Critics are paid to be impartial, they have no qualms about tearing into something they’ve been asked to review, whether that be a brand new box office release, album or video game. So why is it completely different in the world of iGaming?

There aren’t many industries out there that can match ours when it comes to the sheer amount of websites dedicated to one pastime (casinos and online slot games), for every new release there’s a minimum of ten reviews online within days of them arriving in casino lobbies.

Having spent the last year scouring the internet for slot games to critique ahead of their launch, Slot Gods, a comprehensive site dedicated to independent bias free online slot reviews have come to several solid conclusions about the somewhat dishonest business of slot write-ups.

Do some affiliates fear the truth will deny them acquisitions?

In last twelve months the expert team at Slot Gods have spent countless hours surveying the iGaming landscape with a fine-tooth comb, gauging affiliates ‘honest’ opinions on online slot games old and new, it’s certainly not everybody, but the conclusion to be drawn is that there seems to be a genuine fear about being honest when a slot game just isn’t very good.

Many of the reviews the team came across were written in a tone that suggested the game was 100% worth playing, positives were made out of negatives and despite a game’s shortcomings there’s always something that inferred to the reader that the game should definitely be played.

There’s no denying that approaching a review with a positive attitude is a good way to go, but it seems immoral to mislead a player in an industry that requires the end user to open their wallets and deposit money to play a game of chance which they might walk away from with nothing.

Obviously, players aren’t stupid and they know exactly what they’re getting into when they actively choose to gamble their money, but there’s a fine line between selling a game honestly and overselling it to the point in which the truth has been distorted to earn a sign-up.

If it were a table game such as roulette, poker or blackjack then perhaps we wouldn’t complain, because you know exactly what you’re getting with them… But with online slots there are many unique variables, and players have certain boxes a game must tick before they choose to actively play them.

To give some of these offending sites their dues, They never did shy away from giving players the raw data, they all clearly stated the RTP percentage, maximum win potential and volatility within the game specifications… It was just the written content that felt sketchy at times.

It’s understandable why an affiliate (in particular a smaller one) might want to put a little extra shine on a slot game in order to drive their visitors towards a sign-up at the associated casino. In doing so they’re likely going to leave the player with a bad taste in their mouth and a general distrust for the site that recommended it upon discovering the game isn’t exactly as described.

What can affiliates do to make their reviews more trustworthy?

If you’re planning on updating or adding slot reviews to your site then there are a number of things recommended and utilised by Slot Gods that you can do to ensure that your content comes across trustworthy and reliable, these are as follows:

Consistent structure

Make sure you have a consistent and well thought out structure to your reviews. Give players the key information in an order that makes sense to them. Don’t start your review with your personal opinion on how it plays, allow them to read all about the features, the design and other important elements before you summarise. 

Most people understand how a review should look, so don’t try and reinvent the wheel and overcomplicate things… Just make sure each and every review is consistent. 

Factual information

It almost sounds silly, but before you’ve even begun to write the review please make sure you play the actual game for a minimum of ten minutes, do your best to stick around until you’ve triggered a bonus feature as it makes a big difference to your overall opinion of the slot. 

It’s easy to write a review based on the text provided by the developer, but trust us when we say the experience of writing a review based on your own first-hand experience is so much easier.

On that note, we highly recommend that players do not rely on other affiliates for information on a slot, it can be very tempting to check out what they’ve written and take inspiration, however, it’s worth noting that you have no idea whether what they’ve written is correct if you haven’t properly played the game yourself. It’s a risk that won’t pay off.

Demo games and original screenshots

If possible try and include a demo game within the body of your review. Admittedly it makes the entire process of compiling the review a little more complicated and time-consuming, but there’s no trust signal quite as strong as actually giving players the opportunity to play the game before or after they’ve read your review. It adds legitimacy to the page.

If you aren’t in a position to add demo games to your site then consider adding watermarked screenshots, this makes it clear to the user that you’ve taken the time to play the game yourself.