Methodology: how we score bookmakers from 0 to 10

Who gets into the atlas

A bookmaker has a file in the atlas only if both of these are true:

1. its operating company appears on the GRAI public register with the activity Remote Betting; and
2. the website our link leads to states that GRAI licence for customers in Ireland, in its footer or terms. We read that statement from a browser with an Irish IP address and record the quote and the date in the operator file.

The second test exists because the register does not publish web addresses: in the download we read on 3 October 2026, the Domain Names field was empty for every licence holder. The bookmaker’s own statement is what connects a website to a licence.

Being on the register is necessary, not sufficient. That download listed 32 Remote Betting licences, 3 Remote Betting Intermediary licences (betting exchanges) and 1 in-person betting licence; the atlas has eight operator files. We add files in stages, and commercial relationships can affect which licence holders we cover (see Advertising disclosure). They never affect the facts or the score of a bookmaker we do cover.

Betting exchanges hold a different licence and work differently; they are explained in Betting exchanges and bookmakers but are not scored here.

The six criteria and their weights

Every bookmaker in the atlas is scored on the same six criteria. Each criterion gets a score from 0 to 10 in steps of 0.5. The weights are fixed and are the same for every bookmaker.

Pricing is not scored yet, because we do not yet have a dated sample of prices to compare. Until we do, its 10% is left out and the other five weights are scaled up so that they add up to 100% (each is divided by 90%).

Licence & register

Weight 30%. This is the largest part of the score because a licence is the one thing a reader cannot safely assume. We check the register entry (activity, licence number, issue and expiry dates), whether the bookmaker’s site for Ireland states the licence, whether its Irish terms are current, and any regulatory action taken against the company.

• 10 — everything above is confirmed, and the Irish terms carry a version number and a date after 1 July 2026.
• −2 — the terms still refer to a Revenue bookmaker’s licence. Those licences expired on 30 June 2026; since 1 July 2026 the GRAI licence is the one that counts.
• −1 to −3 — a recent sanction against the company by a regulator or advertising authority (for example the UK Gambling Commission or the Advertising Standards Authority), recorded with its date. The deduction depends on how recent and how serious it is.

Safer-betting tools

Weight 20%. We look for deposit limits and how long an increase takes to apply, time-outs, self-exclusion, reality checks, clear instructions for switching each one on, and any extra measures the bookmaker publishes, such as lower limits for younger customers.

Some of these are legal obligations for every GRAI licence holder, so we do not treat their existence as a selling point. What we score is how complete the set is and how clearly the bookmaker explains it.

• 10 — the full set, with published timings.
• −2 — no reality check.
• −1 — a limit increase applies without any waiting period.

Payments & withdrawal terms

Weight 15%. We record the payment methods available in euro (debit cards, Revolut, Pay by Bank, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and others), published minimum amounts, the steps of a withdrawal, the timings the bookmaker states, any fees, and when identity checks happen. GRAI licence holders may not accept credit cards, so we do not list them.

We do not time withdrawals ourselves. Every timing in the atlas is written “as stated by” the bookmaker, with the page and the date. The guide Paying in and withdrawing explains the terms.

• 10 — methods, minimums, steps, timings and fees are all published.
• 5 — methods are published, timings are not.
• 2–3 — no payment methods on pages open to the public.

Market coverage

Weight 15%. We count the groups of sports a bookmaker shows on its site for Ireland: Irish and UK horse racing, GAA (Gaelic football and hurling), League of Ireland football, rugby, and other sports. A group counts only if we can see it in the site’s menu or on its pages for Ireland. The score follows the number of confirmed groups.

We do not score individual events, prices or in-play features here, and we never publish odds for future events.

Pricing

Weight 10%. Pricing is meant to measure the bookmaker’s margin (the overround): how far the implied probabilities across every outcome of one market exceed 100%. A fair comparison needs the same markets, read at the same time, from every bookmaker in the atlas.

Pricing is not scored yet. We do not have that dated sample, and we will not estimate one. Until we do, operator files show Pricing as “not scored yet” and the weight is redistributed as described above. When we start, we will publish the sample date and the markets used. How margin works is explained in Bookmaker margins.

Support & complaints

Weight 10%. We record the contact channels and their hours, whether there is a phone line for Ireland, how to make a complaint, any alternative dispute resolution service named in the terms, and the deadline the bookmaker sets for its final response.

• 10 — channels, hours, the dispute service and the response deadline are all published.
• Lower scores — for each of those items we could not find on the bookmaker’s pages.

The route itself is explained in Complaints about a bookmaker.

How the score is calculated

The atlas score is the weighted sum of the criterion scores, rounded to one decimal place. If a criterion is not scored, its weight is removed and the sum is divided by the weights that remain. If no criterion has been scored yet, the file shows “score pending” instead of a number.

Here is the calculation for a fictional bookmaker. The numbers are an illustration, not a score of any real company.

The weighted scores add up to 6.90. Because Pricing is not scored, that sum is divided by 0.90 (the 90% of weight that was scored), which gives 7.67. Rounded, the atlas score is 7.7 out of 10.

Sources and dates

• The GRAI register — licence holder, number, activity, issue and expiry dates, trading names (grai.ie/register). The register page itself showed “Last updated” 21 September 2026 when we read it on 3 October 2026.
• The bookmaker’s site for Ireland, read from an Irish IP address — the footer, the terms and conditions, the help centre and the safer-gambling pages.
• Regulators and advertising authorities — published decisions and settlements, with their dates.

Every fact that comes from a bookmaker is attributed to it (“as stated by …”) and dated. We do not use affiliate programme materials, press releases from bookmakers or customer reviews as sources for scores.

When a fact cannot be confirmed

If we cannot find a fact on the bookmaker’s public pages for Ireland, the file says “we could not confirm” rather than guessing. For scoring, an unconfirmed item counts as not published.

A bookmaker or a reader can send us the page that confirms it. Once we have read it ourselves, we update the file, the date and, where it applies, the score.

How often we re-check

We re-check every bookmaker in the atlas against the GRAI register at least once a month. A team member reviews the register every one to two weeks, and an automated comparison runs daily and flags any change.

If a licence in the atlas is no longer active on the register, the bookmaker’s links are removed at once and the change is logged on Register changes. Operator pages are re-read whenever a file is re-scored or a change is reported to us. The register check date shown across the site is currently 4 October 2026.

What never affects a score

• Commission or any other payment from a bookmaker, and whether we have a commercial agreement with it.
• Where a bookmaker appears in the links above the footer.
• Promotional offers. We do not publish them at all.
• App-store ratings, social-media following, sponsorships or advertising spend.
• Requests from bookmakers to change a score. A bookmaker can send us facts; the facts are checked and scored like any others.

The weights on this page change only if we change the methodology for every bookmaker at once. If that happens, this page will show the new date and what changed.