What a desk review covers, in plain words
A desk review starts with the public house rules, the verification queue and the payment flow. The desk reads the rules the platform publishes and the rules the platform does not. The desk audits the KYC queue on a 30-platform sample, with the median and the slow tail published in the review. The desk tests the payment flow end to end, from deposit to withdraw, with the times logged for each leg. The desk reads the RNG certificate and the responsible-play controls and writes a one-paragraph verdict that the desk will not move.
Reviews are re-checked every quarter or whenever a load-bearing rule changes. The desk accepts no payment for coverage and no operator has a say in any verdict. The reviews are not exhaustive and they are not the final word; they are the desk's honest reading, and a reader can take them or leave them.
What the desk will not move on
The desk will not move on three things. The first is the editorial verdict: the desk accepts no payment for coverage and no operator has a say in any verdict. The second is the responsible-play line: the desk does not recommend a platform that does not publish a deposit cap, a time-out and a helpline list. The third is the verification queue: a platform that takes longer than 72 hours to verify an Indian KYC document is not eligible for a clean verdict, regardless of how good the rest of the experience is.
What the desk will move on is the ranking. A platform that improves its verification queue, its house rules or its payment flow is eligible for a re-review and a better verdict. The ranking is the part that can change.