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Cookies at a Glance
The table below gives a quick overview of the main cookie categories used on this website. It is designed to help visitors understand which cookies are essential and which cookies depend on consent.
| Cookie category | Main purpose | Consent status | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary cookies | Keep the website, security features, forms, consent settings, and page navigation working. | Usually required and cannot be switched off through the site banner. | Session to 12 months. |
| Performance and analytics cookies | Help us understand page visits, traffic sources, scroll behaviour, and content performance. | Used only where consent or another valid setting allows it. | Session to 24 months. |
| Functional cookies | Remember choices such as region, display preferences, or previous cookie selections. | May require consent unless strictly necessary for a requested feature. | Session to 12 months. |
| Affiliate tracking cookies | Help record clicks from comparison pages to partner websites and attribute referrals. | Used where required consent has been provided or where permitted by applicable rules. | Usually 24 hours to 90 days. |
| Advertising cookies | Support ad measurement, audience understanding, and relevant marketing where used. | Optional and controlled through consent choices. | Session to 13 months or partner-defined period. |
Cookie names and expiry periods can change when website tools, plugins, analytics systems, or affiliate partners are updated. We aim to keep this page clear and current, but users should also check the live cookie banner for the latest consent options.
What Cookies and Similar Technologies Are
Cookies
Cookies are small text files placed on your browser or device when you open a website. They can help a page remember basic information, such as whether you accepted a cookie banner, which pages were visited, or how a session should continue. Some cookies last only while the browser is open, while others remain for a set period.
Similar Technologies
Similar technologies can include pixels, tags, scripts, local storage, SDKs, and device identifiers. These tools can perform functions similar to cookies, such as measuring visits, remembering preferences, or helping affiliate links work correctly. In this policy, the word “cookies” also refers to these related technologies where relevant.
First-Party Cookies
First-party cookies are set by this website. They may support basic site operation, cookie consent storage, security checks, page display, internal analytics, and user preferences. These cookies are usually easier to identify because they are connected directly to the domain you are visiting.
Third-Party Cookies
Third-party cookies are set by another company whose tools appear on this site. This may include analytics providers, affiliate tracking systems, advertising partners, security tools, embedded content, or tag management platforms. These providers may use their own cookies according to their own privacy and cookie policies.
Why We Use Cookies
Cookies help the website operate, measure content quality, and support the affiliate comparison model used across our poker pages. The site may use cookies for the purposes below.
Website Operation
Essential cookies help pages load correctly, keep the site secure, prevent repeated prompts, remember cookie choices, and maintain basic navigation. Without these cookies, certain parts of the site may not work as expected, including consent controls, forms, or protected technical functions.
Performance Measurement
Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors use the website. They may show which pages receive traffic, which sections users read, how often comparison tables are viewed, and where technical issues appear. This information helps us improve page structure and content usefulness.
Affiliate Link Tracking
As a poker comparison website, we may use affiliate tracking cookies when users click links to third-party operators. These cookies help record that a visitor came from our website. They may also support commission attribution if the visitor later registers or performs another qualifying action on a partner site.
Advertising and Campaign Measurement
Advertising cookies may help measure campaign performance or show relevant content on other websites where permitted. These cookies are not required for the site to work. You can reject them through consent controls if you do not want optional marketing or ad measurement cookies to be used.
User Preferences
Some cookies remember choices that improve browsing. This may include cookie banner decisions, display settings, language or region preferences, and whether a message has already been shown. These cookies reduce repeated prompts and make repeat visits easier to manage.
Security and Abuse Prevention
Security cookies help detect suspicious traffic, protect forms, support anti-spam tools, and keep the website available. These cookies may be necessary to protect the site, its users, and the technical systems that keep pages accessible.
Cookie Categories Used on This Website
The categories below explain how cookies are grouped. Some categories are essential, while others are optional and can be managed through cookie settings.
| Category | What it does | Examples of use | Can users disable it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Supports core website functions. | Consent storage, security checks, page loading, form protection. | Not through the cookie banner, because the site needs them to work. |
| Performance and analytics | Measures how visitors use pages and content. | Page views, traffic sources, click paths, technical performance. | Yes, through consent settings or browser controls. |
| Functional | Remembers choices and improves usability. | Display preferences, repeated message controls, region choices. | Usually yes, unless needed for a requested feature. |
| Affiliate tracking | Records referral clicks to partner sites. | Outbound link attribution, partner reporting, commission tracking. | Yes, where consent is required and controls are available. |
| Advertising and marketing | Supports campaign measurement and relevant ads. | Ad performance, remarketing, audience measurement. | Yes, these are optional cookies. |
| Security | Protects website access and reduces misuse. | Spam prevention, bot detection, abnormal traffic checks. | Some may be essential and cannot be disabled through the banner. |
Examples of Cookies That May Be Used
The exact cookie names on the site may change when plugins, analytics services, consent tools, or affiliate partners are updated. The table below lists common examples that may appear on a comparison website like this one. It should be checked against the live cookie scan used by the website.
| Example cookie or technology | Category | Purpose | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| cookie_consent / consent_preferences | Strictly necessary | Stores whether a visitor accepted, rejected, or customised cookie categories. | 6 to 12 months. |
| session_id / PHPSESSID | Strictly necessary | Maintains a temporary browsing session and supports site functionality. | Session. |
| security_token / anti_spam_check | Security | Helps protect forms, page access, or technical systems from misuse. | Session to several months. |
| _ga / _ga_* | Analytics | May be used by analytics tools to distinguish visits and measure page usage. | Up to 24 months. |
| _gid | Analytics | May be used to distinguish users for short-term analytics measurement. | Usually 24 hours. |
| _fbp | Advertising | May support advertising measurement where Meta tools are used. | Usually up to 3 months. |
| gclid / advertising click identifiers | Advertising | May help measure ad campaign clicks and conversions. | Varies by provider. |
| affiliate_click_id / referral_id | Affiliate tracking | May record the source of an outbound click to an operator or partner website. | 24 hours to 90 days. |
| utm parameters / campaign tags | Analytics or affiliate measurement | May help understand where visitors came from and which campaigns perform. | Session to several months. |
Some entries above are examples rather than a guaranteed live cookie list. Website owners should periodically compare this table against the actual cookies set by the live website, the consent management platform, and any third-party scripts installed through tag management.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly necessary cookies are required for the website to function properly. They may keep pages loading correctly, remember cookie preferences, support security tools, and make sure basic features work during your visit.
These cookies do not usually identify you for marketing purposes. They are not used to build advertising profiles. If you block them through browser settings, parts of the site may load incorrectly or become harder to use.
- Remembering whether you accepted or rejected optional cookies.
- Keeping basic security and anti-spam protections active.
- Supporting page navigation and technical stability.
- Preventing repeated cookie banners from appearing after a choice has been made.
Analytics and Performance Cookies
Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors move around the website. They may show which pages are most useful, whether users interact with comparison tables, which internal links are clicked, and where visitors leave the site.
We use this information to improve page quality, update content, fix technical issues, and make the website easier to browse. Analytics data is normally viewed in aggregate form. Where analytics tools collect personal data or use non-essential cookies, they are controlled through consent choices.
| Analytics use | Why it matters | Example measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Page performance | Helps identify slow or broken pages. | Load time, bounce rate, technical errors. |
| Content improvement | Shows which sections visitors actually use. | Table views, scroll depth, FAQ interactions. |
| Navigation improvement | Helps improve internal linking and menus. | Clicks between review pages, bonus pages, and payment pages. |
| Traffic understanding | Shows how users find the website. | Search, referral, direct visits, campaigns. |
Affiliate Tracking Cookies
Best Poker Sites UK operates as an affiliate comparison website. This means we may receive a commission when a visitor clicks from our website to a third-party operator and later completes a qualifying action, such as registration or another activity defined by that operator.
Affiliate tracking cookies and related click identifiers help partner systems understand that a visit came from this website. This tracking may be handled by the operator, an affiliate network, a tracking platform, or another technical provider involved in attribution.
- Recording that a user clicked an outbound partner link.
- Helping a partner attribute a registration or qualifying action.
- Preventing commission disputes and duplicate attribution.
- Measuring which comparison pages and offers are useful to visitors.
Affiliate cookies do not give us access to your account with a third-party operator. Once you leave this website, the partner site’s own privacy policy, cookie policy, and terms apply.
Advertising and Marketing Cookies
Advertising cookies may be used to measure promotional activity or support relevant marketing where such tools are active. They may help understand whether an ad campaign led to a website visit or whether certain content performs better with specific audiences.
These cookies are optional. They are not required for the website to function and should only be used where allowed by your consent choices. Rejecting advertising cookies will not prevent access to the main editorial content on the website.
Advertising partners may combine cookie data with other information they hold according to their own policies. You should review the privacy and cookie notices of any third-party advertising services if you want more detail about how they process data.
Third-Party Tools and Partners
Some cookies may be set by third-party tools used on the website. These tools can support analytics, advertising, affiliate tracking, technical performance, security, consent management, or embedded content. The exact provider list may change as the website is updated.
| Provider type | Why it may be used | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Analytics provider | Measures visits, content performance, and technical issues. | Whether analytics cookies are enabled in your consent settings. |
| Affiliate network | Tracks outbound referral clicks and commission attribution. | The partner’s cookie policy after you click an operator link. |
| Advertising platform | Measures ad performance and campaign conversions. | Whether marketing cookies are accepted or rejected. |
| Consent management tool | Stores cookie choices and controls optional scripts. | Whether your current preferences are accurate. |
| Security or anti-spam service | Protects forms, pages, and technical systems. | Whether the cookie is necessary for site protection. |
| Embedded content provider | Displays external media, widgets, or interactive elements. | The third-party policy before interacting with embedded content. |
When you click a link to an external operator, payment provider, app store, social platform, or other website, you leave our website. We do not control cookies placed by those external sites.
How Long Cookies Stay on Your Device
Cookie duration depends on the cookie type, provider, and purpose. Some cookies disappear when you close your browser. Others remain for a set period so they can remember your settings or measure repeat visits.
| Cookie duration type | How it works | Common use |
|---|---|---|
| Session cookies | Expire when the browser session ends. | Temporary page functions and session stability. |
| Persistent cookies | Remain until they expire or are deleted manually. | Consent settings, preferences, analytics, affiliate attribution. |
| Short-term cookies | Remain for hours or days. | Security checks, temporary analytics, click attribution. |
| Longer-term cookies | Remain for months or longer where appropriate. | Consent records, performance analytics, campaign measurement. |
You can delete cookies through your browser at any time. If you delete consent cookies, the cookie banner may appear again because the website will no longer remember your previous choice.
How to Manage Cookie Preferences
You can control cookies in several ways. The easiest option is to use the cookie banner or preference panel shown on the website. You can also manage cookies through your browser settings.
Cookie Banner Controls
The cookie banner allows you to accept, reject, or customise optional cookie categories where available. Your choice is stored so that the website can remember it during future visits. You can change your choice if the preference panel is available on the site.
Browser Settings
Most browsers allow users to block cookies, delete existing cookies, clear site data, or prevent certain third-party cookies. Browser controls can be useful if you want a wider privacy setting across multiple websites, not just this one.
Device Settings
Mobile devices may include privacy controls for apps, browsers, advertising identifiers, and tracking permissions. These settings can affect how cookies or similar identifiers work on phones and tablets.
Third-Party Opt-Out Tools
Some advertising and analytics providers offer their own opt-out tools. These tools may help limit tracking across websites that use the same provider. Their effect depends on the provider, browser, and device being used.
Blocking all cookies may affect how some websites work. Essential cookies may still be required for basic security, consent storage, and page functionality.
Cookies and Personal Data
Some cookies may involve personal data if they can identify a visitor directly or indirectly. This may include online identifiers, device information, IP-related data, click identifiers, or browsing activity connected to a user profile.
Where cookies involve personal data, processing is handled in line with our Privacy Policy. That policy explains what data may be collected, why it may be used, how long it may be kept, and which rights users may have.
Cookies used only for essential technical functions are treated differently from optional cookies used for analytics, advertising, or affiliate measurement. Optional cookies are controlled through consent settings where required.
Cookies on External Operator Websites
Our website contains links to third-party poker, casino, betting, payment, or related operator websites. These external websites may use their own cookies, pixels, analytics systems, and affiliate tracking technologies.
When you click through to an external website, that operator becomes responsible for its own cookie practices. You should read the operator’s cookie policy, privacy policy, bonus terms, and account terms before registering or making a deposit.
- External websites may set cookies immediately when you land on their pages.
- Operator cookie rules may differ from this website’s cookie settings.
- Affiliate tracking may continue on partner systems after you leave our site.
- Payment, KYC, and account cookies are controlled by the operator, not by us.
Cookies and Gambling-Related Content
This website publishes comparison content about poker sites, bonuses, payments, apps, and related gambling products. Cookies may help us understand which sections users find useful, but they do not decide whether a user is eligible to gamble.
Age checks, identity verification, safer gambling tools, payment controls, and account restrictions are handled by the relevant licensed operator. Users should only access gambling services where legal, age-appropriate, and suitable for their personal circumstances.
Cookie-based personalisation should not be treated as gambling advice. Content on this website is for information and comparison purposes only.
Updates to This Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy when website tools, cookie categories, partners, legal requirements, or internal practices change. The updated date at the top of the page shows when the policy was last revised.
If material changes are made, we may update the cookie banner or ask visitors to review their preferences again. Continuing to use the site after changes are published means the updated policy applies from that point onward.
Contact About Cookies
If you have questions about this Cookie Policy or how cookies are used on the website, contact the site owner through the contact details provided on the website. Please include “Cookie Policy” in the subject line so the request can be identified clearly.
If a dedicated contact email is available, add it here: [insert contact email].
Cookie Policy FAQ
