How I Review Online Casinos in Canada

This is the first thing I check, and it's the only step that's entirely binary. Either a casino holds a legitimate license or it doesn't make my list. Period.

I verify licenses directly with the issuing authority — not by looking at the badge in the casino's footer (those can be faked). I check the Malta Gaming Authority's public register, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission's authorized list, AGCO's iGaming Ontario registry, and Curacao eGaming's license database. If the license number in the footer doesn't match an active entry in the regulator's own records, the casino is disqualified immediately.

Not all licenses are equal. Here's how I rank the regulatory bodies:

Beyond the license itself, I verify SSL encryption (must be 256-bit minimum), check for published RTP audit reports from agencies like eCOGRA or iTech Labs, and confirm the casino uses a random number generator that's been independently tested.

If a casino passes this step, it earns the right to be evaluated. If it doesn't, nothing else matters — I don't care how big the bonus is.

I sign up the same way you would — as a regular Canadian player. No VIP invitations, no affiliate manager setting up a test account. I use a real Alberta address, provide real KYC documents, and deposit with a standard Interac account.

During registration, I'm tracking several things:

• Registration time: How long does it take from clicking "Sign Up" to having a funded account? The best casinos get you playing in under 5 minutes. Some take 20+ minutes because of clunky verification processes.
• KYC friction: When is identity verification triggered? Some casinos verify upfront (better), while others wait until your first withdrawal (worse, because you've already deposited money into a site that might reject your documents later).
• CAD support: Can I deposit in Canadian dollars without being forced into a currency conversion? If the casino only accepts USD or EUR, Canadian players eat a 2.5-3.5% conversion fee on every transaction.
• Deposit methods available: I check for Interac (essential for Canadians), Visa/Mastercard, bank transfer, and cryptocurrency options. The more options available to Canadian players specifically, the better.
• Deposit limits: What's the minimum deposit? Most casinos on my list range from C$10-20 minimum. I also check maximum deposit limits for higher-volume players.

My typical first deposit is C$100-200 via Interac. I document the exact time from initiating the deposit to the funds appearing in my casino balance. For Interac deposits, anything under 60 seconds is excellent. If it takes more than 5 minutes, I flag it.

This is where most review sites stop — they quote the headline bonus and move on. I read the full terms and conditions, including the fine print that casinos really don't want you to read.

For every welcome bonus, I document and evaluate:

The turning point for me was personal. I once 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 is why I read every single line of bonus terms before I publish a review.

No-wagering bonuses like PlayOJO's get automatic bonus points from me because there's no hidden math to worry about — what you win, you withdraw. I believe the industry is slowly moving in this direction, and casinos that have already adopted it deserve credit.

I don't trust casino marketing pages that claim "5,000+ games." I open the lobby and count. I browse by category, search for specific titles, and verify that the games listed on the marketing page actually appear in the player-facing lobby. More than once, I've found casinos advertising providers they don't actually carry.

What I'm evaluating:

• Provider quality: I look for a strong core of established studios — Pragmatic Play, Evolution Gaming, NetEnt, Microgaming (now Bally's), Play'n GO, Red Tiger, Nolimit City. These providers are regularly audited and publish verified RTPs.
• Live dealer section: This is where quality differences are most obvious. Evolution Gaming remains the benchmark. I play multiple rounds of live blackjack and roulette, check stream quality, dealer professionalism, and available bet ranges. A casino might have 4,000 slots but a terrible live dealer experience.
• Game variety: Beyond slots and table games, I check for video poker, scratch cards, game shows (like Crazy Time), crash games, and specialty titles. The best casinos offer genuine variety rather than 3,000 variations of the same slot mechanic.
• RTP transparency: Can I find the return-to-player percentage for individual games? Casinos that publish RTP data (or link to provider-verified RTPs) score higher than those that hide this information.
• Loading performance: I time how long games take to load on both desktop and mobile. If a slot takes more than 8 seconds to load on a standard connection, the game library might look impressive but the player experience suffers.

A casino with 800 games from top-tier providers will always outscore a casino with 6,000 games from unknown studios on my list.

This is one of the most revealing steps in my review process. I've had too many experiences where everything about a casino seemed great until I tried to withdraw my winnings.

For every casino, I make a minimum of 3 separate withdrawals across different methods and document exactly what happens:

My benchmarks for Canadian players:

• Interac e-Transfer: Excellent = under 2 hours. Good = under 24 hours. Acceptable = under 48 hours. Anything beyond 48 hours gets flagged.
• Crypto (BTC/ETH): Excellent = under 1 hour. Good = under 4 hours. Most crypto-friendly casinos on my list process within 2 hours.
• Visa/Mastercard: Excellent = under 24 hours. Good = 1-3 business days. Bank processing adds time beyond the casino's control, so I focus on how quickly the casino initiates the transfer.

I also test larger withdrawals (C$1,000+) to check whether the casino applies additional verification delays or splits payments. Some casinos process C$200 withdrawals instantly but hold C$2,000 withdrawals for "enhanced security review" — which is code for hoping you'll come back and gamble it away.

Over 312 documented withdrawals across 84 casinos, I've built what I believe is the most comprehensive Canadian payout speed dataset published anywhere. When I say a casino has "fast payouts," I have the timestamps to prove it. See the full results in my fast payout casinos ranking.

I don't ask easy questions. I contact every casino's support team with a genuine issue — something that requires the agent to actually look into my account, check a policy, or escalate. And I do it at inconvenient times.

My standard support test covers:

• 2am Wednesday (MT): Live chat with a specific bonus terms question. How quickly does an agent connect? Do they know the answer or read from a script?
• Sunday afternoon: Email with a withdrawal status inquiry. How long until I get a substantive response (not an auto-reply)?
• Peak hours (Saturday night): Live chat asking about game RTP or payment processing times. This tests whether they have enough staff during high-traffic periods.

What earns high scores:

• 24/7 live chat with response times under 2 minutes
• Agents who can answer product-specific questions without escalating
• Follow-up emails that reference my original issue (not template responses)
• Support available in English and French for Canadian players

What I dock points for:

• Chatbot-only support with no path to a human agent
• Response times exceeding 5 minutes during advertised 24/7 hours
• Agents who clearly have no authority to resolve issues and just quote generic FAQ text
• No email support — live chat alone isn't sufficient for complex issues

The best support experience I've had was at Spin Casino — knowledgeable agents, sub-90-second response times, and they actually followed up by email after resolving my live chat issue. The worst? A Curacao-licensed casino (now removed from my list) where I waited 47 minutes for a chatbot to connect me to a human who then couldn't tell me my own withdrawal status.

I test on two devices: a Google Pixel 8 (Android) and an iPhone 14 (iOS). Most of my personal play sessions happen on mobile — on the couch, during commutes, in bed at midnight. If a casino doesn't work well on a phone, it doesn't work well for the majority of Canadian players.

My mobile evaluation covers:

• Responsive design: Does the casino adapt to mobile screen sizes, or is it just a shrunken desktop site? I check lobby navigation, game filtering, account management, and the cashier.
• Game availability: Are the same games available on mobile as on desktop? Some casinos drop 20-30% of their library on mobile. If a game works on desktop but not on your phone, that's a negative.
• Performance: Game loading times, lobby scroll smoothness, and whether the site crashes or freezes during play. I play a minimum of 30 minutes per device to catch intermittent issues.
• Deposit and withdrawal: Can I complete the full financial transaction flow on mobile without switching to desktop? Some casinos have broken mobile cashiers that redirect to desktop-only pages.
• Live dealer on mobile: Stream quality, interface usability, and bet placement accuracy on a smaller screen. Evolution's mobile interface is the benchmark — some casinos use inferior implementations that make live play frustrating on phones.

Dedicated mobile apps (iOS/Android) are a bonus but not a requirement. A well-built responsive website is perfectly fine. What matters is the quality of the experience, not whether it comes wrapped in an app.

Every casino on my list must provide functional responsible gambling tools. I don't just check that the links exist in the footer — I actually use them to verify they work.

Required tools (non-negotiable):

• Deposit limits: Daily, weekly, and monthly caps. I set a limit and verify it's enforced by attempting a deposit above the threshold.
• Loss limits: Separate from deposit limits. Caps how much you can lose over a given period.
• Session time reminders: Alerts that tell you how long you've been playing. I check whether they're intrusive enough to actually notice during a session.
• Cooling-off periods: Temporary self-exclusion (24 hours to 6 months). I verify the account is actually locked during the period.
• Permanent self-exclusion: The ability to permanently close your account with no option to reopen. This is the most important tool and the one some casinos make deliberately difficult to find.

Bonus points for casinos that: link directly to Canadian resources like the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) or ConnexOntario, display session time prominently during play (not just in settings), allow limits to be decreased immediately but require a delay to increase them (preventing impulsive decisions), and provide reality checks showing net win/loss during a session.

AGCO-licensed casinos (Ontario market) consistently lead in this category because the regulations mandate specific responsible gambling features. PlayOJO's implementation is the best I've tested — limits are easy to find, easy to set, and the casino doesn't try to talk you out of using them. For a deeper look at these tools and Canadian support contacts, see my responsible gambling resource page.