The Mayfair Index
A 0 to 100 score for every casino operator we review, weighted the way a London regular weights them. Withdrawal speed first. VIP programme depth second. Headline bonus last.
Why we built our own index
You can't compare a UKGC casino to a Curacao crypto book on a single five-star scale and have it mean anything. The licensing compact is different, the recourse is different, the payment surface is different. The Mayfair Index is our attempt to put every operator on the same axis without pretending the jurisdictional gap doesn't exist. The base score reflects how good the product is. The trust modifier reflects how much the regulator actually has your back if something goes wrong.
It's also a calmer alternative to the five-star ratings you'll see at most affiliate sites. Five stars compresses a lot of detail into one number, and most casinos cluster between 4.2 and 4.8 because reviewers don't want to look harsh. We score the eight dimensions out of five internally, but the published Mayfair Index spreads operators across a wider range, so the differences are legible.
The eight dimensions
Every operator gets a sub-score from 0 to 5 on each of these. They're combined with the published weights to produce the base index out of 100.
| Dimension | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Withdrawal speed | 22% | Median verified withdrawal time on the tester's account, by bank transfer for UK operators and by crypto for offshore. Penalties apply if KYC is repeatedly re-requested. |
| VIP programme | 20% | Visible tier ladder, comp value, host access, fast-track KYC, deposit and withdrawal limits at the top of the ladder. |
| Live dealer | 14% | Studio integrations (Evolution, Playtech, Pragmatic Live, Ezugi), table count, blackjack rule quality, French roulette presence. |
| Game variety | 12% | Provider count, slot catalogue depth, table-game floor, scratch and specialty. |
| Payments | 10% | Deposit and withdrawal method count, fee transparency, fee absorption by the operator, processing-time honesty. |
| Mobile | 8% | App availability and quality on iOS and Android, mobile web parity, deposit flow on small screens. |
| Support | 8% | Live chat hours, agent quality on a real test ticket, complaints handling, ADR cover. |
| Bonus | 6% | Welcome offer headline size, wagering, max-win cap, game weighting, expiry, fairness of terms. |
The trust modifier
Once we've calculated the base score out of 100, we apply a small modifier for jurisdiction and account structure. This is where the licensing compact does the work.
| Signal | Modifier | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| UKGC licence | +6.0 | UK Alternative Dispute Resolution, GAMSTOP self-exclusion, customer-funds disclosure, advertising rules. If the casino mishandles your withdrawal, you have a real recourse path. |
| US sweepstakes (state-legal) | +2.0 | State sweepstakes law plus NCPG cover. Not as strong as UKGC, but better than offshore. |
| Offshore (Curacao, Anjouan, MGA) | +0.0 | The base score has to stand on its own. Some offshore books are excellent at the operational level. The protection envelope is thinner. |
| Fast-track KYC for high net worth | +1.5 | For readers playing at the deposit ceiling, the friction of repeated KYC during a withdrawal is the single biggest pain point. We reward operators who solve it upfront. |
| Dedicated host on the VIP ladder | +1.0 | Named human contact when something goes wrong is worth more than a four-tier ladder of bonus points. |
Modifiers are additive and the final score is capped at 100. They are not retroactive: when an operator loses fast-track KYC on a tester's account, the score drops the following refresh.
The grade bands
Every Mayfair Index score also carries a grade. The grades make the index legible at a glance and stop readers from over-reading a 0.4-point gap.
| Grade | Score range | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Mayfair First | 90 to 99 | The operators we'd open an account with first. Verified withdrawals, strong VIP cover, transparent terms. |
| Mayfair Standard | 84 to 89.9 | The recommended shelf. Everything works. Nothing's broken. The differences with the top band are small and usually preference-driven. |
| Recommended | 78 to 83.9 | Solid choices with one or two known caveats. Read the review before signing up; the caveat may not apply to you. |
| Floor Pass | 70 to 77.9 | Acceptable on the product side, but with structural caveats (slow withdrawal, thin VIP, narrow payment methods) that mean we wouldn't recommend them to a friend. |
| Watchlist | Below 70 | Not currently recommended. Reasons are detailed in the review. |
What the index doesn't measure
The index doesn't measure raw bonus size, because raw bonus size has nothing to do with the value of the offer once wagering, max-win, and game weighting are applied. Our offers page handles that separately, and our T&Cs decoder shows you what each individual offer is actually worth.
It doesn't measure RTP, because RTP is set by the game studio, not by the operator. Where we can verify a published sitewide RTP audit we cite it inside the review. Where we can't, we say so.
It doesn't measure marketing volume or sponsorship spend, because neither tells you anything useful about whether the operator pays out.
How we refresh the score
The full index recomputes monthly. An individual operator's score can move sooner if any of the following happens: a verified withdrawal slowdown on a tester's account, a change in the published VIP terms, a change in licensing status, a change in payment methods, or a documented complaint pattern. Every score change is logged with a date stamp and a reason on the operator changelog. We don't backdate.
The leaderboard
Live scores for every operator we review sit on the Mayfair Index leaderboard, filterable by jurisdiction. The leaderboard is the canonical surface for the index. The badge on each individual review is a snapshot of that operator's current score, with a link back to the leaderboard.