We’re a small, UK-based editorial team with one straightforward purpose: to give gamblers honest, well-researched information they can actually rely on. No casino partnerships. No referral deals. No commissions quietly shaping what we recommend. Just two people who know this industry inside out, writing content they’d want to read themselves.
1. Who We Are
Independent Online Casinos UK was founded in 2021 out of frustration. Both of us had spent years reading casino review sites that claimed to be independent while pushing the same ten platforms on every page, always ranked conveniently in the order that maximised their affiliate revenue. We knew how the industry worked. We also knew players deserved better.
We are James Whitfield and Sarah Okafor. Between us, we bring over two decades of experience covering the UK and European gambling markets — from regulatory changes and licensing shifts to player protection policy and the practical realities of depositing, playing, and withdrawing on real platforms. We test everything ourselves. We fund our own accounts, place our own bets, and report what we find without softening the edges to protect a commercial relationship we don’t have.
We are not a media company. We are not owned by a casino group. We have never accepted payment from an operator in exchange for editorial coverage, and we never will. Our running costs are covered independently, which gives us the freedom to tell the truth — including when the truth is that a casino you’ve heard a lot about isn’t as good as it’s marketed to be.
2. Meet the Team
James Whitfield – Co-Founder and Lead Casino Analyst
James has been reviewing online casinos professionally since 2013. He started out writing for a mid-sized UK gambling publication before growing increasingly uncomfortable with the editorial compromises that came with affiliate-driven revenue models. In 2021 he co-founded this site to do things differently.
His background is in regulatory compliance and player protection, which shapes how he approaches every review. James doesn’t just look at bonus offers and game counts — he digs into licence verifications, reads the full terms and conditions, and tests responsible gambling tools as a standard part of every evaluation. He’s the one who will spend four hours on a withdrawal test that any other reviewer would skip because the headline numbers looked fine.
James covers casino and sportsbook reviews, licensing analysis, and regulatory news. When he’s not testing platforms, he consults independently on responsible gambling tool implementation for smaller operators — work that keeps him closely connected to how the industry actually functions beneath the marketing surface.
Sarah Okafor – Co-Founder and Player Experience Editor
Sarah’s background is in consumer journalism. She spent eight years writing financial and consumer protection content for national UK publications before turning her focus entirely to the gambling sector, an area she felt was dramatically underserved by genuinely independent editorial voices.
Her focus is the player experience side of the equation: how easy is registration really? How does support actually behave when something goes wrong? Are the bonus terms as clear in practice as they appear in the promotional copy? Sarah approaches every platform from the position of an ordinary player who doesn’t already know the answers — which consistently surfaces details that purely technical reviews miss.
She leads the site’s responsible gambling content, writes our guides and explainers, and edits everything we publish for clarity and accuracy. She also manages correspondence with readers, because understanding what real players are experiencing and asking about directly shapes the questions we ask when we test.
3. Our Mission
Our mission is simple to state and genuinely difficult to maintain: publish gambling content that serves the reader, not the industry.
This means covering platforms that pay us nothing alongside platforms that might theoretically pay us well if we chose to monetise differently. It means publishing critical reviews of casinos with strong marketing budgets and positive reviews of smaller platforms that have no promotional presence at all. It means updating our ratings when a casino’s quality declines, even when that’s inconvenient for everyone except the players relying on the information.
We also take our responsibility around safer gambling seriously. We include responsible gambling information in every review we publish. We link to free support resources throughout the site. We do not write content designed to encourage gambling — we write content designed to inform people who have already chosen to gamble. That distinction matters to us and it shapes every editorial decision we make.
4. Our Independence Policy
We operate under a strict independence policy that covers every aspect of how we work. We do not accept sponsored content. We do not enter into affiliate or referral agreements with casinos, payment providers, or software studios. We do not accept free play credits, promotional bonuses, or any other form of operator-funded benefit in place of funding our own testing. We do not allow operators to preview, approve, or request changes to reviews before publication.
If an operator contacts us to challenge factual inaccuracies in a review, we investigate and correct errors where they exist. We do not alter assessments or ratings in response to commercial pressure or reputational complaints unsupported by evidence.
Our site has no investor relationships with gambling operators and accepts no advertising from the gambling industry. We are entirely funded by the people running it, which keeps our editorial output answerable only to the readers using it.
5. Get in Touch
If you have a question about a casino we’ve reviewed, have experienced something that conflicts with what we’ve written, or want to flag a platform you think we should look at, we want to hear from you. Reader experience is a genuine part of how we stay current and accurate. You can reach us through the contact page — we read everything that comes in.
What we don’t do: accept submissions from operators, entertain requests to amend or remove reviews, or engage with marketing pitches of any kind. For everything else, the door is open.
Lead Casino Analyst
With over 5 years of experience in iGaming, our lead analyst oversees all casino reviews and ensures every recommendation meets our strict quality standards. They have personally tested hundreds of online casinos with real deposits.
Senior Bonus Reviewer
Our bonus specialist analyses the fine print so you don't have to. From wagering requirements to game contributions, they break down every bonus offer to help you find the best value for your money at independent UK casinos.