How each rating is worked out

The heaviest factor here is licensing status: whether the operator holds a current entry on the UK Gambling Commission's public register, since that is what brings enforceable obligations around fund protection, fair-terms disclosure and dispute handling into force. A licence held is treated as more significant than any other single factor on this page, because it is the one condition a reader can verify independently rather than take on trust. Where terms and player protections are documented and traceable to a source, that also carries meaningful weight, ahead of presentation or convenience. Holding a licence is not scored as a guarantee of good conduct; it is scored as the precondition that makes every other claim about an operator checkable at all. Readers are encouraged to confirm current status directly on the regulator's register rather than rely on this page's summary of it.