Is online casino legal in Canada?
Since there are no Canadian laws to address online gambling, most experts say that you can’t break the rules by placing real money bets on the internet.
There are some world-class casinos that offer online gaming to Canadians, including Jackpot City, run by Microgaming/Digimedia. Microgaming have been making online games for as long as online casino has existed (they developed some of the first ever casinos, back in the 1990s)
So, whereas Canada has legalized most types of land-based casino games, online gaming has not yet been fully regulated. It appears that all this means is that Canadian companies are not allowed to offer online casino games. As a result, the entire market for online casino in Canada is run by the off-shore market.
Is Online Gambling Regulated in Canada?
Canada has one of the best regulatory bodies for online casinos licensing and ensuring fair play - the Kahnawake Commission. How is this possible, you may ask, when the Canadian Government doesn’t regulate online gambling?
This anomaly is possible due to the fact that the Kahnawake Commission is run by an Indian reservation. Because of this, it has a sovereign legal entity and is not bound by Canadian law. So it is in Canada, but it is not Canada and therefore has the right to regulate and licence offshore online casinos and Sportsbooks.
What age can I play at Canadian online casinos?
Because there is no Government regulation of online gambling in Canada, it is presumed that the general minimum would be 18, as would apply to brick-and-mortar casinos. Each gambling website will have their own terms and conditions, so you might find that some of them prefer to accept players only over the age of 21.
What games are available at Canadian online casinos?
Canadian casinos online offer a wide variety of games to play. The most popular games are the slot machines, which are available in all the casinos. You will also find a wide range of video slots, as well as table games. Table games will include blackjack, craps, roulette, various poker games and baccarat. Live casino games are also available at most casinos, including the Microgaming casinos.
Do Canadian casinos offer live dealer games?
Yes. Many online casinos, including those that accept Canadian players have a live casino. Microgaming casinos, like Jackpot City offer the following live games
For Poker enthusiasts there’s a choice of:
- • Classic 3 Card Poker
- • Caribbean Stud Poker
- • Live Casino Hold’em Poker
- • Live Dealer Ultimate Texas Hold’em Poker
- • Classic European Roulette
- • French Roulette
- • Immersive Roulette
- • Speed Roulette
- • Double Ball Roulette
- • Dual Play Roulette range of live games, including
- • Baccarat
- • Blackjack (classic)
- • Party Blackjack (lower limits than classic)
- • Live Dream Catcher (a game with a spinning wheel, very similar to Wheel of Fortune)
Which payment methods do Canadian gaming sites accept?
Nearly all good casinos for Canadians accept debit cards like VISA to make a deposit and many of them accept credit cards like American Express and Mastercard. The best methods, though, tend to be e-wallets, because they are much quicker, easier and carry far lower charges.
For many players, Interac is the best Canadian deposit method at the moment. As far as banking options go, it’s hard to beat Interac because it is incredibly fast and reliable for Canadian Dollar deposits.
Other than that, Bitcoin is becoming very popular with many casinos and is probably the fastest of them all. The main obstacle to using Bitcoin to make deposits (and quick cash-outs too), is setting it up. Setting up Bitcoin can take a bit of effort, but the casino will help you through the process and once it is done, it’s so easy that you never want to go back to old-fashioned methods.
How fast do Canadian online casinos pay out?
In general, Canadian casino pay out reasonably quickly, although there is certainly room for improvement. Many casinos state they payout in 48hrs, but in reality, it is usually 96hrs (4 working days), so if that 96 hours spans a weekend (non-working days), or a bank holiday, it could take as long as a week
The speed of payout depends, to some extent, on which payment method you use and also, how much the withdrawal is for. Withdrawing more than $4,000 per week can be difficult, but is possible if you use e-wallets, which are much easier and faster than using debit card or bank transfer.
Payments of major jackpots often have their own terms and conditions attached. For example, a win of $1million may take some time, over instalments. The good news is that the best casinos love their jackpot winners, because they are great marketing for them. This means you will get paid, even if it does come through in instalments.
What styles of slot machines are available to play online?
Online casinos now offer just about every style of slot you could imagine. That includes the old-fashioned 3 reel games, like Double Diamond and 12 Times Pay, the classic 5-reel mechanical reel slots like the original Quick Hit series, as well as video slots.
Online video slots often have multiple paylines and the gameplay includes bonus rounds, free spin rounds and scatter symbols, as well tumbling reels, pick and choose games and awesome movie clips. Whatever type of video slot machine you like in Vegas, or your local casino, there will be a version online.
The only two game types which appear to be under-represented online are 1) Japanese pachinko slots and 2) UK Pub fruit machines. These slightly obscure slot machines are very difficult to emulate on a small screen.
For the UK games, it’s because the game machines are enormous and offer so many features, there is no way to fit it all onto even the biggest 17” screen, never mind a mobile phone. In the case of pachinko, you cannot really emulate the ball bearings whizzing all over the place and the atmosphere that generates. However, never say never - these games may be coming to a screen near you sometime soon - we hope so, because they are great fun!
What are the top online slots in Canada?
Since Microgaming first started making slots for Canadians online, their games have consistently been the most popular. The all-time favourite games, by a long way, is Mega Moolah, which has huge jackpots. In recent times, someone in Canada won C$16,496,347.95 playing Mega Moolah at Jackpot City.
The top ten slots for Canadians online are:
• Mega Moolah (Huge Jackpots)
• Break da Bank
• Major Millions
• Mermaids Millions
• Thunderstruck
• Avalon II
• Game of Thrones
• Immortal Romance
• Playboy Gold
• Lara Croft Temples and Tombs
Although the best online slots are generally made by Microgaming, it is worth trying out the games by NetEnt, Cryptologic and Playtech, because they are wonderful too. There are also lots of new slots developers for online gaming in Canada.
These new software developers include QuickSpin, Play’nGo, Yggdrasil, Evolution Gaming, Red Tiger, Betsoft, Push Gaming, Pragmatic Play, NoLimit City, Foxium, Ash Gaming, Kalamba Games, Gaming Realms and Elk Studios. Phew, that a lot of games!!
How do I Choose a Good Canadian Online Casino?
So, there are two ways to pick out a great place to play:
1) simply pick our number 1 recommended online casino, Jackpot City, or;
2) try out a few of our recommendations and see which one you enjoy the most - maybe make a small deposit at each, to see which casino you enjoy the most playing real money.
In general, it is better to stick with one casino, once you have selected it, because you will be rewarded better in the VIP scheme, but there is no harm at all to playing at two or even three different places, especially if they offer you different games.
Where can I Find Honest Online Casino Reviews?
Yes, you guessed it, our site is the best place! That’s because we hire genuinely independent reviewers who are more than happy to do proper research - that means actually playing, making deposits, calling the customer support, cashing out and using the bonus offers. They are all encouraged to write a negative review if they have a bad experience and to be totally honest.
This level of honesty is what has made our reviews so famous and boy, have we seen some amazing critical reviews from our team! We are so proud of our writers.
At the same time, we also get incredible good reviews when our team has a good experience and their research show that other players also enjoy the casino. You can find reviews by click on our real money slots page and also our ‘online casinos’ page - just navigate to them at the top of the page, or use our search function and you will find what you are looking for.
Do Canadian Online Casinos Pay Out Progressive Jackpots?
Yes. Canadian online casinos are amongst the best in the world for offering progressive jackpots and actually paying it out when a player wins. If you pick the right online casino, you will be paid for your progressive jackpot slots in full.
So even though you may have read nightmare stories about players not getting paid jackpots at some casinos, the best casinos do pay out their winners.
Can I Play with Canadian Dollars?
Yes. Any good real money online casino will accept the Canadian Dollar. Casino sites like Jackpot City specialise in accepting currencies from all over the world, including CAD.