Editorial policy

What this editorial policy covers

This policy applies to every page published by the Best USA Casinos team: casino reviews, state guides, slot and game pages, bonus and banking explainers, laws, questions, the glossary and the responsible-gambling section. It sets the rules for where facts come from, how they're checked, how we write about the law and offers, and what happens when we get something wrong.

It sits alongside two related pages. How we rate casinos explains the criteria applied to each casino review, and the advertiser disclosure explains how we earn money.

Sourcing: primary sources first

We use published sources only, and we prefer the source closest to the fact. For the law, that means the statute or the regulator's own release rather than a news story about it. For a casino's bonus, it means the casino's own terms rather than a review site's summary.

1. State regulators and statutes: gaming control boards, attorneys general and the statute text itself.
2. Federal sources: congress.gov, justice.gov, Cornell's Legal Information Institute and the IRS, for laws such as the Wire Act and UIGEA and for gambling taxes.
3. Help organizations: the National Council on Problem Gambling for helpline details.
4. Casinos' own pages: terms and conditions, bonus terms, banking and responsible-gaming pages.
5. Third-party sources: review sites and trade press, used only when no primary source is available, and always labeled.

How we fact-check a page

Before a page is published, and again whenever it's updated, its facts go through the same checks.

1. Every figure is matched to a named source and a check date. A figure with no source doesn't go on the page.
2. Primary sources are checked directly where they can be reached. Where a casino's site can't be checked, the figure is marked as reported.
3. Conflicts are recorded, not resolved by choosing the more flattering number. If a casino's offer page says 30x and its terms say 40x, the page says both.
4. Dollar examples are recalculated from the published figures, and the arithmetic is shown so readers can follow it.
5. Legal statements are checked against the statute or regulator release, including dates and effective dates.
6. Pages are checked for banned claims: no legal or licensed claims for offshore casinos, no invented experience and no language promising wins.

We never invent RTPs, payout times, license numbers, ratings, user reviews, game counts, bonus codes, dates or quotes. Where something isn't published, the page says so.

How we write about the law and offers

We never describe our partner casinos as legal, US-licensed or state-regulated, because no US state licenses them. We report what each state's law and regulator say, with dates. We don't tell readers it's lawful for them to play offshore, and we don't tell them they'll be prosecuted. We never suggest ways around a state ban, a casino's restrictions or identity checks.

Wherever an offer appears, we state it as supplied for our link, mark it for new players, 21+ (18+ where allowed), say that terms apply, and give the key published terms, such as wagering, max cashout and minimum deposit, nearby. We show no offers on our Michigan, Oklahoma and Washington pages. Our offshore casinos legality page sets out the wider picture.

Research and writing tools

Pages are prepared by the Best USA Casinos team using research and writing tools, which can include AI language tools for gathering sources and drafting text. Tools don't decide what's true. Every figure, date and legal statement on a published page is checked against the source it came from, and the same rules apply however a draft was produced.

In practice, that means a tool-assisted draft goes through the same fact-checking steps above, the same banned-claims check and the same source labels. If a tool produces a figure we can't trace to a source, it's removed.

Links policy: sponsored, editorial and outbound

• Affiliate links appear only for our seven partners, and never on responsible-gambling pages.
• We never link to the sites of non-partner casinos we review.
• We never link to unofficial mirror sites, which copy a casino's branding on another domain; see casino mirror sites.
• Outbound links go to the most authoritative source available, and we list the sources a page relied on.

Responsible-gambling standards

Our content is for adults aged 21 and over (18 and over only where the law allows). We present gambling as entertainment that costs money, and where it fits we explain that the house edge means losses are likely over time.

• Helpline: we give the National Problem Gambling Helpline, run by NCPG, as 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), with call, text and chat. We don't present 1-800-GAMBLER as the national number.
• No targeting of minors: no youth slang, cartoon framing or content likely to appeal more to under-21s than adults.
• No promises of winning: we don't describe any bet as certain, present betting systems such as Martingale as working, or suggest slots are "due".
• No pressure: no urgency, no countdowns and no encouragement to chase losses or play longer.
• Tools presented positively: deposit limits, cool-offs, self-exclusion and blocking software such as Gamban and BetBlocker.
• No promotion in the help section: pages in our responsible gambling hub carry no offers.

Update cadence

Every page shows a last-checked date. Updates are driven by change rather than by a fixed calendar, and we run checks in rounds across related pages so a fact is never fresh on one page and stale on another. The current round was completed on October 28, 2026.

Corrections policy

When we learn that a fact is wrong or out of date, we correct the page, fix any other page that repeats the fact and update the check date. Where a change matters to readers, such as a different wagering requirement or a new state law, the page says what changed. We don't quietly rewrite history on a regulator action or legal status.

You can report an error through our contact page. Please include the page address and a link to the source that shows the correct information. Our editorial team page explains who reviews these reports.

Independence from advertisers

Partner casinos pay us commission, and that sets their order on our lists, which we disclose. It doesn't buy coverage. No partner sees or approves a page before it's published, and regulator actions and weak points are reported on partners' own reviews. For example, the Michigan Gaming Control Board's October 8, 2026 cease-and-desist release (opens in a new tab) naming SlotoCash is on the SlotoCash review, though it is first in our order.

21+ (18+ where allowed). Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: responsible gambling tools and free help. Gambling problem? Call or text 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738).