Transparent research process
Bookmaker Metadata Methodology
How Trustabet turns public evidence into structured profile fields, separates facts from editorial judgement, and flags details that need another check.
Principle one
Record the scope
Every material field should identify the brand or operator, market, source type and observation date. A global label must not hide a market-specific limitation.
Principle two
Preserve uncertainty
If evidence is missing, limited or conflicting, the status remains visible. Unknown is more useful than a confident assumption.
Principle three
Separate fact and score
Metadata supports editorial analysis, but a field is not automatically positive or negative without context.
Workflow
From source to published profile
1. Define the field and market
We decide what the field means before collecting values. “Licensed”, “available” and “fast withdrawal” are not interchangeable claims and must be tied to a jurisdiction, condition and date.
2. Collect the closest available source
Primary sources are preferred: regulator registers, licence records, operator terms, cashier pages, account rules and official support documentation. Search results can reveal sources but do not verify a claim by themselves.
3. Match the source to the exact claim
The evidence must support the field as written. A regulator entry for a legal entity does not automatically prove that every trading domain or country is covered.
4. Publish with an evidence state
Fields are labelled verified, operator-published, limited, conflicting or unknown. Profiles that pass the data-quality gate are sufficiently documented for research; they are not endorsements or payout guarantees.
5. Refresh when the source or product changes
Licence status, terms, bonus rules, payments, access and safety tools receive a new review when a source changes or the scheduled review date arrives.
Editorial interpretation
What a score can and cannot mean
A score is a structured summary of the documented review criteria. It can help readers compare profiles consistently, but it cannot predict a personal outcome, guarantee a withdrawal, or establish legality for every reader.
When a material field is missing, the correct response is to reduce confidence, explain the gap or withhold a conclusion. Trustabet does not award certainty for a field that has not been adequately sourced.
Quality gate
Documented enough for research ≠ endorsed. Readers should still check current operator terms and the relevant regulator for their location.
Use the framework
See the shorter rating summary
The How We Rate page turns this data workflow into four reader-facing review criteria.