Author profile · 7 years in the industry
Sam Kavanagh [September 2026]: Games & Live Casino Editor at outofthewoods.co.nz
Audits game libraries, RTP configurations and live dealer floors from an NZ IP.
Games & Live Casino Editor
Biography
Sam covers the games themselves: which studio actually supplies a lobby, what a stated return-to-player figure means when an operator can choose between three configurations of the same title, and whether a ‘live casino’ is a genuine Evolution feed or a white label with four tables and a buffering problem. Every table count published on this site was counted by Sam from a New Zealand IP address.
Credentials
- Seven years reviewing casino game libraries
- Tracks studio-level RTP configuration across 40+ operators
- Counts live dealer floors manually from an NZ IP each month
Areas of expertise
Pokies, RTP configuration, volatility, live dealer studios
Pages Sam owns
Sam Kavanagh writes and maintains the following pages. Each one is re-checked monthly and carries both the last-updated date and the date of the next scheduled review.
Editorial approach
Sam Kavanagh works to the standards set out on our methodology page: published weights, evidence collected first-hand, sample sizes attached to every measured figure, and a second editor fact-checking before publication. Sam does not accept operator input on drafts and does not write outside the beat above.
The rest of the team
Jordan Whitcombe
Editor-in-Chief — Runs the withdrawal-timing programme and signs off every ranking on this site.
Profile →Aroha Tainui
Regulation & Compliance Editor — Writes everything on this site that touches the law, from primary sources only.
Profile →Priya Raman
Payments & Data Editor — Owns the payments datasets — deposit rails, FX spreads and timed cashouts.
Profile →Manaia Kerr
Betting Editor — Prices offshore books against TAB NZ every week and reads odds as overrounds.
Profile →Contact Sam Kavanagh through the editorial inbox: [email protected].