After more than 14 years of testing and reviewing gambling sites, gambling market analyst Steve Thompson has developed a very different way of evaluating online casinos. With a degree in Economics and experience that began on the casino floor at Crown Melbourne, his work has taken him from observing player behavior in a physical casino to examining the mechanics, payment systems, and regulatory conditions behind online pokies sites.
We spoke with Thompson, who serves as a lead iGaming auditor and the founder of Pokies Australia, to break down his exact testing methodology. Our conversation explores Australia’s changing gambling landscape, shifting regulations, and modern consumer protection. He also shares what years of observing people around games of chance have taught him about human behavior.
What first attracted you to the casino industry, and what did you find intellectually interesting about gambling beyond its commercial potential?
Steve Thompson: My journey started back in 2012, working as a Floor Manager at Crown Casino Melbourne. Honestly, walking that floor every day was a huge learning experience for me. It gives you a front-row seat to how people handle risk, emotions, and money.
You see the full reality of it. You see people having a tough night when luck doesn’t go their way, but you also get to witness truly life-changing moments. I’ve seen everyday people hit major jackpots that could literally take care of their families for the rest of their lives. Seeing that firsthand showed me that behind every spin or hand, there’s a real human story attached.
Coming from an economics background, I’ve always been curious about the numbers running in the background. The casino usually holds the long-term mathematical advantage; that’s just how the games are built. But in the short run, random luck means anyone can hit a massive payout on any given day.
What fascinated me was that not all gambling decisions are identical. In some games, strategy can affect the mathematical outcome, while in others, such as pokies, the player’s choices have very little influence over the underlying probability. Understanding that distinction became increasingly important to me.
Working on the floor taught me about human nature, and transitioning into online testing taught me about the tech behind it all. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but my goal today is simple: I use my background to test these sites thoroughly so that when a player does get lucky or play smart, they can trust the casino to pay out their winnings quickly and fairly.
You’ve been reviewing and testing Australian pokies sites for more than 14 years. What initially led you to focus specifically on pokies?
When I moved into independent auditing around 2016, my job was to verify game fairness for testing labs, checking that the Random Number Generators (RNGs) were truly random and hadn’t been tampered with. That experience changed everything for me. I realized that a site can look shiny and trustworthy on the surface, but what matters is how it actually behaves when real money is involved.
That’s why I developed my six-pillar testing methodology. I don’t just take an operator’s word for it, and I certainly don’t review sites using demo mode or free credits. I personally deposit real AUD, starting at the minimum deposit threshold, play the games, test the bonus playthrough terms, and track the exact time it takes to get paid via Australian payment options like PayID.
Pokies testing became my main focus because it’s where players need the most transparency. My team and I just want to do the heavy lifting in the background, logging the actual cashout times and reading the fine print, so players have honest, real-world data before they make a decision.
Since you mentioned using real money rather than demo credits, when you step in to audit a new operator using that hands-on approach, what are the very first things you look for?
I always try to look at a site through the eyes of an ordinary player who just wants a simple, fair experience. Fancy marketing banners don’t tell you much, so I immediately focus on the practical basics: How smooth is the sign-up? Are the terms easy to read, or hidden in fine print? And most importantly, what actually happens when you try to cash out?
One of the first things I test is the minimum deposit threshold, putting in a small amount, like $10 or $20 in real AUD. That’s crucial because most casual players don’t start with hundreds of dollars; they start small. I want to know if a site treats a $20 deposit with the same fairness, support, and fast processing as a high-roller deposit.
From there, I track the entire withdrawal process step-by-step. I log the exact time it takes from clicking ‘Withdraw’ to seeing the funds land in an Australian bank account. For example, if a site advertises “Instant PayID Payouts,” I clock the actual pending queue time down to the minute. I also test the KYC identity verification process to see if they make it straightforward or drag their feet with unnecessary paperwork when it’s time to pay.
Alongside payments, I check the backend security, making sure the games have verified Random Number Generator (RNG) certificates from recognized testing labs so players know the games aren’t rigged.
Back in 2022, I hit a personal milestone of completing 100 full casino audits using my own real AUD deposits. Having over a decade of logged data, I have learned one simple truth: there can be a massive difference between what a casino promises on its homepage and what actually happens in practice. My job is simply to record the real result.
Looking back at that decade of data, how has the Australian online gambling landscape shifted since you first started tracking it in 2012?
The evolution has been night and day. Back in 2012, my focus was on physical floor operations at Crown. Today, everything revolves around digital tech, instant payment rails, online identity checks, and offshore web traffic.
Two big shifts stand out:
- Instant Payment Rails: We’ve moved away from slow bank transfers toward real-time options like PayID and crypto. Players now expect near-instant withdrawals, which puts processing speeds under a microscope.
- Tighter Regulation & ACMA Enforcement: Regulators like ACMA have stepped up domain blocking to restrict unlicensed offshore sites. The goal is consumer safety, which is a legitimate and crucial policy objective.
Australia has taken an increasingly interventionist approach to online gambling. From your perspective, how effective has the regulatory framework been at protecting Australian consumers?
I think it has achieved some important things, and I wouldn’t dismiss the reasons behind the regulations. Consumer protection matters. Responsible gambling measures matter. Identity verification matters. Preventing vulnerable people from being aggressively targeted matters.
One concern with heavy digital restrictions is that determined users may look for workarounds, including mirror domains or other ways of accessing banned services. That can create a different set of consumer-protection risks.
A strong regulatory framework can provide meaningful protection when consumers are dealing with operators that are subject to that framework. But if consumers move toward operators outside the Australian system, some of those protections may disappear. Also, a domain can disappear, and another can appear. Operators can change brands, domains, and payment methods. Consumer demand doesn’t necessarily disappear just because a particular website is blocked.
There are rarely simple “good or bad” answers here. Regulators have a tough job protecting the public, but every digital barrier creates a ripple effect. My focus is simply tracking how those shifts impact the safety and experience of everyday Australian players on the ground.
There is an ongoing policy debate around stronger restrictions on gambling advertising and inducements. Based on your testing and market observations, do you believe advertising restrictions are likely to meaningfully reduce gambling harm?
Advertising certainly influences exposure, so I completely understand why policymakers focus on it. In fact, based on years of testing deposit bonuses and inducements firsthand, I strongly believe cutting back on aggressive advertising is a genuine step forward for harm reduction.
Removing constant triggers from live sports broadcasts and daily feeds helps protect vulnerable players from impulsive decisions, while also curbing potentially misleading bonus conditions. That said, advertising bans are most effective when paired with clear product transparency.
Looking at the next ten years, what do you think the gambling industry will look like when today’s regulatory debates are viewed from the future?
In ten years, I think we’ll see that technology always moves faster than legislation. We are heading toward much higher automation, smart contracts, AI-driven responsible gambling checks, and instant blockchain payouts.
The most successful systems won’t just use tech to make games flashier; they will use it to build trust. If game fairness and payout terms are hardcoded and transparent on the backend, players won’t have to take an operator’s marketing promises on faith.
However, technology alone doesn’t guarantee consumer safety. The future isn’t about building higher digital walls or relying purely on complex algorithms. The industry will be in a much healthier place when transparency, fair terms, and genuine player protection are baked into the technology itself.
Finally, after spending years in an industry built around probability and uncertainty, has your understanding of human nature changed?
It completely stripped away any room for harsh judgment. When you spend 14 years watching people chase patterns in pure randomness, you realize we aren’t built to process cold math; we are wired to crave narrative, anticipation, and connection. People aren’t acting “irrational”; they’re simply responding to ancient behavioral loops.
As Robert Sapolsky notes in Determined, our choices and responses are shaped by antecedent causes and biological luck long before we ever sit down at a machine. That realization changed everything for me. My job isn’t to judge human nature or lecture people on how to feel. It’s to cut through the marketing noise, test the actual data, and give everyday players the honest, unvarnished facts they need to navigate an uncertain world safely.
Editor’s Note:
Steve Thompson is a Melbourne-based casino analyst, founder of Pokies Australia, and former floor manager at Crown Casino. With over 14 years of real-money testing experience, Steve evaluates online operators through empirical data and rigorous 6-pillar audits. You can explore his full auditing methodology and latest casino payout logs at PokiesAustralia.com.
