How We Rate Casinos

We rate online casinos using various criteria due to a wide array of online casinos operating in the Canadian iGaming space. Each site has its own level of quality and target audience. To ensure that comparisons and assessments are accurate, we at CasinoGrizzly use a setlist of key features. These features help us recognize the best Canadian casinos and those that need to up their game. With that in mind, here are the major features we consider when rating Canadian online casinos.

Bonuses and promotions

Every Canadian player is always searching for an online casino that offers the best promotions and bonuses. An online casino’s bonus package begins with the customary free spins and welcome bonus that every new player gets—extending all the way to cashback deals and reload bonuses. When reviewing an online casino, we also consider if the bonuses available are for mobile users or live casino players. While other comparison sites might simply look at the headline figure, we dive deeper by ensuring the wagering requirements are within the industry’s standard.

This is especially important as it makes no sense to gain a large amount of bonus cash for which you cannot meet the wagering requirement. Apart from the welcome bonus package, we assess any other promotions the casino might have during the year. This can include seasonal slot tournaments and promotions.

Range of casino games

Most of the time a player spends at an online casino will and should be spent on casino games. With that in mind, the online casino must have a great range of progressive jackpots, slot machines, live dealer titles, and table games.

Moreover, we also consider if the site has additional gambling mediums such as player vs player poker and sports betting. We always check out each casino to ensure they have a quality array of games from some of the world’s leading gaming software providers. For instance, each online casino should have at least 1 of the big names such as Playtech, NetEnt, or Microgaming. Moreover, the online casino should offer a way to filter and search through the plethora of available games. We rank Canadian online casinos highly if they can achieve the aforementioned.

Return to player (RTP)

It is one thing to have every casino game ever made in your catalogue. It is another to have the right payout percentages that give players the best experience. For this reason, we closely monitor online casinos’ return to player or RTP rates. We concentrate on pokies and video slots with at least 90% RTPs. Progressive jackpots with large cash prizes can be exempted from this criteria; however, non-jackpot slots need an industry standard RTP rate.

Concurrently, we also pay close attention to how low the house edge goes on classic games like baccarat, blackjack, and roulette. A casino that rates highly in this category takes the above features seriously.

Site design and useability

The site design plays a role in how easily users can navigate through it. Canadian players typically prefer to have their favourite games at easy reach, so the ability to filter and search for games is definitely a feature an online casino should have.

Moreover, the main pages should be within reach—a maximum of two clocks. For instance, trying to get to the payment section to make a deposit shouldn’t be a convoluted process. The same goes for locating information concerning promotions and bonuses. Nevertheless, most online casinos in Canada are more than up to the task in this area. This, however, doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement, as Canadian players deserve the best.

Payment methods

Depositing funds to play at an online casino should be one of the most seamless things to do. This means the online casino must have a wide array of payment options for players to select from—in our experience, the more, the merrier. Besides checking the available payment options, we also consider the small print that comes with these options. For instance, items like withdrawal and deposit limits, additional fees, processing and transfer times. A user’s overall experience can be tainted when withdrawal times are slow. This is why we consider this criterion extremely important when rating and reviewing an online casino site.

Customer support

While it is generally overlooked, great customer service shouldn’t be taken for granted. This is an important aspect of all the best Canadian online casinos. Since our editorial team is made of players, we understand that a problem could arise requiring customer service assistance. The problem could be payment-related or something to do with active bonuses or even game restrictions. Irrespective of the issues, they need to be resolved quickly, or else the excitement of a gaming session could die down.

Therefore, for an online casino to get top marks in this category, they need to have customer support available 24/7. The customer service team should also consist of friendly, punctual, and knowledgeable staff. The online casino should have various mediums such as a hotline, email and live chat for players to communicate with the customer support staff. All of this shows that customer support is an essential feature for CasinoGrizzly.

Reputation and ownership

The ownership and reputation of said ownership aren’t something that most Canadian players consider. Nevertheless, by assessing every online casino’s site before reviewing it, we guarantee that players will have a wonderful time at that casino.

We do this by monitoring gambling forums, online casino blacklists, and social media platforms to see if a site is improving on its reputation or not. The simple fact is it takes years to develop a great reputation; however, it only takes a second to destroy it. This is why we take this criterion especially seriously.

Furthermore, we ensure that the ownership of each site we review is clear. Most times, online casinos are held by iGaming groups, and the events on one site can affect the reputation of another. This is why thorough research is necessary.

Licensing, privacy and security

Canadian players should feel secure and safe every time they log onto an online casino. To ensure this is the case, we always search for a seal of approval from one of the most reputable licensing entities. We also check the license information to ensure that it is completely legitimate.

When monitoring for security and privacy, it is also important to check that the online casino has an open and robust privacy policy that concentrates on protecting the financial and personal information of Canadian players.

To bolster this need for security, we ensure that the entire online casino is completely protected by encryption technology. This means TLS or SSL encryption that is used on every page on the site. This way, players can have peace of mind when playing their favourite games.