The rise in online gambling across Canada has seen exponential growth over the past two decades and choosing the best place to play real money games online can seem like an obstacle you need to overcome. This is exactly where online-casinos.ca comes into play. A large part of our business model consists of providing our readers with complete, unbiased evaluations and reviews of the online casinos, both provincial and offshore, while ensuring that our reviews are written by experts and offers precise information about the features, bonus offers, payment methods, and operator as well as updated information the term and conditions players must adhere to when they create an account. On this page, you'll find a breakdown of our evaluation process.
Our Process of Evaluating and Rating the Best Online Casinos for Canada
The main objective of our Canadian online casino guide is to ensure that our site visitors find the best online casinos to play at. We are well aware that choosing a trusted operator is key and that is why we put every brand through vigorous tests and use several criteria when we are evaluating and rating online casino sites. This allows us to create honest and in-depth reviews. Below you will find the main criteria that our review team focuses on and this is used for each casino reviewed on our website.
Brand Age and Reputation
Our experience has found that casinos with years of experience tend to do much better than those that have just launched. These operators have an established presence in the market and are often responsible for huge jackpot wins. They also tend to have a solid reputation among players. New online casinos may sound promising, but they may not have built up customer numbers and as such, players who hit a progressive jackpot win may find that the casino doesn't have the funds to pay out their win straight away. Reputation and the age of a brand is an important element that is always considered during our evaluation process.
The Size of the Online Casino
The size of the casino may not seem like an important aspect, but if you were to win a large amount of money playing at a small operator, you may experience some difficulty receiving your payout. This can be due to the operator not generating enough revenue from depositing players to make such a large payout. We have seen over the years that the bigger and more popular casinos are a safer option. It is impossible to assess whether a casino will have the funds necessary to pay large jackpot winners but in our experience, we have found that the operators we've reviewed meet our casino size requirements once they secure a rating higher than three stars.
Sister Brands and Related Online Casinos
If a casino has a bad rating and the owners launch a new casino it will often be an attempt to hide or disguise mistakes that their previous platform made. Because of this, we evaluate not only the casino platform but the actual operator behind it as well. We follow the groups that operate Canadian online casinos and can easily uncover related brands and inform our readers about these.
Customer Support
Getting help and support when needed is something our review team takes very seriously during the evaluation process. We need to know that customer support responds in an acceptable amount of time and that they put in sufficient effort to answer queries and deal with complaints. We also evaluate the languages available and for Canadian players we check for both English and French speaking support staff.
Player Complaints
Our experts research all the complaints a casino receives. We look at the number of complaints as well as the frequency in which they are received. A large number of complaints are often as a result of players not following the casinos terms and conditions and we generally ignore these unless we find the casino's terms are unfair.
The Seriousness of Complaints
Every online casino we evaluate tends to have its own share of complaints, unless it is a newly established brand. We focus on the type of complaint and the severity of it rather than the overall number of complaints. There are numerous instances where the player is at fault and in these instances the casino will usually be right. This can be especially true where winnings are withheld. For serious complaints we will analyse them further and look at how the operator has responded, the time it took, and how the complaint was handled and resolved. This information is detailed in our reviews.
Terms and Conditions
Our experts read and interpret the casinos terms and conditions and look for any red flags or unfair practices. There are a number of items in particular that we assess and make sure the casino does not do. These include:
- Limiting the number of withdrawals
- Limiting the amount players can win
- Having very low minimum withdrawal limits per week or per month
We constantly monitor the T&Cs page to ensure there are no sudden changes that players need to be made aware of. Casinos can and do change the terms without informing their users and when this happens, we update our reviews to ensure our readers are kept up to date.
Other Important Tests We Carry Out On Each Casino
Our aim here at online-casinos.ca is to offer our readers the best casino review and as such, we expand our evaluation process to include several other important elements. This ensures we offer complete reviews and that we can help you make the right decision when it comes to playing real money games and having an enjoyable experience. As part of our evaluation and rating process, we also look at the following.
- Casino website design and layout
- Portfolio of games and casino lobby
- Mobile user experience
- Bonuses and promotions
- Deposit and withdrawal payment options
Our review team follows a number of steps when testing each casino site and these are listed below.
- Casino License Validation : The first thing we do is check the validity of the casino license. This is essential to ensure safety and trust.
- Registration : We register for an account at the casino to assess the ease and simplicity of the process.
- Depositing : The team will use free bonus money (a no deposit bonus) or deposit money. If the owner associated with the casino has already been validated and tested by our team with a positive outcome, we don't deposit money.
- Bonus Verification : We test the welcome bonus, free spin bonus, or no deposit bonus. We also review the bonus terms and conditions to ensure they are satisfactory and that the wagering requirements are competitive and fair.
- Game Verification : We play some games. This can include free slots or table games to assess the gameplay, speed, graphics quality, etc.
- Compatibility Check : We check how the website loads and performs on desktops and mobile devices. We assess the load times, graphics, gameplay, etc.
- Customer Support : We assess the responsiveness of the customer support by asking the agents questions that are not answered on the casino's FAQ or T&Cs page.
- Withdrawal Test : If we have made a deposit, we assess the ease in which withdrawals can be made.
FAQs About Our Online Casino Reviews
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How do I know that your reviews are not biassed and that you don't only promote online casinos that pay you a higher commission?
We have been evaluating and reviewing online casinos in Canada for more than 10 years and we are proud of the fact that we only recommend and feature the best brands regardless of the amount of commission they pay us. If our reviews were biassed and dishonest, or we recommended poor quality casinos, our readers would not return. This is not a successful business model and not the approach we take. We carry out extensive research on each casino operator, but if you want to be 100 percent sure, we recommend you read the terms and conditions at the casino for any additional information. It is also important to keep in mind that we only recommend casinos that are licensed and authorized by a regulatory body. If an operator doesn't comply with regulation requirements their license is revoked. If you don't trust our opinion, we advise you to check the licensing information which can be found in the footer of the casino website. -
If I find inaccurate or outdated information on your website what should I do?
Although this is rare because of our rigorous editorial process, errors can slip through. We try to correct them as soon as possible, but if you see something you can reach out to us and let us know. You will be doing us a favour if we haven't already noticed it. -
Your reviews are very long and detailed and I don't have time to read them in their entirety. What should I pay the most attention to?
First and foremost, you should look at the star rating the casino has received. This will give you a good indication of what to expect. We assign a star rating between 1 and 5. If a site has a 1-star rating, we don't recommend you play there. 2 stars, play with caution and be sure to check the T&Cs for withdrawal speeds, bonus terms, etc. 3 stars is safe with an average reputation. 4 stars is again safe and will usually have a large selection of games, high withdrawal limits, fast withdrawal speeds and a medium level of complaints. 5 stars is the cream of the crop and a casino with 5 stars is safe and trusted and scores highly in all our tests.
Conclusion
The OC team works hard to ensure that the reviews we provide on Canadian online casinos on our website are honest, unbiased, accurate, and contain up-to-date information. We try to make them as informative as possible so that you can make the right decision about where you want to play. Our reviews and indeed our aims are fully transparent and If you have any suggestions regarding our casino evaluation and review process, we are more than happy to hear from you.
Final Note From Our Chief Editor
It is important to understand that online casinos are a business and as such, the casino always earns money. This is referred to as the 'house edge'. Whether you win or lose, the operator will always take a percentage of your deposit. All the games have a house edge of between 0.5 and 2%. This means that if you deposit $100 the casinos will earn between 0.5 and 2% of this.
Everyone wants to win but in reality, there is always the risk of loss and you may have to spin the reels on a slot machine hundreds or even thousands of times to hit the jackpot. Statistics reveal that in order to win the top jackpot on real money slots online, you are looking at average odds of 1 in 200 for some machines and up to 1 in 3,000,000 for others. Our team does our best to evaluate and recommend the top sites, but we cannot guarantee you will win. With this in mind, we recommend that you have fun, enjoy the games, and play responsibly. Don't spend more than you can afford and apply common sense. Real money games should be seen as entertainment first and foremost and not as a way to earn money.