About Me - James Thompson, UK Online Casino Analyst

About the Author - James Thompson, UK Offshore Casino Analyst at Tikitaca.bet

1. Who I Am and What I Do

My name is James Thompson, and I spend my working days writing, researching and, when needed, quietly nagging from the sidelines as an independent casino analyst for Tikitaca.bet. My main job sounds simple when you say it out loud but takes a lot of hours to do properly: I review online casinos that accept players from the UK, with a particular focus on offshore sites and PAGCOR-licensed brands such as tikitaka-united-kingdom that are featured on Tikitaca.bet.

For the past four years I have been analysing offshore casinos, tracking how they actually treat British players, and comparing the shiny promises in the marketing with what really happens once you get into the terms and conditions, payment queues and dispute processes. I live in Manchester, and my work is grounded in the realities facing UK players using non-UKGC casinos: no direct UK legal recourse, unfamiliar overseas regulators, and bonus terms that often read far better in the advert than they feel when you try to withdraw.

If there is one consistent thread running through everything I write, it is this: I am far less interested in how exciting a casino looks on the homepage, and far more interested in how it behaves when something goes wrong. That is what I look for, what I unpack in reviews, and what I return to whenever I update a page or answer a reader's email from someone here in the UK who has hit a snag with an offshore site.

2. Expertise and Credentials

Before I started writing for Tikitaca.bet, I arrived at gambling from the slightly unglamorous world of numbers, small print and policy documents. I am a blogger and independent gambling reviewer by occupation, and for the last four years my day-to-day work has revolved around tasks such as:

• Reviewing offshore casinos that accept visitors from the UK, with a close eye on licence quality, payout reliability and recurring complaint patterns rather than just bonus size.
• Comparing the PAGCOR offshore licensing framework with the standards and expectations of the UK Gambling Commission, particularly for brands like TikiTaka operating under licence number 22-0025.
• Breaking down game catalogues - from slots and live dealer tables to football-themed titles - into something more meaningful than a vague promise of "thousands of games".
• Documenting withdrawal limits, KYC requirements and source-of-funds checks as they are applied in practice to British players, not just how they are described in the marketing copy.

My background is not as a professional gambler, and I have never worked for a casino operator. Instead, my experience comes from spending an unhealthy amount of time reading the small print and checking it against real outcomes. To keep myself consistent, I work with:

• Risk assessment frameworks tailored to non-UKGC casinos, asking basic but crucial questions such as "Who is the regulator?", "Where is the company registered?", and "What realistic options does a UK player have if they are not paid?"
• Simple statistical checks on bonus offers and game RTPs - enough to see whether a promotion is hard but fair, or whether it is structurally stacked against the player.
• Responsible gambling standards published by the UKGC and specialist UK charities, which I use as a benchmark when I look at the tools and policies offered by offshore operators.

I do not hold formal gambling certifications or regulator badges, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. My credibility rests on repeatable methods, clearly sourced information and reviews that can be checked line by line against verifiable facts: which licence is in place, which company sits behind the brand, and which protections are - or are not - realistically available to someone in the UK.

3. What I Specialise In

Once you have spent a few years reading offshore casino terms, certain patterns start to stand out. The same types of clauses, the same weak spots for players, and the same red flags appear again and again. As a result, my work has settled into several specialisation areas that matter especially to UK readers:

• Offshore and non-UKGC casino reviews - in particular PAGCOR-licensed sites like TikiTaka, where the operating company Liernin Enterprises LTD is registered in the Marshall Islands, licensed offshore in the Philippines, and yet actively targets UK players without holding a UKGC licence.
• UK-facing risk assessments - mapping what a PAGCOR licence means in reality for a British player (in short: it is a form of regulation, but it does not give you UK legal recourse or access to a UKADR scheme if things go wrong).
• Bonus and promotion analysis - taking apart welcome packages, reload bonuses, cashback deals and loyalty schemes, then comparing the headline numbers with the true cost once wagering rules, maximum bet limits, withdrawal caps and bonus-abuse clauses are taken into account. You can see this approach in practice on our bonuses & promotions page.
• Payment methods for UK players - checking which offshore sites reliably support UK debit card payments, e-wallets and bank transfers, how long withdrawals actually take in real cases, and where fees or exchange-rate charges tend to appear. These notes feed into our dedicated payment methods section.
• Game selection with a football bias - paying particular attention to football-themed slots and live dealer roulette tables aimed at UK fans, not because they are automatically good or bad, but because they are often used as hooks around big Premier League matches and international tournaments.
• Source-of-funds and affordability checks - explaining how offshore casinos approach these checks for British players, and how that compares with the much stricter and more intrusive regime enforced under UKGC rules for onshore sites.

The thread tying all of this together is UK relevance. I am not reviewing these casinos in a vacuum; I am reviewing them specifically for people in the UK who are being invited, often quite aggressively, to play on sites that sit outside the protection of their domestic regulator.

4. Articles, Guides and Other Work

Most of my published work currently lives here on Tikitaca.bet. Over the last four years I have written and regularly updated a substantial number of:

• Full casino reviews for offshore brands targeting the UK market, including an in-depth look at tikitaka-united-kingdom that follows the money trail from the front-end website back to Liernin Enterprises LTD and its PAGCOR licence.
• Practical how-to guides on topics such as reading bonus terms without missing the important lines, understanding withdrawal limits, and checking a casino's regulator - all of which are linked throughout this site and from our homepage.
• Responsible gambling explainers, with a focus on the extra self-control needed when you choose to play on non-UKGC sites. Many of these points are brought together on our dedicated responsible gaming page, which also sets out warning signs of problem gambling and ways to limit or stop your play.

Rather than trying to cover every casino on earth, I prioritise depth and ongoing updates. A typical review will be revisited whenever, for example:

• The licence changes (for instance, if an offshore brand gains or loses access to a particular jurisdiction or regulator).
• Withdrawal rules are amended, especially anything that affects how much a player can cash out from a large win or how quickly they are paid.
• New responsible gambling tools are added, changed or removed, such as deposit limits, time-outs or self-exclusion options.

From a reader's point of view, the benefit is straightforward: you are not just seeing my opinion on a random Thursday in 2023 or 2025, but an ongoing record of how a casino like TikiTaka behaves over time. That long view is what many UK players ultimately rely on when deciding whether to sign up, how much to deposit, and at what point to walk away.

5. Mission, Values and How I Review Casinos

If you have read more than one of my pieces, you will probably have picked up that I am not easily swayed by bright graphics, "exclusive" VIP labels or ticking countdown timers. When I sit down to review an offshore casino that accepts UK players, my priorities are, in this order:

• Player-first, not casino-first - I approach each review by asking what can go wrong for a UK player, rather than how generous the headline bonus looks. A flashy offer is meaningless if withdrawals are delayed, documents are repeatedly re-requested, or terms are quietly used to justify non-payment after a win.
• Responsible gambling - offshore casinos are not bound by the same UKGC rules on affordability, marketing or self-exclusion. When I assess a site, I look closely at which tools are actually available to help you set limits, take a break or close your account, how easy they are to find in the cashier or settings, and how they compare with the standards described on our responsible gaming page.
• Transparency about affiliations - Tikitaca.bet earns revenue through affiliate partnerships, and my work sits within that commercial model. When I recommend, cautiously recommend, or warn against a casino, I do so on the basis of its licence, behaviour and terms, not the commission rate attached to the link. Where it is relevant, I explain the nature of the relationship in plain language so you can see the context.
• Fact-checking and regular updates - ownership structures change, licence statuses are updated, and terms are rewritten. I treat each significant change as a prompt to revisit my conclusions. If TikiTaka were ever to obtain a UKGC licence, for example, that would fundamentally change the way I discuss it with UK readers, and the review would be updated accordingly.
• Strict avoidance of "get rich" narratives - I do not promote systems, guaranteed strategies or any suggestion that gambling can be used as a steady income stream. Wins happen, sometimes big ones, but for the typical recreational player the long-term expectation is a loss. Casino games, slots, live tables and sports bets are forms of entertainment with real financial risk, not investments or side hustles, and I underline that repeatedly across the site.

Running through all of this is a simple belief: a well-informed, realistic player is much harder to exploit. My role at Tikitaca.bet is to provide that clarity for UK readers - including clear warnings about the risks - even when it makes a casino or a particular bonus look less exciting than its adverts suggest.

If you recognise any of the warning signs outlined on our responsible gaming page - chasing losses, hiding play from family, borrowing to gamble, or finding it difficult to stop - please treat that as more important than any review. Tools such as deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion exist to protect you, and using them is always more important than squeezing one more session out of a balance.

6. UK Market and Regulatory Focus

Everything I write is filtered through the lens of living, working and banking in the UK. That shapes what I pay attention to and how I describe the risks of offshore casinos. In practice, it means:

• Legal context - I track the difference between playing on a site licensed by the UK Gambling Commission and one licensed offshore by regulators such as PAGCOR. In the specific case of TikiTaka, my reviews stress that it currently holds no UKGC remote gambling licence, and that UK players therefore do not benefit from the usual UK protections, ADR services or the option to escalate complaints through a UK ombudsman.
• Banking and payment habits - I look at how casinos handle UK debit cards, local bank transfers and common e-wallets, including any extra verification steps, currency conversion issues and typical withdrawal times that British customers actually report. These findings are fed back into our payment methods coverage so that you can see what tends to happen in practice rather than in theory.
• Cultural attitudes - gambling in Britain occupies an odd space: betting on the football or the Grand National is widely accepted, but there is also growing concern about harm and advertising. I keep a close eye on how offshore brands market to UK audiences, especially where the tone brushes up against UK advertising expectations or responsible gambling norms.
• Local information networks - over time I have built a small but helpful network of UK players, affiliate managers and compliance staff who are willing to share how specific brands handle disputes, source-of-funds questions and large wins. I do not quote private conversations directly, but these insights shape the questions I ask of each new casino and the weight I give to certain risks in my write-ups.

So when I describe a casino as "higher risk for UK players", that judgement is based on UK regulation, UK payment rails and UK expectations, not a generic international view of the gambling industry.

7. A Small Personal Note

I am occasionally asked whether I gamble myself. The honest answer is: yes, but only very lightly. A short session on low-stakes football-themed slots or a few cautious spins on live dealer roulette is usually enough for me to understand how a site feels to use and to test how it handles deposits, limits and withdrawals in real life. My personal rule is straightforward: never stake more than I would be genuinely comfortable losing on a quiet evening in, and always set a firm limit before I log in. It is the same principle I encourage in my readers, because casino play is entertainment with risk attached - not a money-making plan - and I will not recommend behaviours I am not prepared to follow myself.

8. Examples of My Work on Tikitaca.bet

If you would like to see how all of this theory turns into something practical, there are a few areas of this site that give a good flavour of my work:

• The detailed review of tikitaka-united-kingdom, where I walk through its PAGCOR licence, offshore status, lack of UKGC oversight, and what that combination means in reality for recourse and risk levels for UK players.
• Our bonuses & promotions section, which reflects my habit of comparing headline offers with the effective house edge once wagering, maximum bet rules, withdrawal caps and other restrictions are taken into account.
• The payment methods page, where I contribute analysis on typical processing times, extra checks and common friction points affecting UK debit cards and other everyday options.
• The responsible gaming page, which brings together guidance on setting sensible limits, recognising the signs of gambling harm, using self-exclusion tools and finding external support - all of which becomes even more important, not less, when you choose to use offshore casinos.
• Our faq, where I answer recurring questions about offshore licences, complaint routes, dispute options and how to read casino terms without missing the lines that really matter.

Across these sections, and in the individual casino reviews that sit behind them, my aim is consistent: to turn marketing claims into concrete checks. Rather than simply describing a casino as "safe" or "trustworthy", I encourage readers to look at:

• Who regulates the site, in which jurisdiction, and how easy it is to verify the licence.
• How withdrawal limits, document requests and KYC checks tend to play out for UK customers.
• What a realistic worst-case scenario might look like if a dispute arises and the casino or regulator is based offshore.

The more of my work you read, the more you will notice the same questions being asked again and again. That repetition is deliberate. It helps to keep me honest, and it allows you to compare my review of a brand like TikiTaka against reviews of its close competitors on a point-by-point basis, rather than relying on vague impressions.

9. How to Contact Me

If you have a question about something I have written, have spotted a possible error, or simply want a clause in a casino's terms translated into plain English, I genuinely encourage you to get in touch. You can reach me via:

• Through the site's contact us page, which is monitored regularly.

I cannot resolve disputes on your behalf, and I am not a solicitor or financial adviser, but I can usually help you understand what the rules actually say, how they differ between UKGC-regulated and offshore casinos, and where the main risks lie for someone based in the UK. Offering that kind of clarity - including clear reminders that casino games are risky entertainment, not a way to earn money - is ultimately what my role at Tikitaca.bet is about.

Last updated: November 2025. This article is an independent review written by an external casino analyst for Tikitaca.bet and is not an official page of the TikiTaka casino or any operator behind tikitaka-united-kingdom.

(Professional headshot of author, neutral background, no gambling imagery)