviews need to follow a set of guidelines, as we will feel ethically constrained to remove reviews that contain profanity, discriminatory, racist, sexist, or otherwise offensive language.
More details regarding ratings and reviews on CasinoFreak can be found on our How Ratings Work page.
Players are encouraged to contact us directly if they believe their review was removed unjustly or if they spot reviews that go against our community guidelines. (It's not snitching if no one gets in trouble).
Editorial Review Process
We developed a robust editorial review process that serves as a content pipeline. At every step of the way, each team has a clear understanding of their responsibilities. Our Product Managers sketch new ideas, then plan and delegate tasks accordingly.
Editors perform the initial research and create our briefs, which writers later use as a guide for their own research and, ultimately, for writing the drafts. These drafts are polished by our editors and then go through the final quality assessment before being published.
On certain topics, such as legislation, problem gambling, and player guides, we collaborate with subject matter experts, who provide valuable insight and help with spotting potential inaccuracies.
Once a page is live, it will be appraised by our UI/UX designers across different criteria, including:
- Whether it is packed with valuable information and free of “filler” phrases.
- Whether it follows a logical structure and is easy to navigate and scan.
- Whether it is visually pleasing and responsive when viewed on different-sized screens.
Any issues found during this stage are quickly addressed to ensure the best possible experience for our readers.
Tone and Style
Guidelines regarding the tone and style of our content are essential, as they allow us to craft harmonious content. When players access CasinoFreak, they need to know exactly what to expect.
Our editorial team is trained to use a proprietary style guide relying on the Associated Press Stylebook. This ensures our content is coherent across all pages and meets our well-defined expectations for clarity and usefulness.
We're making a point not to put keyword targeting above reader experience, so our editorial team is encouraged to write naturally, include genuine personal stories where relevant, and respect our readers' time by avoiding overly-complicated language or irrelevant details.
But CasinoFreak is not a medical publication, so we allow ourselves to crack the occasional joke. The priority for our content is that it's useful, to the point, and easily digestible. But we also want our readers to enjoy reading it.
We write for humans, not for search engines.
Continuous Improvement
Our editorial team likes to say that web content is a living thing. It ebbs and flows, so it should never be written in stone. Luckily for us, we’re not broadcasting from the Paleolithic, so we can update our content without any stoneworking knowledge.
We’ve learned to become our worst critics and judge our already-published content with a sharp eye. We perform frequent updates based on a well-defined system:
Periodic audits
CasinoFreak keeps a close eye on regulatory changes in our industry and holds regular meetings to ensure our staff is up-to-date with the latest developments. Moreover, our content goes through periodic audits aimed at spotting outdated information and replacing it in a timely manner.
Trend monitoring
Our inboxes are the meeting grounds for all the relevant news in our industry. We keep ourselves on top of the game by maintaining a database of relevant news sources, examining potential changes, and scouring the Internet for the latest trends. Saying our content is outdated is the fastest way to break a heart in the CasinoFreak backstage.
Annual reviews
CasinoFreak is a firm believer in the importance of spring cleaning. Once a year, we put on imaginary rubber gloves and go through our old content, replacing dated information and irrelevant statistics with the newest available information. This is a way for us to keep our content fresh, so we’re calling it Freak’s Self-Care Routine.
Timely corrections
Fixing errors as they surface is a CasinoFreak philosophy and a great way to build accountability within our teams. Our members are equipped and encouraged to fix errors they spot as soon as possible, according to our “I’ve seen it, I’ll clean it” office mantra.
Expectations from Our Teams
The CasinoFreak staff is quite laid-back. Demands are tailored to our colleagues’ skill sets, and we’re helping everyone deliver their best work.
But we understand that “best” might have different meanings for everyone, which is why we came up with a few key expectations to ensure we’re all working towards the same goals.
| Attention to Detail |
| Each member of the CasinoFreak team is aware that attention to detail is paramount in our niche. Meticulous attention to the accuracy of the information we publish is a must, but so is a constant sharp eye, ready to spot any errors that might have slipped between the cracks. |
| Commitment to Quality |
| Our staff believes adhering to the highest standards of quality is a personal responsibility, a belief that we nurture and encourage without imposing cookie-cutter quality benchmarks. Our colleagues are determined to do their best in their respective roles because that’s the right thing to do. |
| Effective Communication |
| We’ve established diverse channels of communication between our teams to ensure smooth collaboration. Issues are solved effectively because each member knows where to ask for help. |
| Proactive Problem Solving |
| We trust the ruthless pairs of eyes in our office to quickly identify inaccuracies in our content. Our team members are well-equipped to address potential issues and will do in the shortest possible time. |
| Continuous Learning |
| Our colleagues are encouraged to expand their skill sets, be up-to-date with the latest industry trends and develop best practices for all of their activities. We value curiosity and an open mind and reward initiative. |
| Accountability |
| Each team member takes responsibility for their work and quickly addresses any potential errors. We aim to create a drama-free workspace, where people are not anxious about admitting to their mistakes and taking the steps to correct them as quick and effortlessly as possible. |
These expectations are well-known and frequently referenced in our internal communications, to the point where we’re proud to say they represent every aspect of our work.
Our Editorial Process, Created for Casino Freaks
To sum up, the content we publish on CasinoFreak is the subject of a meticulous creation and quality assurance process. We are rigid regarding the sources we use and rely on very strict criteria for writing and polishing our work.
These criteria include complete authenticity and originality, profound respect and care towards our readers, and a certain determination to speak our truth and stand out from the crowd.
We value our community and consider their interests above anything else at each step of the way. Our goal is to create a safe space where people who share our passion can get help, feel seen and find truthful and reliable partners in us.