Philippa Marchbank

Terms editor · Bristol

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I read the terms behind every offer on this page, the part most comparison sites skip.

I spent nine years writing and checking consumer contracts in Bristol: mobile tariffs, gym memberships, the kind of small print most people sign without reading. The job was to find the clause that quietly undoes the headline, and to say it in a sentence anyone could follow. Casino welcome offers are built the same way, which is why I ended up checking them.

A bonus headline tells you the size of the prize. The terms tell you what it costs to collect it. The figure that matters most is the wagering requirement, how many times you have to play the bonus through before you can withdraw anything, and it is rarely next to the headline. So on this page I put it next to every offer, taken from the operator's own terms, along with the minimum deposit and anything else that changes what the offer is worth.

Where an operator publishes two figures that disagree, I say so rather than picking the friendlier one. Where a figure is not published at all, the slot stays empty. I would rather leave a gap than fill it with a guess that reads like a fact.

I do not think offshore casinos are for everyone, and I think anyone who has self-excluded through GamStop should stay away from them. If you use them anyway, read the terms first. That is the one habit this page is trying to make easier.

If something on the page is out of date or wrong, write to me at letters@thehatboxoxford.com and I will check it against the operator's terms.