Board Game Arena

I'm a new developer who got my first game into alpha a few weeks ago. Its been going well, I got a few bug reports and have been fixing them. So far I've had eight five * reviews, however I don't have any approvals yet.

How long does it typically take to get the approvals needed? are reviewers pretty strict about handing them out?

Any feedback or advice is appreciated.

really depends on the game and the publisher.
getting 10 approvals can take weeks if not months
When the publisher want to get into beta earlier he can request a beta without the approvals, but that is not always granted.