✍️ Written by: Jason
✅ Reviewed by: Hannah Cutajar
Hey. I’m Jason Dunfield, and I’m probably one of the few weirdos who genuinely believe you can gamble with a brain. Not always win — I’m no betting fairy. I mean actually gamble smart. No debt, no ruined lives, no sad “just one more spin and I’ll get it all back” speeches.
I’m from Hokitika — yep, that sleepy little town where people carve greenstone pendants and occasionally whisper “what even is a VPN?” Somehow I ended up knee-deep in online casino reviews and bonus policies.
Been doing this since 2018, and no, I don’t wear a suit or talk like a LinkedIn post. I just like honesty — even when it stings.
My twisted little journey
I started off in casino support. 2017, fresh outta uni, thought I’d found a chill job answering emails. Spoiler: it was hell with a helpdesk interface.
International casino. Hundreds of tickets a day. Drunk Aussies yelling about missing bonuses. Bots pretending to be human. And me, stuck in the middle, trying not to scream. That gig taught me one crucial lesson: just because a casino’s legal doesn’t mean it’s not deeply shady.
Compliance: where things got real dark
Eventually, I moved to risk and compliance. That’s where the gloves came off.
Fake bonuses. Phantom payout terms. Sister brands launching every month under different URLs like some marketing Hydra. I saw a platform “lose” its license for two weeks — and no one blinked. I saw documents magically go “missing” during withdrawal requests.
That was my wake-up call. You don’t protect players from inside the machine. You tear the machine apart and start talking.
Why I write this crap
I went freelance in 2021. Not to get rich — trust me, calling casinos out doesn’t pay great — but because I was sick of the lies. People lose everything and blame themselves. Meanwhile, some offshore operator’s laughing in a villa somewhere. So I started reviewing casinos. Like, really reviewing.
Licenses. KYC times. Bonus traps. Support response quality. Data security. All of it.
I don’t play for fun anymore — but I’ll sure as hell test the sh*t out of a platform.
I play so you don’t get screwed
I don’t write reviews from press releases. I sign up. I upload ID. I deposit. I play. I win (on a good day). Then I ask for a withdrawal and wait. And then I write. About the delays, the excuses, the “sorry, we’ve escalated your issue” bots.
Because that’s where the truth is. Not in the homepage banner, not in the flashy bonuses — but in how they act when they owe you money.
“Safety” isn’t just a padlock icon
Casino security isn’t a f***ing SSL certificate. I’m looking at:
- Deposit limits (if they let you drop $5k in five minutes, it’s a red flag);
- Self-exclusion tools (if they don’t exist — blacklisted, instantly);
- Non-predatory marketing (if you’re getting push alerts at 3am, run).
I don’t just “check if it’s safe.” I go digging. If the platform has skeletons — I’ll drag them out, kicking and screaming.
Year by year: the slow descent
I don’t work for casinos. I don’t get paid to lie. I don’t recommend anything I wouldn’t touch myself — even with a free bonus.
My code
- I don’t believe in “fair casinos,” only in regulated, audited, consistently tested ones.
- When a site says “licensed by MGA,” I go check. Not kidding — I’ll dig through the actual database.
- If your signup flow asks for driver’s license info before I’ve even played a game — sus.
- If support says “we’ve forwarded this to the relevant team,” I know they haven’t.
- I will never recommend a platform that wouldn’t let me sleep at night.
What I’m really here for
I’m not here to kill gambling. I’m here to make it less toxic. Yes, casinos can be fun. But fun dies fast when your money’s frozen and support ghosts you.
I write for the players who want to stay sane. Who want to play a few spins, maybe grab a bonus — and not wake up broke, confused, and angry.
And if I have to be a little harsh, a little sarcastic, and drop some f-bombs to get the message across — so be it.
If that’s your vibe, keep reading. If not… hey, good luck out there.
— Jason
