Dan James, Senior Content Manager at Casino Owls
Dan James leads the Australian content team at Casino Owls. He has worked in online gambling since 2015, after seven years as a professional poker player, and he checks every casino review against the casino’s own terms before it is published. Follow Dan on X.
What does Dan do at Casino Owls?
Dan is responsible for every casino review and payment guide we publish for Australian players. His work covers four areas:
- Casino reviews: he reviews offshore casinos that accept Australians and reads their general terms, bonus terms and payment rules.
- Payout rules: he checks processing times, withdrawal limits and the rules that can hold back a payout.
- ACMA status: he checks whether a casino’s domains are on ACMA’s list of blocked gambling websites and makes sure each review says so.
- Australian payments: he makes sure our guides reflect the payment methods Australians actually use, such as PayID, and the rules that apply to them.
Every score follows the method on our how we rate casinos page.
What is Dan’s background?
Dan played poker professionally from 2008 to 2015, mostly cash games. At the highest stakes he hit a downswing in which he lost about $700,000 in a single session of cash games on PokerStars. After a break from the game, he moved to the operator side of the industry in 2015.
From 2015 to 2020 he worked in-house as a content manager for online casinos, and he has worked with some of the big names in the industry, such as LeoVegas, Betsson and Unibet (now Kindred). He then wrote about gambling as a freelancer from 2020 to 2022, before joining Casino Owls as content team lead in 2022.
His background in poker and computer science shapes how he reviews casinos: he focuses on the numbers, such as wagering, withdrawal limits and RTP, and on what a casino’s terms actually allow.
Awards and press mentions
In 2023, Dan was named Rising Star at the Malta Content Awards, the first individual award of his career. He has been mentioned by:
Dan’s best and worst casino memories
Best casino memory
A night out at a Toronto casino during college. A friend started with C$500, turned it into about ten times that and then put the lot on black at roulette. A small crowd gathered around the table shouting “black, black”, and it came in.
Worst casino memory
Not a casino, but a poker table: the session on PokerStars cash games where he lost about $700,000 while on tilt. Looking back, it turned out to be a good experience.
Professional journey
- Senior Content Manager, Casino Owls: 2024 to present
- Content Team Lead, Casino Owls: 2022 to 2024
- Freelance gambling content writer: 2020 to 2022
- In-house content manager, online casinos: 2015 to 2020
- Professional poker player: 2008 to 2015
Education
Bachelor in Computer Science, University of Toronto.
Have a question about one of Dan’s reviews or spotted something that has changed? Contact us and it will reach him.
