Betting Compass is a small, independent information site about betting in the UK. This page explains who we are, how we are funded and how we keep our guidance accurate.
The short version is that we work for the reader. We name no operators, take no operator money and put your protection ahead of any promotion.
Our purpose
Betting Compass exists to help UK adults make one careful decision about betting and then get on with their lives. We are a plain, consumer-first guide in the spirit of a good buyers' association, written for the person who wants clear facts rather than a ranked list of adverts.
We do not tell anyone to gamble. Our whole focus is how to choose a site responsibly, how to check it is properly licensed, and how to stay in control, so that if you do bet you do it with your eyes open and within a budget you have set in advance.
Independence and how we are funded
Our independence is the point of the site, so we protect it strictly. We are not a bookmaker, we are not a regulator, we take no bets and we accept no advertising, sponsorship or commission from any gambling operator. We name no brands, so there is nothing for us to sell and no operator we have reason to flatter.
That means the guidance here answers to you, the reader, and to the facts, and to nothing else. If our advice ever pushes you toward caution and away from a deposit, that is the site working exactly as intended.
How we research and review
Everything we publish is built on official UK sources, chiefly the UK Gambling Commission, the Gambling Act 2005 as amended, and recognised support bodies such as GamCare, GAMSTOP and BeGambleAware. Where we cite a figure, a date or a rule, it comes from those sources rather than from an operator's marketing.
Our content is written by Harriet Lowe, a consumer writer who has spent more than a decade explaining regulated markets, from energy tariffs and mobile contracts to financial products, to ordinary readers who simply want to know what a thing costs and where the catch is. She came to gambling the same way she came to those subjects, by reading the terms in full, testing the sign-up and withdrawal steps herself, and writing down what tripped her up so that readers do not have to learn it the hard way. Her rule is plain. If she cannot verify a claim against an official source or check it in an account herself, it does not go on the page.
Every page is reviewed by Gavin Restrick, who worked for many years as a consumer officer in a local authority Trading Standards service before turning to writing and review. In that role he investigated misleading pricing and advertising, unfair contract terms, aggressive doorstep and telephone selling, and the sort of scams that lean on urgency and small print, and he sat across the table from businesses explaining why a practice had to change. He handled complaints from members of the public who had lost money and often felt they had no one to turn to, which is exactly the position a bettor can find themselves in when a withdrawal is stalled or a bonus term proves impossible to meet. Gavin checks each guide for factual accuracy and, just as importantly, for whether it genuinely serves the reader rather than the trade. It is his consumer-protection eye that keeps the licence check and the safer-gambling tools at the top of every page, ahead of any offer, and that insists we describe how to complain and escalate rather than pretending problems never happen.
The division of labour is simple. Harriet drafts from the primary sources and her own hands-on checks; Gavin pressure-tests every claim and every recommendation against the standards he spent his career enforcing. Neither of them is paid by, or answers to, any gambling operator, and that is the whole point of the arrangement.
Keeping information current
Gambling rules in the UK have changed steadily, from the credit-card ban in April 2020 to the slot stake limits and statutory levy in April 2025 and the bonus rules from January 2026. Out-of-date guidance can be worse than none, so we review our pages against the latest position and date them clearly.
Every page here reflects the position as of September 2026 and was last reviewed on 25 September 2026. If a rule changes, we update the affected pages rather than leaving old figures in place.
Contact us
We welcome corrections, questions and suggestions, and we take accuracy seriously, so if you spot something that looks wrong or out of date we would genuinely like to know. Reader feedback is one of the ways we keep the site honest and current.
You can reach the team, including our reviewer Gavin Restrick, former Trading Standards consumer officer, by email at [email protected]. If you or someone you know needs support with gambling, the GamCare National Gambling Helpline is free and open 24/7 on 0808 8020 133.