Your Resource for Casinos Online
Contents
How to Find the Best Online Casinos
What makes online casinos great! - The good, the bad and the ugly
No time to go on hundreds of casino sites? Even if you could, it would still be hard to choose an online casino. We’ve all been there, deciding whether we want the best welcome bonus, the most impressive loyalty program or the biggest variety of slots games. The smart way to find the best casino is to try it out. So, we have, we’ve tried them all and then we created the CasinoCanuck gambling guide to help you. You deserve to know how to make a secure and informed gaming choice when you do decide to sign up and that’s why we are here.
We review online casinos using several criteria that are important to Canadian players. Our brands need to pass all of these before they gain a stamp of approval at CasinoCanuck. When you choose a place to play, try to keep all of these in mind.
Legal and Licensing
Is online gambling legal in Canada?  The answer is yes. Technically online betting is somewhat of a grey area in such that it is legal to play but not legal to run an online casino in Canada. As long as the casino is off-shore then everything is legit.  In addition, every single casino online must apply to the laws of a certain national and international legal structure. Whether they holds a license in the UK or Malta, they first still have to follow their own terms and conditions and globally accepted industry codes of conduct, such as underage gambling policies and privacy approaches. We have explored, in-depth, every brand for how it holds up to legislative regulations and industry standards, such as eCOGRA.
Payment Methods
Bottom line, you need to know about $ and cents. With real money casinos offering a variety of payment methods we are confident in giving you a range of pros and cons when it comes to everything on the market. This includes commissions, time frames and level of difficulty for both depositing and withdrawing. We recommend online casinos that don’t require you to share your financial details directly with the website. For Canadian players we refer to the three I's here at CasinoCanuck. These are the deposit and withdrawal methods that will tell you if an online casino is serious about catering to the Canadian market. The three I's of Canadian casino banking are Instadebit, Interac Online and iDebit. The first two are exclusively available to Canadians and the latter works with all major Canadian banks. eCheck casinos also offer a solid way of depositing Canadian dollars. Visit those pages if you want to see casinos that really support those banking methods in Canadian Dollars:
Casino Bonuses
From the moment, you sign up to an online casino you are bombarded with bonuses. Welcome bonuses, free spins, loyalty bonuses, VIP bonuses, no-deposit bonuses and that’s just for starters. What do all these bonuses mean? It’s pretty confusing for the newbies and even more experienced players can get tangled up in wagering requirements. Make better informed choices powered by knowledge. We go over everything you need to know about Casino Bonuses here.
Casino Games
The sheer number of casino games has exploded and not only do we offer a deep evaluation of games from Microgaming, Playtech, and some smaller but awesome casino software providers but we look at mobile accessibility and new developments in the industry. Live dealer casinos have been the recent hot trend where you can gamble at a real table and chat with a real dealer.  2018 has seen a surge of different slots games and the exciting development of virtual reality slots. A new generation of gambling websites is on the way and we keep our readers at the forefront of all the hot topics. In addition, Many games seem to produce a disproportionate number of winners! We evaluate those key games to see what makes them so lucky and also offer for you to play some free slots games to keep you entertained.
Online Security
Navigating through the online gambling world is difficult enough without the added problems of worrying about whether your personal data is safe. From the online protection needed, to the international certification to ensure that the casino website is safe, we want to make sure everything is signed, sealed and delivered in a safe and secure gaming package.
Beginners Guide to Online Casinos
There are plenty of top online casinos out there that actually offer specific bonus and banking offers tailor-made for Canadian internet casino fans. These are real money casinos that offer exclusive bonuses in Canadian dollars and even feature one or two Canadian-themed games. The trouble is finding these casinos without having to trawl through dozens of casino sites and losing your shirt in the process!
CasinoCanuck is your best friend in the vastness of online gambling and is designed to always be there for you, whether you just need a quick-pick of the top five casinos of the week or a solid and dependable monthly guide to choosing the best online casinos for Canadian players, we have your back. So please feel free to bookmark CasinoCanuck in your favourite browser or subscribe to our regular mailing list where you can get regular features including the latest online casino news, useful tips on how to find the best online casino for your needs, informative guides on how to find and play casino games online and tons more!
There are thousands of casinos currently operating in cyberspace and, if it’s all new to you, it can all be a bit overwhelming. There are also lots of questions that naturally come up when contemplating joining an online casino, such as:
- Which online casino is best for you?
- Should you download the software or simply play online?
- Are these online casinos all safe, will they steal your money?
- What is the process involved in signing up for an account, is it complicated?
- What happens to my private information, is it safe?
CasinoCanuck is here to guide you through the uncertainty and answer all of your important questions so that you can find the perfect online casino for your needs.
Let’s start at the very beginning; signing up for a player account.
 Signing Up
Signing up for your own player account is quite a quick and painless process and usually only takes a few minutes to complete. All of our recommended online casinos for Canadian players generally follow the same process and you may even choose between playing for real money and playing for free. Some of our recommended Canadian casinos like Jackpot City and Royal Vegas for example allow you to try out a bunch of games, directly in your browser for free! This means that you don’t have to risk any of your own money while you decide which games you like or learn how they all work. When you feel comfortable enough with the casino, switching over to a real money account is as simple as a click or two away.
Signing up for your own player account to play for real money is fast and easy and requires some basic information. Take a look at what our recommended online casinos will ask you for:
- Your full name
- Your address information
- Your date of birth
- Your email address (this is the email address that they will use to confirm your account as well as send you details on future promotions, so be sure about which address you want to submit)
- Your username (this can be anything that you like and is available)
- Account security option: submit your mobile number if you wish to add another layer of security for your new player account.
 Software download and playing online with Flash
Many of our recommended online casinos for Canadian players will give you the option to either download the full casinos platform to your desktop or simply play directly from your browser window. Of course you can also play on your cell phone at the same time as on desktop using the same account.
There are pros and cons to both and you can decide the best option for you after reading our in-depth guide to both below:
Downloading the casino
Many Canadian online casino players prefer downloading the casinos software to their desktops as it generally gives them access to the casinos full games library, offers better graphics and gameplay, different bonuses and promotions and a generally smoother and faster gaming experience.
While many new players are concerned about issues such as downloading viruses and malware to their systems, you can be rest assured that our recommended Canadian casinos are all reputable and use the latest antivirus software to ensure security.
Downloading the software is a simple process:
- Visit the online casinos homepage
- Click in the ‘Download’ button
- The software will begin to download to your computer
- Once downloaded, the software will ask you to ‘run’ the installation
- Click on run and follow the next few prompts to complete the installation process
- The software will install on your desktop where you can click on the icon to run the installed programs
The process is very easy and can be completed successfully with minimal knowledge of computer software. For more in-depth information about different online casinos software be sure to visit our download casino page.
Instant Play (Flash casinos)
Choosing the Instant Play or Flash option will allow you to play most of the online casinos games directly from your browser, without the need to download any casino software to your computer. There are however some limitations to this option and for more details please feel free to refer to our more detailed article on playing flash vs. download casinos.
Mobile Casinos
Once upon a time we had to specify which casinos had apps or were available to play on your mobile phone but these days it is, not only expected, but mandatory that an online casino has a mobile offering. You can be assured that every casino that we recommend has a substantial amount of their casino games available on mobile. Most new slot game providers only create mobile friendly games and the older "big guns" like Microgaming and Playtech release all their new games to be able to be played on your tablet or phone. It does not matter whether you have an iPhone or Android, or even Windows phones or Blackberry (Yes people still have these). Since most mobile games are HTML5 based, they can be played on all modern browsers. iPads, Android and Windows tablets are also good devices to gamble on and the games are dynamically resized to best fit your screen.
In the end, some mobile casinos and software developers are better at delivering a seamless mobile experience. LeoVegas is a multi award winning casino that has year in, year out continued to win Best Mobile Casino. As we mentioned, the newer developers like Betsoft, PlayNGo, Quickspin and Yggdrasil all have excellent and optimized mobile versions of their slot games and table games. And you can be sure that Evolution Gaming, the kings of Live Dealer Casinos, give a great mobile experience.
Banking on mobile has never been easier as well. All the casinos offer their deposit pages on mobile and you can use your favourite deposit methods like Interac, eCheck, Instadebit, iDebit and Paysafecard on you mobile device.
 How to deposit money
Depositing money into your new player account is an important step and deciding which payment process will work best for you is just as important.
If you are unsure of which payment option will work best for your needs, be sure to check out our useful guide to various online payment methods page. We breakdown each payment method as well as mention the relevant pros and cons of each type.
Most of our recommended Canadian casinos offer an extensive variety of payment and withdrawal methods but it is important to read up on each banking option as not all can be used for both depositing funds and withdrawing winnings.
 Where to find games
Finding great casino games to play is easy and it all really depends on your own preferences. Our recommended Canadian casinos all offer very user friendly casino lobbies that make navigating through different games very easy and quick.
Jackpot City, 888 Casino, Betway, Ruby Fortune, Royal Vegas and Casino Land are all great examples of how an online casinos lobby should look. Games are organized into different tabs to make heading to specific games like slots, progressives or table games like Blackjack or Roulette very quick.
All of these examples also offer a useful grid on their homepage with a cross-section of their games so that you can try different ones if you’re not sure what you feel like playing.
 Casino Support
Casino support is a critically important aspect of dealing with any online casino. Most of our recommended Canadian casinos offer 24/7 Instant Chat support as well as email and call options. Customer support is Canadian-friendly, meaning that you can choose to have support in English or in French. For more in-depth details on our recommended casinos customer support, check out our dedicated customer support page.
Land Casinos in Canada
Like any other gambling Canuck we do appreciate heading out to a land based casino every once in a while. While the convenience of playing at a casino online has its many advantages there is an added thrill of having all the sights and sounds associated with the slot machines and other gamblers. Striking up a conversation with another player or the dealer and enjoying not only your own wins but that of others adds to the experience. Here at CasinoCanuck, we take a look at all the casinos across Canada and we have taken the time to write a small review on the ones we have visited with a personal take on what we feel makes them good or bad. We go over what to expect from the casino floor as well as the eats on offer and the entertainment that usually comes to town. Whether you are a local or are visiting any of our fair provinces and territories from Nova Scotia to British Columbia and the Yukon, we will try and hit as many casinos as we can. So far we have made it to Montreal Quebec, Southern Ontario, Edmonton Alberta and Vancouver BC.
Online Casino FAQs
