Is there an "independent" ranking for the best casinos?
No casino is best. If for a user, a particular casino is best, then it doesn’t mean that it will be best for you also. What you should search for is their trustworthiness and reputation. Before joining any sites, it’s ideal to read about their terms and conditions. See that if you fulfill all their terms and conditions so that later on then can’t give the excuse of violation of T&Cs. Then check for the site's UI and the fastness of games. I can name a few sites that are good and best according to me. Try stake.com and duelbits; both are good and trusted for now.
We can suggest to one or more casinos to others but they will need to find out by themselves. They can not just following our suggestion without research and test because that will related to the comfortable feeling. What we feels good, can not happen to others.
I already give some casinos list to my closest friends but I tell them to be careful and only use small money at first. That is for to know what their feeling about the casino. If they can feels comfort gambling in that casino, they can continue but still, they must not use too big moeny.
Yes, reading the ToS is needed because the ToS between one casino and others will be different. Stake and Duelbits is good suggestion. You give two casinos that has been trusted by many members here.