Every review site and that includes us tells you which casinos to trust. This is helpful, but for you, it means accepting someone else’s conclusions. In this guide, we want to teach you how to figure out for yourself whether a casino is safe. We’re even providing you with the checklist our team uses as part of our casino evaluation methodology, which is based on 47 criteria.
This guide isn’t a replacement for our reviews, but it helps you reliably verify any casino you find online!
The online casino market in Canada is structured in a way that might take you by surprise. Ontario and Alberta are the only provinces with a regulated gambling market. In the rest of the country, there are sites that operate under foreign licenses such as those from the MGA, UKGC, Gibraltar, or Curacao.
Don’t get the wrong idea. This doesn’t mean those casinos aren’t safe, but they don’t measure up to an Ontario casino.
That’s exactly why we’re here to teach you how to evaluate casinos on your own. To help you find out for yourself if a casino is licensed and who issued the license. Reviews, such as those on our site, are just a starting point. From there, it’s best to do your own research.
First and foremost, you need to check whether the casino you’re about to sign up for is licensed.
If you’ve chosen a casino in Ontario or Alberta, its simple. Just look it up directl in the registry of all licensed operators. It’s quick and easy!
If you want to sign up at an international casino, it may be licensed by a foreign regulatory authority. There are several. Generally, you’ll find casinos licensed in Malta, the United Kingdom, or Curaçao. The process is the same here. Check the license number directly in the public registry.
If the casino provides you with a license number that you can’t find, it’s most likely lying to you. Be careful!
Basically, this step takes only 2 or 3 minutes, and that way you can find out for yourself. Is the casino I want to sign up for legal or not?
Are you ready for the second category? Take a sip of water and check the payment methods!
Interac e-Transfer is the payment method we see most often at licensed casinos. However, keep in mind that a casino isn’t required to offer this payment method. There are also operators that offer Skrill or MuchBetter.
We recommend that you check whether the payment methods are clearly presented and not hidden. You can also look for information on withdrawal processing times. The casino shouldn’t just provide vague information like processing times vary. You can also check if there’s any mention of minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts or a monthly limit.
Many casinos also offer payments in cryptocurency, but assess your own situation.
However, none of these situations automatically means the casino is trying to trick you. They may simply be aggressive terms, presented vaguely or even contradictorily. It’s up to you to sort it out.
This is the step that takes the least amount of time but provides you with the most information. Now you’ll find out how the casino will handle your issue if you run into a problem. Open the live chat and ask a simple question. If the casino doesn’t have live chat, send your question via email.
What’s the maximum amount I can withdraw in a week or a month?
After asking the question, evaluate the answers, taking into account response time, accuracy of information, and consistency.
You can take a look at the AskGamblers complaints service, the Casino.guru complaints resolution center, or even the forums and subreddits in Canada. Generally, players post the problems they encounter there.
This way, you can see how the casino responds to the situations we’ve described above. An operator that responds to complaints, even critical ones is a good operator that takes responsibility for its mistakes.
We, the experts at CasinoAlpha CA, have developed an internal rating system. Please keep in mind that this is not an industry standard. No regulatory authority has approved these ratings, this is our internal process that we’ve decided to share with you.
After going through all 5 categories, add up your score and compare it to:
A single weak category can cause a strong casino to receive a low score. However, when you come across a casino that fails badly in all categories, stay as far away from it as possible!
We’ve prepared three fictional examples to help you better understand how our rating system works. Keep in mind that we’re not talking about real casinos, but rather a model designed specifically for you to help you understand better.
Casino A is a good casino. We checked its license, and the operator’s name appears in the registry, so we give it a 19/20. Regarding payment methods, Interac e-Transfer is accepted. Withdrawals take between 1 and 3 days, so it receives an 18/20 for payments. In the Terms and Conditions section, some information is harder to find, so it receives a 17/20. We also tested the live chat and received a response within 2 minutes, the answers were accurate, so we can only give it an 18/20. There are only a few complaints on Casino.guru but all have been resolved, so the score is 16/20.
The license is associated with an affiliate company, so it receives only 14/20. Unfortunately, it does not accept Interac and withdrawals can take up to 5 business days, so we give it only 11 points. We noticed that the wagering requirement is 50x, and the maximum bonus withdrawal limit is only mentione in the general terms, so we’re giving it a 10 out of 20. We also used the live chat and received a response after 9 minutes, out of 3 responses, one was incorrect, so we’re giving it 13/20. The good news is that all past complaints have been resolved, so we’re awarding it the maximu score.
Unfortunately, there’s only one payment method available for withdrawals, and the processing time isn’t specified, so it gets a 6/20 from us. Even the terms of the promotions are unclear. We noticed that the offer page lists one wagering requirement, while the general terms mention a different one. The live chat is actually a bot and did not provide us with any concrete help, so we’re giving it only 5/20. Its reputation doesnt inspire confidence either as we found numerous recent complaints that the casino has not addressed.
We believe that reviews are a good starting point, but that’s all. A five category check, like the one we mentioned above, is the best approach. This way, you can check the license, payment methods, and the casino’s terms and conditions yourself, and you can also put the customer support service through a real test. And in this way, you can answer the question for yourself- Is this casino safe?
Have you calculated your score, and is it below 60? Stop right there! That casino isn’t safe!
In addition to all this, keep one more thing in mind. Never deposit more than you can afford to lose, especially at an unfamiliar casino that you’ve just started testing. Treat your first deposit and first withdrawal as part of your casino evaluation.
For the AGCO registration process I mentioned in the first category, we checked the official list of registered gambling operators directly. This list is available on AGCO.ca. We also went on to verify the information about complaint resolution directly on Ask.Gablers.com.
You might think we stopped there, but we didn’t. We also consulted the official Interac e-Transfer website, and the fictional examples above were created by us, the CasinoAlpha team. The scoring is part of our methodology, which you can read to better understand how we review casinos.
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By Adela Mariuta
By Anca Iamandi
By Adela Mariuta
By Adela Mariuta
By Adela Mariuta