The short version
Online Casino Fans pays its bills with commissions from casino affiliate programmes. Each time a visitor clicks through from our pages and opens a casino account, a referral fee may be due to us. The reader is not charged for this, and the welcome package on offer is identical to the one shown to visitors arriving any other way.
Spotting a commercial link
Our commercial links route through an internal address shaped like /go/brand-name; the Play and Visit buttons in rankings and reviews work this way, and they carry a rel="sponsored" tag. Outbound links to AGCO, the iGaming Ontario register, game studios, payment brands or helplines earn nothing.
Where the money comes from
Each casino programme sets its own deal. Revenue-share contracts give us a slice of the casino's net take from referred players for the lifetime of the contract. Under CPA, a single payment follows a referred player's first qualifying deposit. Hybrid deals mix the two. Rates live in private contracts and are not published.
Revenue share creates an obvious tension: the site benefits when referred players lose. Naming that tension is the first step in managing it, and it is why our reviews put wagering, cash-out caps and responsible-gambling tools in plain view instead of in small print.
Behind a /go/ click
Our server answers the click, writes mozbiz_session plus XSRF-TOKEN, both gone within 20 hours, so the visit is tallied and nobody can hijack the hop, then hands your browser over to the operator carrying nothing but an anonymous reference number. Names, emails and phone numbers never pass through us; anything typed into a casino's forms stays with that casino. Our Cookie policy names each of them.
Not for sale
- review copy — no casino previews or signs off on our text;
- ranking slots — positions come from our scoring, never from the commission rate;
- omissions — payout delays, tricky terms and unresolved complaints remain in print;
- fake praise — no made-up testimonials, no flawless ten-out-of-ten scores.
A worked example
Say you open a review, press Play and arrive at the casino via /go/. Our server records the click and passes you on in a fraction of a second. If you then sign up and fund the account, the casino's affiliate platform credits the referral to us. Under a CPA deal the fee is the same whatever you deposit; under revenue share it depends on what the casino earns from your play during the contract. Either way, your bonus, limits and terms are exactly those any other new customer receives.
What the commissions fund
Hosting, real-money test accounts used to check withdrawals, writers' fees and the constant re-checking of terms. Visitors are never billed anything and no paywall exists; likewise, buying a review into print or a complaint out of it is impossible for any casino, at any price. When income dips we review fewer brands rather than review them less carefully.
Two desks
Reviewers write and score; the publisher signs and manages affiliate contracts. Reviewers earn no bonus per referral and do not see what any brand pays. A brand with no affiliate deal at all is scored by the same rubric as a partner and can outrank it.
Ending a deal
When a programme closes, a brand withdraws from Canada or its licence lapses, the commercial link comes off and the review is refreshed or retired. Ending a contract does not knock a casino out of our rankings, and signing one does not put it back in.
Exclusive codes
Now and then a casino offers our readers a dedicated code or a bigger package than its standard one. Such deals appear only with their full playthrough terms and a note that they come through a partnership, and they add nothing to the brand's score.
Licensing caveat
Brands we partner with may hold a licence from outside Canada and lack AGCO registration or an iGaming Ontario agreement. Paying affiliates does not make a brand legal in your province or trustworthy. Ontario players should look the brand up in the iGaming Ontario register first.
Get in touch
Found a link that lands in the wrong place, or a review that reads as if a commission wrote it? Send the page link to [email protected]. Online Casino Fans is published by Saraqel Media Labs FZ-LLC, Shatha Tower, Dubai Media City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.