How each rating is worked out

The rating gives the most weight to what can be checked against a public record: whether an operator's licence appears on the regulator's register, and whether the terms behind any offer are stated plainly enough for a reader to verify them independently. Only after those checks does the rating weigh softer factors, like how clearly a site presents its information. A licence that cannot be verified, or an offer whose terms are unclear, counts against an operator more than anything else, because a claim a reader cannot confirm is worth less than one they can check themselves. The profile behind these weights is published and applied the same way to every operator listed here.