Why This Policy Exists
Online poker is a YMYL ("Your Money or Your Life") category: readers are making decisions that involve depositing real funds, sharing identity documents, and — in some jurisdictions — navigating ambiguous legal territory. That raises the editorial bar, and it makes disclosure of commercial incentives a baseline obligation rather than an optional extra.
This policy documents the commitments PokerSites.org makes to readers, the standards that apply to every published piece, and the specific things the site will and will not do.
Editorial Independence
PokerSites.org is editorially independent. No operator, affiliate network, or third party has final-approval rights over any piece of content published on the site. Editorial decisions — which operators to recommend, how to score them, which stories to cover — are made by the editorial team documented on the writers page and no one else.
Specifically, the site commits that:
- No operator representative reviews review content prior to publication.
- No operator can purchase a position on a ranked list. Rankings are determined by the review protocol documented in How We Review.
- No affiliate relationship confers special coverage. The site has published negative reviews of operators with whom it holds active commercial agreements.
- Editorial staff do not hold equity or compensation arrangements with any operator they cover.
Affiliate Disclosure
PokerSites.org is a participant in affiliate-marketing programs operated by licensed online poker rooms and by gambling-industry affiliate networks. When a reader clicks an outbound link to an operator and then registers and deposits, PokerSites.org may receive either a one-time referral fee or an ongoing share of the operator's net revenue from that player's activity ("rev-share").
This relationship is disclosed:
- Sitewide — this page documents the commercial model.
- Per-page — review and bonus pages carry an "Advertiser Disclosure" line at the top.
- Per-link — outbound commercial links carry the
rel="nofollow sponsored"attribute, which is Google's required signal for paid or incentivized links.
Non-commercial outbound links — to regulators, support services, academic research — do not carry that attribute.
The "Affiliate But Independent" Line
The site's position is that an affiliate publisher can remain editorially independent if and only if the following three things are true:
- Ranking and scoring are based on a transparent, documented methodology — not on commercial terms.
- The publication is willing to publish, and has published, coverage that is commercially unfavorable to partners.
- Conflicts of interest are disclosed so readers can weigh the publication's recommendations with full information.
PokerSites.org meets all three. Readers who disagree with a specific rating or review are encouraged to submit a correction request (see below); readers who believe a pattern of coverage is compromised are encouraged to email editorial@pokersites.org directly.
Sourcing Standards
Every factual claim on a commercial page is expected to trace to a primary source. In practice, this means:
- Regulatory claims link to the regulator's public register, license page, or enforcement notice.
- Operator policy claims link to the operator's own terms-and-conditions page, with the specific clause cited. Where operator policy has changed, the review reflects the live policy on the "last updated" date in the byline.
- Market-data claims (traffic, player pools, industry size) are sourced from independent poker-traffic monitors or named industry reports, with the source publication and date disclosed.
- Legal claims are attributed to named attorneys or to state/federal regulatory filings. The site does not offer legal advice and readers should consult a qualified attorney in their jurisdiction before making decisions that turn on the legality of online poker.
Anonymous sourcing is reserved for news reporting and is used sparingly. When it is used, the reason for granting anonymity is explained in the story.
AI and Automated Content
PokerSites.org does not publish fully AI-generated articles. Large-language-model tools are permitted for narrow editorial tasks — outlining, grammar and readability checks, summarization of long regulatory documents — but the review body, scoring, and final copy on every reviewed piece are written and signed by a named human reviewer.
Where AI tools are used at any stage of production, the article discloses the specific role those tools played. Readers can assume that any article without such a disclosure was produced entirely by the named author(s).
Corrections Policy
Errors are corrected as quickly as possible. The standard correction process is:
- Reader or operator submits a correction request to editorial@pokersites.org with the URL, the specific sentence, the requested correction, and supporting evidence.
- The editor reviews the request against primary sources. Where the evidence is clear, the correction is made within 24 hours.
- Material corrections — those that change the meaning of the article, a score, or a recommendation — are logged at the bottom of the article with the date and a short description of what changed. The site does not silently edit substantive claims.
- Non-material corrections (typos, broken links, dead anchors) are made inline without a correction log entry.
Correction decisions are made by the editor. Commercial considerations are not part of the decision process.
Complaints and Appeals
If a reader believes a piece of coverage is inaccurate, unfair, or violates this policy and the correction process has not resolved the issue, the reader may escalate to the Reviews & Compliance Editor by emailing compliance@pokersites.org. Escalated complaints receive a written response within five business days.
Scope of This Policy
This policy applies to all content published on pokersites.org and its subdomains. It applies to written articles, videos, podcasts, newsletters, and social-media posts published under the PokerSites.org brand.
The policy is reviewed at least annually. The current version was last updated on April 16, 2026.