Regions

How we rate online casinos

One of the best things about online casinos is the sheer variety of options. When it comes to land-based casinos, you usually have one or two near you. When it comes to online casinos, however? There are no borders involved. Every website is competing with each other on all fronts. This high level of competition makes offshore casinos excel in all areas. If they fail to do so, they are overtaken by other websites. For players, this means plenty of choices!

Of course, having many options can be just as troublesome as having none at all. Players can feel overwhelmed having to consider all the options. You have to consider bonuses, payment methods, available games, customer support, casino safety, and many other details. When reviewing an online casino, our team goes into detail for each of these categories.

We start each review with what games are available. For casino members, knowing how many games and software providers a website offers is essential. It is the simplest metric by which players can compare casinos. A website with more games has greater chances to hold releases that you want to play. We also highlight what developers are available in that online casino. If your favourite software provider is present in a casino, that will affect if you want to play there.

The second most important aspect of online casinos is what promotions it has available. Almost every website features deposit match offers and free spins. These are usually offered as separate bonuses and are tied together in a welcome offer. Other bonuses include cashback bonuses, tournaments, and no deposit promotions. We also consider the terms attached to these bonuses in our reviews. This helps players dodge shady promotions or overtly strict bonus rules.

A key area for every online casino is whether you can trust them. Your local brick-and-mortar casino is regulated by the territory itself. However, the vast majority of online casinos are offshore websites. Some provinces run their own online casinos, but most are based outside of Canada. Because of that, it is important to know you can trust a website. Our reviews check the operator’s prior history and if they have any active licenses. Both are great ways to confirm a website is safe to play in.

Being able to communicate with customer service quickly if something goes wrong is something we appreciate. We check what contact options we have when reaching out to the support staff. Most casinos allow us to contact them via live chat and e-mail.

Online casinos vs Land-based casinos

Online casinos are vastly different from their land-based counterparts. The reasons are numerous, and some might have become apparent just by reading this text. However, there are also areas where the differences are not so readily apparent.

That is why we will break down the differences between these two types of casinos. What are the upsides and downsides of online casinos?

Online casino pros

• When it comes to convenience, you cannot beat online casinos. Even if you live near a real-world venue, you need to take your time to travel there. Meanwhile, online casinos are available 24/7 and only require funds in your account and an internet connection. You can play from the comforts of your home or on the go!
• Because everything is handled digitally, the variety of games is much better. Slots, in particular, benefit heavily from this transition. They offer an impressive variety of special features and gameplay mechanics impossible for real-world slot machines. Other game types also use this to their benefit, such as live dealer games adding multipliers.
• The immersion factor is also no longer as big of an advantage for land-based casinos. With the rise of live casino games, players can enjoy all the table games as if they were in an actual casino. Cameras capture real dealers as they deal cards and interact with viewers. While not perfect, it helps close the gap considerably.
• Online casinos benefit from much larger competition than their land-based counterparts do. Because of that, they are always under pressure to offer more than their competition. Players have the benefit of playing with all kinds of awesome bonuses because of that.
• Bonuses, in particular, are unique for online casinos to a degree. Land-based casinos do offer some goodies for their players. However, they do not do so with the frequency or generosity that online casinos do. Owing to the increased competition between websites we mentioned earlier.

Online casino cons

• The convenience online casinos offer can also become a problem. With casino games being available all the time, players need to exercise greater self-control. Depending on what province you live in, you may have more or fewer programs to help you with handling an online gambling problem. Even then, there is far less control over the whole thing due to many online casinos being offshore.
• Another downside to offshore casinos is the lack of regulation. Now, this does not apply to all online casinos. There are some websites run by the provinces themselves that are clearly regulated. However, countless other casinos do not have any Canadian oversight. While other regulatory bodies might approve them, their jurisdiction does not include Canadian players.
• Immersion may be getting better thanks to live casino games. However, the experience of a real-world casino is still superior. Nothing can beat interacting with other people and seeing the reactions for a great hand of poker or a great craps dice roll. Outside of VR casinos taking off, we do not see this changing. However, something like that is still years off from happening.
• Land-based casinos can feature some niche games that online casinos have not yet adopted. Admittedly, this advantage is closing rapidly as developers continue to expand their game libraries. For the time being, brick-and-mortar venues still have a few aces up their sleeve. For how long? We do not know, but we are quite curious to find out.