How We Review: What a Fairness Desk Can and Cannot Check
FAIRPLAY is an independent desk for published game facts, not a casino. No deposits, no balances, no cashier. Because this site talks about fairness, it has to be unusually clear about one distinction: a certified game and a trustworthy operator are two different questions, and only one of them can be checked from a specification sheet. Here is our method and its limits. No scores anywhere. We also run no games. 21+.
The two questions, kept apart
A game's return percentage and random number generator are tested by a laboratory and apply to the game. Whether the company running it will verify your documents fairly and pay your withdrawal is a question about the company. A perfectly certified slot can sit in a lobby belonging to an operator you should avoid, which is why we never treat game certification as a safety signal about a brand.
The criteria we apply
| Criterion | What counts as evidence | Where our knowledge stops |
|---|---|---|
| Licence disclosure | A legal company name on site, matched to the regulator's published list | We can match a name, not audit a licence |
| Published game information | Whether RTP and rules are visible in the game's own info panel | We cannot verify a figure an operator does not publish |
| Payment rails | Methods and rails named on the cashier page | Timings, fees and minimums, which the operator sets |
| Terms clarity | Bonus and cashier rules on a public page rather than in chat | How they are applied in a dispute |
| KYC rules | Which documents are requested, and at which step | Stated policy, not practice |
| Complaint route | A named escalation path beyond a chat widget | Whether it answers |
| Responsible-gaming tools | Limits, cooling-off and self-exclusion, and where they sit | Whether requests are honoured promptly |
| App distribution | Whether a hand install is pushed and the risk described honestly | Nothing; fully checkable |
What no guide can verify
- Payout speed. With no account, any figure would be a rumour.
- Fees and minimums, which the operator sets and may change.
- Whether your specific withdrawal will be approved.
- Whether a lobby's displayed RTP matches the build actually running.
- Anything about an individual account, document or balance.
Where a number is operator-specific, our pages say precisely that: it is set by the operator, so check its cashier page or the game's own info panel.
Our refusals
- No scores, stars or rankings.
- No suggestion that we deposited, played or withdrew anywhere, because we did not.
- No invented authors or credentials.
- No payout time, licence number, bonus figure or player total without a public source.
- No RTP figure we cannot attribute to a published source.
- No installer files, download links or mirrors, and no systems or predictions.
Partner links and wording
Some outbound links may be partner links, meaning the site can earn a commission if a reader opens an account after following one. You should know that and weigh it. What it never buys is wording: no payment, offered or received, changes a sentence here, placement is not for sale, and a warning is never removed on request.
On a fairness desk this matters doubly. A site that publishes a number has to be the kind of site that would publish an inconvenient one, or the numbers are worthless.
Corrections
Pages carry published and modified dates. We revise when a published figure changes, when a reader shows us an error, or when rules shift. If a claim cannot be sourced, we describe where it could be checked rather than printing it.
What we cannot do
We cannot open, verify, fund, freeze or close an account, release a payout, reverse a loss, adjust a game, or look up a transaction. We have no agents and no support line, so a message in our name is not from us. Gambling is for adults 21 and over, and the tools on our responsible gaming page are easier to set before they are needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a certified game mean a safe casino?
No, and conflating the two is the most common mistake we see. Certification is about the game's maths. Payment and conduct are about the company, and they are checked differently.
Where do your RTP figures come from?
Published sources, including the game's own information panel. Where a figure is not published, we say so rather than estimating.
Why are there no ratings?
Because a score implies certainty about an operator's behaviour that no outside desk has.
Do your links earn money?
Some may be partner links. No payment changes our wording, and every claim is checkable without us.
Can you tell me if a game is rigged?
We cannot inspect a running build. What we can do is point you to the published figures and the complaint route, and tell you plainly when something is unverifiable.