The bookmakers are rated from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest rating. The overall rating of the bookmakers is based on ratings in the following dimensions:

• Financial
• Service
• Odds Payout
• Money Transaction
• Betting Selection
• Site Statistics

The bonus dimension is not included in the overall rating. The reason is that only new customers are eligible for these offers and only once. Therefore we have excluded this dimension, as it does not give a correct long term rating of each company. Furthermore, these bonus offers sometimes depend on which country the customer comes from.

The principle behind indexed rating is very important to understand. The indexed rating displays the exact value of a bookmaker rating relative to other bookmakers.

Calculation of the indexed bookmaker ratings follows the principle where 10 percent of the bookmakers will get a 10, 10 percent of the bookmakers will get a 9 and so forth. The score will go from 1-10. So if a bookmaker gets the rating 10, the user knows that the bookmaker belongs to the top 10 percent of bookmakers in the market. The rating 9 is given to the best 80%-90% best performances etc.

14 companies are listen in the table, each have a data observation in the second column. Let´s say that a high value gives a high rating. The data  observation numbers are fictive and only serve to illustrate the point.

The rating points are given from bottom and up – eg there are here 14 observations, so the points 10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1 are given for the ten first companies and 1+2+3+4 is given for the last four, making it 14 characters in total.  So we now know that because we have 14 companies there will be given one rating of: 10,9,8,7,6,5 and two ratings of 4,3,2 and 1.

The trick is now to give the two lowest observation a rating 1, the following two observations a rating 2 etc.

The rating observation 3.5 is given because company 3 & 4 have the same data observation and should be given a rating 3 and a rating 4 among them. Therefore these are given the average rating of 3.5.

For the user to know the value of each rating is it important to have a clear understanding of the difference between the two rating methods.

Average Rating for a bookmaker is a simple average of ratings given to a bookmaker in the following dimensions:

• Financial
• Service
• Odds Payout
• Money Transaction
• Betting Selection
• Site Statistics

BMR Rating is based on the average rating of the six dimensions but where the information is indexed after our rating system. Where the top 10 percent in the average rating will get a 10, the next 10 percent in the top will get a 9 and so forth. Both measurements are listed to give you, as a user, the best picture of the bookmaker as possible. By looking at the average rating you can get a quick impression as to how the bookmaker performs in the six dimensions. Whereas the BMR rating gives you information as to how the performance is compared to the other bookmakers. 

When the data observations are close the rating difference might give you as a user the impression that there is a huges gap between two companies. We will illustrate this point with an example:

The point is that our rating system does not show the relative difference between the data observed into consideration. The rating system only shows the size of the data observed. So in the example above there is not a great difference between Company 1 and Company 2, but the difference if you only consider the rating is large. The web site allows you to explore the details behind our rating to enable you to make your own conclusions.

The purpose of this dimension is to provide valuable information about the bookmaker’s financial situation. The financial information is most often disclosed by the bookmakers. For this reason the rating of the bookmakers are split into the following three groups: 

1 The companies that are listed on the stock exchange.

2 The companies that are privately owned but who send out yearly financial

   reports.

3 Companies where there is no information available for the public about their financial status.

The last group is the most difficult to give a correct picture of their financial security. This is because no financial reports are made public, so there is no information about the company revenue, company equity or even how many customers the companies have. The rating is therefore based on so called proxies. This is measurable data that gives an indication of the company performance and financial security. 

The proxies are:

• Incorporation Since; The date of incorporation, that is when the company legally was founded. A high rating is given to the company that has been incorporated for the longest time. The rationale behind this is that a company with a long history has demonstrated it's commitment to pay winnings to the customers. Furthermore the company has established a steady income from loyal customers and hence are less likely to go bankrupt. If a bookmaker is acquired by another company this changes the incorporated since date to the acquiring company's incorporated since date. A high rating is given to the company that has been in business the longest. If a company owns several betting brands the first company incorporated date is used to rate the company as a whole.
• Traffic Ranking: Bookmakers make money by offering bets with a theoretical payout of less than 100%. We do not have access to the company revenue or the number of active users, but a reasonable assumption is that with more traffic larger revenue follows. If a company owns several betting brands the combined estimated traffic is used to rate the company as a whole.
• Other Review Site Ratings: We are not the only review site on the Internet. We have identified a number of other respectable review sites. The main downfall with these sites are that they do not offer much transparency about how they have reached their ratings. This makes it difficult to ensure that the rating is unbiased. The inclusion of this factor in our rating should be seen as a second opinion. The transparency on our web site would always insure that you can see why our rating differs from other review sites. All review sites, BMR included, have the same mission: to prevent customers from choosing rogue companies. The main difference is that our product allows the user to find the company that suits his or her preferences. If a company owns several betting brands the average rating is used to rate the company as a whole.

• These three factors counts equally towards the financial security rating for group 3 companies (no financial reports available).
  

Companies that are listed on a stock exchange or companies that make their yearly financial report public are always rated above companies that are rated upon the mentioned proxies. The reason for this is the transparency that these companies offer. Every day a company listed on a stock exchange is evaluated by thousands of investors. The result is a stock price which theoretically contains all information available about this company. Furthermore stock prices reflect the future expectations of the performance of the company. These companies are therefore very transparent, both because of their financial reports that must be made public every year but also because these companies are obligated to make press releases whenever an event occurs that will affect the shareholders of the company. The rating is based on the stock value.

Privately owned companies that send out financial reports do not have the same openness as listed companies. However - all other factors equal - the financial reports do provide a better view of their business than other companies. The rating is based on an approximated stock value. This is calculated by estimating how large a marked value the company would have if it was listed on the stock exchange.

The companies listed on bookmakerreviews.com (May 2008) do not represent a random pick of all the 1200 sports bookmakers on the Internet. Most companies are well respected and managed by  a skilled management.

Unfortunately we cannot predict if a company will go bankrupt. Even the largest companies have a risk of bankruptcy. But we will do our utmost to provide you with the best possible information about every company.

This dimension provides you with an indepth knowledge about the bookmakers out there. Some bookmakers might think otherwise but in our view a bet is a bet. If the odds are the same, then it does not matter if you wager at one company or the other. But what does indeed matter is that your money is safe.  

In general the financial rating should and is continually updated; we have daily routines where we scan the Internet for information that could affect this rating. This could be financial news that affects the whole industry or forum threads where a customer has been badly treated by a bookmaker.

Companies listed on the stock exchange are monitored every day. If there are any events that have affected the stock price significantly we will inform you about this. Otherwise the marked value will be updated once a month.

The rating for companies that are privately owned but with public financial report will be updated when a new report is available. Other factors, estimated traffic, reviews from other review sites and general information gathered from financial news and other forums, are still observed to keep the rating as correct as possible.

Alexa, a company owned by Amazon.com, ranks all web sites. The traffic rank data is gathered every third month. The data from Alexa is based on a weighted average of the traffic observed the previous three months.  

The review given from other review sites is updated every month. Stock values will be updated every month if there in the preceding month have not been a significant change in the value.

You can see when the rating was last updated in the respective financial rating description.

A bonus is a method bookmakers use to give a new customer an incentive to try their product. These offers vary a lot, both in size and in which terms and conditions the bookmaker puts on these offers. 

This dimension is not included in the BMR Rating or the Average Rating calculation. The reason is that only new customers are eligible for these offers and only once. Therefore we have excluded this dimension in the total rating, as it does not give a correct long term rating of each company. Furthermore these bonus offers sometimes depend on which country the customer comes from.

The rating is based on the size of the expected value (EV) of the bonus offer. Expected Value is how much value in EURO you as a customer will receive when accepting a bonus offer from a company. The highest rating is given to the bookmaker with highest EV.

Most expected bonus values are negative. This does not mean that the bonus makes you loose money. If a bookmaker has a theoretical payout of 90 % it means that every time you wager €100 you will loose €10 in the long run. With a bonus, you will increase the theoretical payout. If the bonus Expected Value is positive it actually means the theoretical payout is above 100%. So all bonuses gives you value, compared to wagering without bonus.

The bonus rating makes it easy to find a company with a good bonus offer. The system makes it easy to see which bonus offer suites you. For example some people are not interested in free play whereas others only want bonus offers that exceed a certain amount. It is easy for different users to get a better picture of all bonus offers. In each bonus of description you will be able see all the details about the bonuses. Furthermore we have made an easy to follow guide of how to receive the bonus. Quite a lot of the information we have listed is not available in the bookmaker´s own description of their bonus offer.

The bonus rating makes it easy to find a company with a good bonus offer. The system makes it easy to see which bonus offer suites you. For example some people are not interested in free play whereas others only want bonus offers that exceed a certain amount. It is easy for different users to get a better picture of all bonus offers. In each bonus of description you will be able see all the details about the bonuses. Furthermore we have made an easy to follow guide of how to receive the bonus. Quite a lot of the information we have listed is not available in the bookmaker´s own description of their bonus offer.

The information is continually updated, but we have obligated ourselves to check all bonuses at least once a month. This means that we check for whether all the terms and conditions are the same as stated on our web site. This is to ensure that the information given on this website is up to date and that you can rely on the information given by us. You can see when the bonus was last updated in the respective bonus description. 

The rating of this dimension is based on both a rating of the range of transaction options each bookmaker offers and a rating of the fees incurred by a user when making a money transaction. The range of transaction options is the number of deposit and withdrawal options of each bookmaker.

Due to the various betting profiles at BMR with variety in bankroll, the fee incurred by a user may vary a lot. The calculation of the transaction fee is made with this variety in mind. It is based on a transaction scenario, where deposits and withdrawals are made with each of the following transaction methods, summing up to 10 calculation examples:

• NETeller
• MoneyBookers
• Bank Transfer
• VISA
• Mastercard 

The number and amount that is used for each deposit and withdrawal are the following 9 transactions:

               100 EURO

               100 EURO

               100 EURO

               500 EURO

               500 EURO

               500 EURO

            1.000 EURO

            1.000 EURO

            1.000 EURO

This gives a total of 10*9 = 90 transactions. The rating is based on an average of these 90 transactions, for each bookmaker.

The rating is based on an average observation of betting profiles with different use of payment methods and great variety in transaction amounts. For each of these betting profiles a different picture may show if we take his or her unique preferences into account.

The following policies and assumptions are behind the Money Transaction Rating 

• Observation and registration of the number of transactions has it's base from each bookmaker’s web page. Where information is missing or where the information is unclear, contact has been made to the bookmaker for further information.
• The Calculation of fee is based in the currency EURO or currency equivalent where an account in EURO is not possible.
• The calculation of fee is based on international transfers in situations where the fee is depends on geographical location.
• If fees depend on which account currency the customer chooses, EURO is chosen as the default currency.
• The Calculation of fee is as mentioned above based on 10 examples with 9 transactions each. If a bookmaker has 1 or 2 free withdrawals per month this will affect each of the 10 examples.
• For a bookmaker where first or second withdrawal in a month is free, these free withdrawals are used on transfer of 500 EURO in the calculation of fee example.
• Different Debit cards are summed to the category Debit Card, and hence counts as one transaction method. Some bookmakers have up to 12 different Debit Cards, which would make all other transaction methods count very little. In addition most debit cards are only available in certain countries.
• Credit Cards are summed to the category Credit Card. The same argument applies as for Debit Cards though there are not many different Credit Cards.
• Different forms of Checks are collected under one category Check. This goes for Bank Draft, Personal Cheque, Cashiers Cheque and so on.
• All forms of Bank Transfers are collected under one and count as one in number of transaction methods.
• The calculation does not take into account fees imposed on you due to of currency exchange or other fees charged by your bank.

Transactions fees often come as a surprise and may often be significant in size. It will also have an effect on your chances to become a winning player in the long run. Because of this it is very relevant to check out which payment methods you should use to minimize the amount you pay in fees. The rating can also provide information about which payment methods are available at a particular bookmaker. A considerable amount of information used to rate this dimension was not available on the bookmaker´s own web site, so the information provided can give the user of BMR a more complete picture about payment methods.

This information is updated continuously, but every third month we will check all data from scratch. Our experience so far is that there are often made changes, and these are made without any announcements. 

The rating of this dimension is based on how well each bookmaker responds to service requests. This dimension also takes into account how well the companies have performed in the past. The service rating for a bookmaker is based on the time it takes a bookmaker to respond to a service request, and the quality of the answer. To keep things objective at BMR, the bookmaker can only avoid high rating in quality by not giving any answer to one of the questions in the service request. We don’t subjectively evaluate if it’s a good or bad answer nor whether the answer is correct.

The rating for service test is limited by our policy to keep everything objective at BMR. The quality rating of a response is not affected by whether an answer is god, bad or whether the service employee is polite or not. These factors does have an effect how a service level is experienced in practice. Furthermore it is not taken into account how a bookmaker performs on live chat or by phone.

The following policies and assumptions are behind the Service Test Rating

• Rating of quality is based on whether a bookmaker directly answers each of the questions asked in a response test.
• If a link to the web page is given as response from a bookmaker, the information asked for must be at the page of the link for it to give a point in the quality rating.
• Evaluation of quality is kept objective – good or bad answers are not included in the rating.
• Auto response from a bookmaker does not count for registration of response time.
• The emails are sent from free web based email addresses, Hotmail, Yahoo etc. These emails often get caught in spam filters and could explain some of the non responses. But since the email represents questions from a potential new customer, the bookmakers should keep a keen eye on their spam filter.
• If a bookmaker has an online contact formula, this will be used instead of a direct email.
• When a bookmaker does not answer a response test a penalty of 96 hours is put on the response time and the service quality is set to 0% for this response test. You can see in Historic Service Test Observations how the bookmaker has performed. This can be found in the bookmakers review section.

When using a bookmaker it is almost inevitable that you at some point need them to answer some questions. If you are the type who requires answers ASAP and precise answers, then this dimension gives an excellent view of which companies would suit you. If this is not important for you, then you should use the information to develop a view as to whether you find the company a well driven company where you would like to deposit your money.

Calculation of the Odds Payout Ratings is based on more than 150.000 observations and registrations of odds in the market. The structure leading to final Odds Payout Ratings is illustrated in the following.

1^st level – Odds Payout Rating

The rating of Odds Payout is based on Indexed Rating and average Odds Payout for each of the following sports a bookmaker offers.

• Football (Soccer)
• American Football
• Tennis
• Basketball
• Baseball
• Handball

2^nd level – Odds Payout and Rating for each sport

Average Odds Payout and Indexed Rating for each sport are based on a large number of odds registrations in a number of leagues and tournaments for each bookmaker. The list of leagues and tournaments registered for a specific bookmaker can be seen in the bookmakers review at BMR.

For now the rating of Odds Payout is limited by not taking the complete set of odds a bookmaker offers into consideration. Only a certain number of sports, leagues and type of odds are evaluated. In addition, it is based on historical observations and registrations which may result in a slightly different picture compared to real time data. 

The following policies and assumptions are behind the Odds Payout Rating:

• To calculate the betting exchange pay out we assume that a standard commission is payed on winnings. Some exchanges have loyalty programs, these are not taken into consideration when calculating the odds payout.
  
• For betting exchanges only odds on 1x2 and moneyline are used in the rating.

It can be somewhat difficult to get the complete picture about which companies have the largest pay out. Often a bookmaker states that they offer their customers "the best odds on the market". The overview gives you an exact picture of this.

If you want to make money in the long run on betting you will have to “beat the bookie”. This means that you have to bet on games with value, in reality this is a payout on more than 100%. The lower the payout is the more difficult it is to “beat the bookie”.

But remember this rating is based on the average odds payout, and does not mean that the payout is constant on all games. Sometimes a bookmaker with an average payout of 90% has larger odds on a home team than the bookmaker that has a 96% payout. Furthermore there is a direct trade off between payout and how good bonus offers are. You should keep this last point in mind, also because a company with a high payout and a good bonus will loose money in the long run.

The rating of this dimension is based on an average rating for each of the following three levels in which a bookmaker offers bets:

• Number of sports
• Number of leagues/tournaments
• Number of bets offered for a event

Due to differences in bets offered over time for each bookmaker, this rating is based on historic observation for each bookmaker.

The content included for the rating of the Site Statistic dimension: 

• The speed of the web page
• Web page's historical up time

For each of these dimensions to site statistic a rating is calculated which leads to the overall Site Statistic Rating based on an average.

The speed of the web page is tested in two ways. One is based on 50 + servers around the world to give an estimate of web page's speed for each bookmaker depending on geographical location. The second test every 15 min for site speed leading to an average site speed over time. This test is based on the latest 3 months of observation (Updated every month)

The web page's historical up time is based on the latest 3 months of up time (Updated every month), tested every 15 minutes.

Information in Site Statistic Dimension can be used for users valuing a bookmakers webpage works properly without downtime and slow speed when a bet needs to be placed.

Uptime and Site speed for each bookmaker are updated every month.

The observation list contains bookmakers that violate some of the following: 

·      Consistent payout problems. 

·      Consistent bonus confiscation without sound reasoning.  

·      Part of an ownership with a very bad reputation in the gambling industry. 

bookmakerreviews.com editors will inform bookmakers prior to making changes to and from the observation list and blacklist.

The BMR blacklist contains bookmakers that violate some of the following: 

·      Operating without required license or illegally hosted.  

·      Major payout problems of critical character.  

·      Use of promotional scam tactics  

bookmakerreviews.com editors will inform bookmakers prior to making changes to and from the observation list and blacklist.