Best online casinos in Canada for real money

Each row gives you the facts to compare before you open an account:

• Offer: the welcome offer as the casino states it in its terms. Bonus money and bonus spins come with conditions, set out in the next columns.
• Wagering: how many times you must bet the bonus, or the deposit plus bonus, before you can withdraw it. A lower number is easier to meet.
• Min deposit: the smallest deposit the casino states. Some payment methods and offers need more.
• Payout time: the casino's stated time for withdrawals. It often covers only the casino's approval, not the transfer to your bank.

Offers change often. If a row and the casino's own terms disagree, the casino's terms apply, and we'd like to hear about it through our contact page.

We review every casino on this page against the same checklist, for one market at a time. We don't use player ratings or star reviews. The checklist covers four areas:

• Deposits and payouts: payment methods, fees, withdrawal limits and payout times.
• Bonus terms: wagering, maximum cashout and time limits.
• Account and support: how long ID checks take and how quickly support replies.
• Safer-gambling tools: deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion.

Until we've tested a casino ourselves, its figures are labelled as the casino's own claims, until our own tests replace them. Our partnerships shape the order of the list, and we say so above it. The full method is on How we rate casinos.

A ranking narrows the field. These five checks are yours to make before you deposit, and each takes a few minutes.

1. Licence. Find the licence number in the site's footer and look it up on the regulator's own register. The licence column in our table shows who licenses each site. "Not licensed in any Canadian province" means the site sits outside your province's own system, so provincial complaint routes and self-exclusion won't cover it.
2. Wagering. A bonus has to be bet a set number of times before you can withdraw it. Check the multiple, whether it applies to the bonus alone or to the deposit plus bonus, which games count, the maximum bet while wagering and the time limit.
3. Withdrawal limits. Look for the minimum withdrawal, any daily, weekly or monthly caps, and the maximum cashout on bonus winnings. A low cap can matter more than a large bonus.
4. ID checks (KYC). Casinos check who you are before they pay out. Expect to upload photo ID and proof of address, and sometimes proof that you own the card or account you paid with. Doing it when you sign up saves days later.
5. Limits and self-exclusion. Make sure you can set deposit limits and take a break from your account settings, without having to ask support.

Check that a casino accepts Canadian dollars, so your bank doesn't convert every deposit and withdrawal. These are the main methods you'll see in casino cashiers:

• Interac e-Transfer. Pays straight from your Canadian bank account, and where the casino supports it, winnings come back the same way. Your bank sets how much you can send per transfer. See Interac casinos.
• Bank transfer services. Services such as iDebit connect to your online banking to move money to and from a casino.
• Debit and credit cards. Quick for deposits. Your card issuer sets its own rules for gambling payments, and some casinos can't pay winnings back to a credit card.
• E-wallets. Hold money in a separate online account, so the casino never sees your bank details. Moving money from the wallet to your bank is a second step.
• Prepaid vouchers. Let you deposit with a voucher, but can't be used to withdraw, so you need a second method to get paid.

Casinos usually pay winnings back to the method you deposited with, where that method allows it. Using one method in both directions keeps things simple.

A withdrawal goes through three stages:

1. Request. You ask for a payout in the cashier. Some casinos hold it as pending for a set period, during which you can cancel it.
2. Approval. The casino checks your ID, your bonus wagering and its own limits, then releases the payment. A casino's stated payout time often covers only this stage.
3. Transfer. The payment provider moves the money. Interac says an e-Transfer can take up to 30 minutes, depending on your bank or credit union. Card and bank payouts can take several business days.

The payout times in our table are each casino's stated time. We'll replace them with measured times as we time real withdrawals. For what slows a payout and how to avoid delays, see casino payout times.

Casino games are built so that, over time, the casino keeps more than it pays out. Treat what you deposit as the cost of entertainment, not a way to make money.

• Set a deposit limit in your account before your first deposit.
• Decide how long you'll play and stop when you get there, whether you're up or down.
• Don't gamble to win back losses, and don't use credit or money you need for bills.
• Canada's Lower-Risk Gambling Guidelines suggest spending no more than 1% of your household income before tax each month, gambling no more than four times a month, and sticking to no more than two types of games if you play regularly.

If gambling stops being fun, help is free and confidential. Find your provincial helpline on our gambling help page, or read our safer gambling guide.