How we Choose Canadian Casinos to Review
Unlike most review portals, our focus is strictly also on the Canadian demographic. As such, the best online casinos in our opinion are those that offer good Canadian orientated gaming, Local free toll CA support, and CAD banking, along with multilingual interface for those who prefer gaming in English and French. Most of the casinos we list are also online casino awards winners. The casino also needs to offer some form of customer support available to Canadians. The best will have a toll-free Canadian number, a live 24/7 chat as well as more traditional e-mail or contact form support in both French and English.
The following is our 20 point review process:
- Accept Canadians
- Take Canadian dollars
- French and English play options (French is mandatory for our French site)
- Casino licensing jurisdiction such as UKGC, Malta, Kahnawake, Gibraltar
- Casino Game RTP auditing such eCOGRA
- Secure website with SSL (https) and web protection
- Secure Financial transactions. The whole process must be secure
- Banking methods, deposits and withdrawals, available in Canada
- Payout times, maximum payout amounts and reliability
- Breakdown of Software Providers
- Casino Games number, free demo play and type (Live Casino, Online Slots, Table Games, other Casino Games)
- Look, Feel and Speed of the website
- Quality of the Mobile Casino offering
- Welcome Bonus review
- Welcome Bonus terms and conditions
- General terms and conditions
- Customer support options in French and English and availability
- Loyalty Rewards and VIP
- Ongoing Promotions
- Responsible Gambling options (opt outs, gambling limits)
Top Casino Licensing Authorities
UKGC Gambling Commission
Malta Gaming Authority
Gibraltar Gaming Association
Kahnawake Gaming Authority
Review Criteria for Canadians
We review many facets of a casino and consider these the most important in deciding which casino may best suit you. Keep in mind that the casino does not even make the list if it does not meet the basic criteria of being properly licensed, offer secure transactions, allow Canadians to register and accept CAD. So the following are the more important factors that we highlight in each casino review.
Casino Welcome Bonus Review
We do focus on the Welcome Bonus at each casino as this is a great way to get started at each of our casinos. We will comment on all the details as well as terms and conditions that stand out. Things like wagering and minimum deposits as well as how long you have to accept and finish the wagering. We will also give you a general sense of how it compares to other online casinos and whether or not is worth accepting.
The following is our 10 point Welcome Bonus review process:
- Overall bonus size
- Focus on 1st Deposit bonus
- How many deposit bonuses
- Minimum and maximum deposits
- Free Spins and type (minimum deposit, no deposit, no wager)
- Wagering requirements
- Welcome bonus terms and conditions
- Time to use the bonus
- Maximum payouts from bonus or free spins
- Bonus abuse terms
Casinos to Avoid and Blacklisted Casinos
So what do we do with all the casinos we come across that don't meet our criteria for a trusted online casino site? Well, there are plenty of casino scams out there. these may not be obvious at first but we manage to look deep enough to find those that can't be trusted. Immediate red flags include bad or non-existent licensing, predatory terms and conditions and unclear Welcome bonuses that appear to good to be true, and thus probably are not true. We would put up a list of blacklisted casinos but this is really an exercise in futility. The bad casinos come online faster than we can review them.
What do we suggest? Well, to start, read through what we have to say about the casinos we promote. Understand what we look for and what is important to note when deciding on a casino. I hope, that if you made it this far, you have begun to trust what our knowledge of the industry and we can prove to you why we believe in the casinos we list here.
The best Canadian online casinos are licensed in proper jurisdictions and audited by trusted institutions and offer the gambler the ability to have mediation with a third party if things go wrong.
How to Review Terms and Conditions
Look, no one wants to read the T&Cs. We often just click the checkbox and move on, but with online casinos there are a few important things that need to be taken from the terms and conditions. We highlight on every review the relevant bonus terms and conditions. We also look at the general terms and conditions to ensure there is no suspicious wording in there.
Bonus Terms and Conditions
Most of what is important in the bonus terms and conditions rests in how you can use your bonus. Things like the time you have to use the bonus, the wagering requirements needed to bet before you can cash out your bonus, the time you have to meet those requirements and maximum amount you can win from a bonus are all things that help determine if a bonus is good or not.
Bonus Abuse Terms
Bonus abuse is also a big deal with online casinos and how they define that is written clearly in the T&Cs. generally you will be looking at the maximum you are allowed to bet while in the time period you are meeting your wagering requirements. This is usually around $5. There will be games that do not count towards the bonus wagering requirements but, in addition, they casino may ban certain types of bets. For instance, most casinos will not allow you to complete your wagering requirements on "even bets". That is bets like Red or Black or Pass or Don't Pass type of bets. The casinos are obviously not in the business of losing money and the welcome bonus often skews towards the player taking home winnings. If they allowed it to be uncontrolled, the casino would be out of business pretty quick and we would all be lacking in opportunities to gamble online.
General Terms and Conditions
These are used to cover the casino legally. Often these terms include definitions and most of it is fairly standard. Of note, a normal term is that if a game breaks down or a connection is lost, the casino is usually not liable for any wins or losses. This makes it even more important in our review that we test the security and speed of casino on both desktop, mobile and through downloaded programs. Game stability is an important factor. We do look for predatory terms such as those that effectively give the player no recourse when anything goes wrong.
Bottom Line on Canadian Online Casino Reviews
Our reviews can be used as a guide, enabling YOU to determine which sites are the best choices for playing casino games with good bonuses, including both free casino spins and no deposit casino bonuses, games collection, mobile compatibility, promotions, and customer support. We strive for accuracy above all else so that you will have the best available information to make your decision. You may agree or disagree with our opinion but we hope you at least trust our information.
Canadian Casino Review FAQ
