How We Test - MapleBetGuide

How We Test

Review Methodology · Last updated June 11, 2026

How We Test Crypto Casinos

This page documents the exact procedure Maple Bet Guide editors follow when reviewing a crypto casino. We publish it so readers can audit our process and so operators can hold us to the same standard we hold them to.

Stage 1 — Signup & verification

We register a fresh account using a real residential email and complete whatever identity check the operator requires for an account-creation step. We record: the form fields requested, whether KYC documents are demanded up front or only at withdrawal, and how the platform handles a non-standard country selection (we test from multiple jurisdictions where T&C allow). Operators that demand passport-grade KYC before a small first deposit are flagged.

Stage 2 — Cashier inspection

Before depositing, we audit the cashier. We record:

  • Every cryptocurrency listed, with its network (USDT-TRC20 versus USDT-ERC20 is a different rail, with different fees).
  • Minimum and maximum deposit per coin.
  • Whether deposit addresses are reusable or rotated per transaction.
  • Whether the operator displays a network confirmation count before crediting (a security indicator).
  • Whether deposit fees are absorbed by the operator or passed to the player.

Stage 3 — The timed deposit

We make a real deposit using our own wallet. We record the exact moment we broadcast the transaction (block-explorer timestamp), the moment the casino acknowledges receipt of the unconfirmed transaction, and the moment the deposit is credited to the playable balance. The difference between broadcast and credit is what we report as “deposit confirmation time”.

Standard test deposits: 0.001 BTC, 0.05 ETH, 100 USDT-TRC20, 1 LTC, 5 SOL. We use the smallest network in the operator’s supported list as the headline benchmark, because that is what most players actually use for first deposits.

Stage 4 — Play

We play a standardised sample. For slot-focused operators, we run 100 spins on Sweet Bonanza (Pragmatic Play, 96.51% advertised RTP) and 100 spins on Gates of Olympus (Pragmatic, 96.50% advertised RTP) at a fixed €0.50 bet, and we compare the operator’s session-stats reading against the provider’s mathematical sheet. For live-casino-focused operators, we sit at three different Evolution tables (Lightning Roulette, Crazy Time, Speed Baccarat) for 30 minutes each, scoring stream quality, dealer availability at peak hours, and bet-limit ranges.

Where the operator advertises a “provably fair” implementation, we run at least 50 rounds on a provably-fair table (Crash, Dice, Plinko) and we verify three random round seeds against the published verification process.

Stage 5 — The timed withdrawal

The most important number on any crypto casino review is withdrawal time. We test it twice — once during European business hours (14:00 UTC on a weekday) and once outside business hours (03:00 UTC on a weekend). We record:

  • Time submitted to time approved (this is where most operators lose time — an approval queue staffed by humans during business hours).
  • Time approved to time broadcast on-chain.
  • Time broadcast to first confirmation in our receiving wallet.

We report the total round-trip as a range, not a single best-case number, because the gap between the median withdrawal and the 90th-percentile withdrawal is what burns players in practice. The best operators in our 2026 testing cycle clear withdrawals in under fifteen minutes around the clock; the worst push withdrawals into a “manual review” queue during off-hours and take more than twenty-four hours.

Stage 6 — Support response benchmark

We open a live-chat support session twice — 14:00 UTC weekday and 03:00 UTC weekend — and we time first-human-response (not bot, not autoresponder). We ask a real but mundane question (“can I split my withdrawal across two networks?”) to gauge the depth of staff knowledge. Operators where the off-hours response collapses to “please email us” lose points.

Stage 7 — Bonus and T&C audit

Anna van der Berg, our bonus editor, reads the operator’s full welcome-bonus T&C and reports back on: headline amount, wagering requirement, contribution table by game category, maximum bet during wagering, time window, maximum withdrawal from bonus winnings, and excluded countries. Effective bonus value is computed as headline × (1 − wagering × house-edge-on-allowed-games). Operators that bury max-bet rules four scrolls deep in T&C are downgraded.

Stage 8 — Responsible gambling audit

We confirm the operator provides, in-account and without a support ticket: deposit limit (daily, weekly, monthly), session limit, loss limit, reality check intervals, time-out, and self-exclusion. Operators that gate these behind email requests are penalised.

Scoring

Our composite operator score (1.0 – 5.0) weights: withdrawal speed (25%), bonus effective value (20%), game library breadth and provider quality (15%), license credibility (15%), support responsiveness (10%), responsible-gambling tools (10%), and cashier UX (5%). Final rank within a category — “best crypto casino”, “best live dealer”, “best for stablecoins” — is the score-weighted rank within that category and is not influenced by affiliate program economics.

The full scoring rubric per category is available on request via [email protected].