Introduction to Our Editorial Policy and Rating Guidelines
Quick Introduction
Our team aims to bring you high-quality, reliable, and accurate Canadian online casino reviews to help you decide where to play. With so many platforms available, we want to show you how we rate online casinos and which sites you can trust. At the heart of our reviews are transparency and integrity, where we provide detailed accounts of our unbiased thoughts.
As a group of online gambling experts, we follow a transparent rating system process to help us craft our reviews. It provides clear guidelines on the essential aspects that help us rate and publish our findings. This means we will only recommend sites with credibility and solid reputations that offer you a safe online gambling experience.
Our Casino Rating Criteria
Our rating criteria help us evaluate each site and accurately classify it into suitable categories. This ensures that our reviews meet all the review and compliance requirements we demand of our recommended Canadian casinos.
We don’t miss a thing in our checks, and we only employ industry writers with the knowledge and know-how to accurately assess these comprehensive and strict requirements.
We use many methods to provide unbiased but balanced reviews through extensive testing, research, and user feedback. To do this, we also employ mystery players who help us with our ratings by registering, playing, and reporting any highlights or concerns to us, ensuring we have a comprehensive oversight.
Licensing and Regulation
A casino licence is a must. Before registering an account, we check and confirm a site’s licence. To do this, we check that it’s still valid directly via the regulatory authority. The top four bodies licensing Canadian casinos include:
All these authorities ensure that the sites uphold strict trading requirements, including the fairness of their games, your protection and safety when playing, and compliance with local Canadian laws. All these licensing authorities are trusted; obtaining one is challenging for an operator. They have strict criteria, and with regular audits, casinos can and will lose their licensing if they drop in standards.
We won’t list any sites that we haven’t confirmed, and if any lose their licensing, we’ll move them onto our list of blacklisted sites.
Safety and Security
When you play at online Canadian Casinos, you’ll want to know that you and any data you share remain safe. The top principles used to ensure these requirements are met include the following.
Data Protection
The sites must have installed SSL encryption protocols to protect your data effectively. These protocols are installed in the background and are used by financial institutions such as banks. Part of the data protection principles should be detailed in a privacy policy, which we will thoroughly inspect.
We confirm that the SSL certificate is valid and running in the background. In each of our reviews, we include a section on safety measures to inform you precisely what the site offers regarding safety.
Security Standards for Payment Methods
The same goes for when you pay and play. Some payment methods, like debit cards or bank transfers, require sharing your personal financial details. Regardless of your payment option, the processes must be robust and impossible for hackers to intercept.
Fairness of Games (RNGs and Audits)
We want to know that the casinos offer provably fair-play games. Online casinos rated by legitimate organizations such as eCOGRA, which has no ties to authorities, are highly likely reputable and secure.
These organizations test the games’ random number generators (RNGs) to confirm that they have been certified for fair play. We check the audits to verify their testing and ensure their RTP percentages are displayed.Â
Two-Factor Authentication and Other Safety Measures
Other safety features may include the option to log in with 2FA (two-factor authentication). It is an extra security layer when you log in with a text or email to confirm it is you.
Game Variety and Quality
We all have different gaming requirements, and therefore, we want to see various online casino games, including slots, specialty and unique games, and table and live dealer games such as blackjack, poker, roulette, or baccarat. Casino games are the bread and butter of Canadian online casinos, and their number, variety, and quality are essential to our research.Â
We will provide the number of games and categories and details on any unique or exclusive gaming options.Â
Software Providers
Innovative Features and Game Mechanics
Mobile Game Availability
Bonuses and Promotions
Another part of our research for our casino rating criteria is the bonuses on offer. It is a big drawcard for players looking for sites, and we want to let you know whether the site ticks all the following essential elements:
Welcome Bonuses
Ongoing Promotions
Fairness of Bonus Terms
No Deposit Bonuses/Free Spins
Once you’ve claimed a bonus, you’ll find the terms attached, which is the key to successfully converting bonus funds into cash. The factors we check include:
- Understanding wagering requirements: The wagering requirement is the number of times you must playthrough any received bonuses, whether it’s bonus funds or free spin winnings. They can range from as low as 1x (although rare) up to 200x. The average for a welcome bonus should be between 20x and 50x. Anything higher is challenging to complete and turn your winnings into withdrawable cash. Say you have a $10 bonus with a 30x wagering, and the simple maths is 10×30=300. You would have to play through $300 to complete the wagering.
- Clear and fair terms: Each bonus offer has terms and conditions. Our casino rating criteria include checking for fairness and transparency, which includes all the essential bonus details that are well laid out. Part of these terms we focus on and report back on will consist of the time frame to complete the offer, the minimum deposits to claim, excluded games, and the maximum you can withdraw once you’ve completed the wagering.
- Bonus abuse and ethical play: As part of the terms when undertaking our online casino reviews in Canada, we want to ensure the site won’t penalize players unfairly. They should define what constitutes bonus abuse and detail their steps if suspected. As part of that, they must also provide a way for you to appeal their decision or resolve any disputes and ensure you maintain responsible gambling practices. We won’t recommend any sites with strict or vague bonus conditions.