Advertising disclosure: how this site is paid

SafeBets costs nothing to read because some of the bookmakers we write about pay us a commission when a reader clicks through to their site and opens an account. This page explains how that works, which links are paid, and what the money is not allowed to influence.

Which links earn a commission

Only one kind of link can earn money: the operator buttons, which always read "Visit" followed by the bookmaker's name and point to an address on this site that starts with /visit/. That address forwards you to the bookmaker. If we have an affiliate agreement with that bookmaker, the forward carries a tracking reference and we may be paid for a new customer. If we have no agreement, the same button simply takes you to the bookmaker's public website.

Every other link on the site, including links inside articles, links between reviews and links to regulators, is an ordinary editorial link and pays nothing. Paid buttons are marked as sponsored in the page code, which tells search engines they are commercial.

What commission can never buy

• A score. Each bookmaker's score out of 5 is calculated from six weighted criteria: licence, player protection, bonus terms, payments, product offer and transparency. The weights are published on how we rate betting sites and are the same for every operator.
• A ranking place. Rankings follow the calculated score. A bookmaker with an affiliate deal and a bookmaker without one are sorted by exactly the same rule.
• A verdict. Pros and cons are drawn from published documents: terms and conditions, bonus rules, help pages and licence notices. A paying partner gets the same cons as anyone else.
• A place on the site at all. Only bookmakers holding a South African provincial licence are ranked or get a button. An operator we cannot match to a licence is never promoted, whatever it offers.

Check it yourself: the score calculator

Every score can be rebuilt from the six published sub-scores. The calculator on how we rate betting sites loads any bookmaker's real scorecard, so you can check that the number on a review follows from its marks and nothing else.

Who we will not work with

Casino-style gambling sites run from outside South Africa are not licensed here under the National Gambling Act, and advertising unlawful gambling is prohibited. We do not accept commission from them, name them or link to them. The same applies to anyone asking for coverage of mirror sites or ways around blocks, limits or self-exclusion.

How we keep the two sides apart

Commercial agreements are handled separately from writing. Writers work from an operator's public documents and from the regulator registers, and they record where each fact came from. When a bookmaker's terms change, the page is updated whether or not that bookmaker pays us. The editorial method is described on the editorial team page.

Some bookmakers we review have no agreement with us at all, and some partners have scores below operators that pay nothing. We think that is how it should look.

Responsible gambling comes first

Gambling is for adults only, and every page carries the National Responsible Gambling Programme details. If betting has stopped being fun, our responsible gambling page explains the toll-free counselling line, self-exclusion and the tools licensed bookmakers offer. If you think something on this site breaks these rules, please tell us through the contact page.