Marcus Fenn

Who I Am

I'm Marcus — the founder of VignettesYEG and the lead reviewer behind every casino on this site. I started this project because I was tired of reading casino "reviews" written by people who had never actually deposited a cent. Most review sites rank casinos based on who pays the highest affiliate commission. I rank the best online casinos in Canada based on what happened when I played with my own money.

I'm based in Edmonton, Alberta. I still work part-time at a climbing gym on Whyte Ave. My buddy Cole Brisson handles the payout testing alongside me — between the two of us, we've covered more withdrawal data than any other independent Canadian review site. This isn't some content farm — it's a genuine attempt to give Canadian players the honest information they deserve.

How I Got Here

In 2020, like a lot of Canadians, I had more free time than I knew what to do with. I started playing online casinos between shifts at a Jasper Avenue coffee shop — small C$20 sessions on Book of Dead, nothing serious. But I got hooked on the process: which sites were smooth, which ones made withdrawals a nightmare, which bonuses were actually worth claiming.

The turning point came when I claimed a "C$5,000 welcome bonus" at a Curacao-licensed casino, played through C$12,000 in wagers over three weeks, then discovered a buried clause capping my cashout at C$100. That experience made me furious — and methodical.

I started tracking every single withdrawal in a spreadsheet. One casino became five. Five became twenty. By the time I'd tested 84 casinos with real money, I had the most detailed Canadian player dataset I'd ever seen — and nobody else was publishing anything like it. So I built this site.

My Testing Method

Every casino on VignettesYEG goes through the same 8-step review process:

• Real deposits — I deposit my own Canadian dollars via Interac, Visa, or crypto. No demo accounts, no press kits.
• Real play sessions — I play for at minimum 2-3 hours across slots, table games, and live dealer before forming an opinion.
• Timed withdrawals — I request a withdrawal and time it to the minute. Every single one. 312 withdrawals timed and documented so far.
• Support tested — I contact live chat at off-hours (usually 2-3am) to see what happens when you actually need help.
• Terms read in full — I read every bonus T&C, wagering requirement, and max cashout clause so you don't have to.
• 90-day re-tests — Casinos get re-tested every 90 days. If quality drops, the ranking changes. If a casino stops paying reliably, it gets removed.

By the Numbers

What I Focus On

Every review I write comes back to one question: can you actually get your money out, and how fast? See the current top-rated Canadian casinos for my latest picks.

I don't care about flashy lobbies or how many thousands of games a casino claims. I care about whether your Interac withdrawal lands in 24 hours or 5 business days. I care about whether the support agent at 3am actually knows the product. I care about whether that "C$5,000 bonus" has a 70x wagering requirement buried in paragraph 14 of the terms.

My specialty is Canadian payment methods — Interac, eTransfer, and the increasingly popular crypto options. I know exactly how fast each casino pays through each method because I've tested them all, multiple times, and documented everything. See the full results in my fast payout casinos ranking.

Get in Touch

Have a question about a casino? Want to flag something I got wrong? Reach me at marcus@vignettesyeg.ca or through the contact page. I read everything and reply to most messages within 48 hours.