Had a bit of a nosy around a handful of casino sites the last couple of weeks and I swear the flashy homepage means bugger all once you actually sign up and try to play.
For me the first thing that makes or breaks a site is how smooth it feels after deposit. If the pokies load quick, the lobby isn't a mess, and I don't have to dig through 6 menus just to find the stuff I like, I'm already more keen to stick around. Some sites look decent for about 5 minutes then you realise half the games are either gone, geo-blocked, or buried under random junk.
Big one for me is cashing out. I can forgive a plain looking site way faster than I can forgive one that drags withdrawals out for days and keeps asking for one more document... then another one. If a place pays without turning it into a full-time job, I rate it way higher straight away.
Bonuses too - not even fussed if they're massive, just don't make them dodgy. I'd rather get a smaller offer with normal terms than one of those bloated promos that look ripper until you read the fine print and realise it's a stitch-up.
Support is another sneaky one. You don't think about it till something stuffs up, then suddenly you're sitting there in the arvo talking to a chatbot that's about as useful as a servo pie at midnight. If live chat actually answers like a human and fixes things without copy-paste rubbish, good on ya, that's a tick from me.
So yeah, when I'm reading what other punters reckon, I care way more about payout speed, verification hassles, game selection and whether the site feels straightforward to use than any big promises on the front page. Curious what everyone else looks for first - what's the thing that makes you trust a site, or bin it straight away?