Best Online Casino Sites in Canada 2023

The roulette wheel was forged in the rubble of a failed experiment by the French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1655. Since then, it’s attracted a host of theorizers who’ve attempted to come up with workable models on how to play the game in a way that produces favourable outcomes – sadly, all of them have fallen short of landing on any guaranteed success.

The game remains, nevertheless, a fantastic casino staple. Roulette wheels are divided into numbered black and red tiles, with a neutral green zone designed to ensure the house edge. European roulette has just one of these pockets, the zero, while American roulette’s additional 00 increases the house’s advantage.

Players place bets before the wheel spins on where the ball will land – there’s no skill involved, you’re just hoping your number comes up! You can’t place a bet on the green tiles, but you have an array of options for bets on the red and black ones. 

Baccarat is one of the most popular online casino games in the world and, like blackjack online, it pits the dealer and player against each other. Here, it’s the hand that gets closest to nine that wins, with players placing bets before the cards are dealt on who they think will win the hand. In this sense, baccarat is more like a spectator game — rather than playing the hands, online gamblers simply bet on who they think will win the hand: the player, the banker, or a tie. Cards two through nine all hold their face value, while any ten-valued cards — including all picture cards — are worth zero. Aces are valued at one. 

The most prominent variant of baccarat is punto banco, in which two cards are initially dealt, and the following actions are predetermined: a third card is drawn for hands worth zero to five, while stands are called on hands worth six or seven. If either player or banker is dealt a hand worth eight or nine, this is called a natural and will win the hand. If both player and banker receive a natural, the game will follow the rules set out in the tableau.  

Punto banco is played with either six or eight decks and has a varying RTP. For bets on the banker, this sits at 98.83%; for bets on the player, it’s 98.64%; and for tie bets, the RTP is 86%. 

It’s not uncommon for the best online casinos in Canada to have over 1,000 slot titles alone. Slot games are the most popular form of online gambling, with titles supplied by a rich network of game developers such as Play’n GO, Red Tiger Gaming, Playtech and many more.

Unlike the table games we’ve described above, there’s no room for playing strategies when it comes to slots — players simply spin the reels and hope they land a winning combination. The world’s first mechanical slot machines had just the one payline, but today’s creators make use of complex game mechanics to generate hundreds of thousands of paylines, and imbue their slots with plenty of bonus rounds to keep things interesting. This not only accommodates for a range of styles and aesthetics, but also big fluctuations in RTP percentages.

There’s plenty of room for nostalgia in the world of slots, with many developers still choosing to create titles that pay homage to classic games of the past. So no matter your playing style, there’s a slot for everyone at the best Canadian online casinos. 

Slingo

If you’re looking for something a little different to shake up your usual gaming, Slingo could be a great option. As you may have guessed from the portmanteau, this exciting format combines elements of slots and bingo. In this game, players spin the reel to reveal five numbers — if these match any in the 5×5 bingo-style grid above, they’ll be chalked off. By forming complete lines you’ll climb the Slingo ladder all the way up to the Full House, which’ll offer the top prize for the game. Bonus features include Jokers and Super Jokers, which can help you tick off numbers on the grid and form Slingos; on the other hand there are also Devils, which do the opposite!

A variety of Slingo games, each offering unique themes, feature at all the best online casinos in Canada. Many of these are based on classic slots, like Slingo Rainbow Riches and Slingo Starburst, while others adopt other popular styles like Slingo Deal or No Deal and Monopoly Slingo.

Progressive Jackpots

Most online slots have what’s called a fixed jackpot, meaning that players only ever stand to win a set amount. But with progressive jackpot slots, the top prize will steadily build as wagers are placed on the game from all around the world. The jackpots of these games can reach eye-watering amounts — Microgaming’s Mega Moolah and NetEnt’s Mega Fortune are two of the most popular, with Mega Moolah paying out a record €19.4 million to a player in Belgium in 2021.

Developments in gaming technology have opened the online gambling world up to live dealer casinos – an experience that uses video streaming to bring a real-life casino into the comfort of your own home. Live casinos place a real dealer in a real casino environment to mimic the pace and customs of a brick-and-mortar casino.

Classic casino games are all available to play at live casinos, delivering an excellent level of authenticity to those looking for a more atmospheric casino experience.

Innovations in the last five years have also seen this genre of online casino game branch out into titles inspired by popular gameshows, such as Deal or No Deal, Crazy Time, and Dream Catcher. Evolution Gaming is the premier developer operating in this field, although Pragmatic Play gives it a run for its money.   

We expect to see all of these games available at any site, but the best online casinos will also offer dice-based games like craps. Believed to have originated from the Crusades during the 12th century, craps sees players make predictions on the outcome of rolls of a pair of dice. Since there are many different types of betting calls to be made in games of craps, the casino’s house edge will depend on the bet that’s made, ranging from 1.36% to 16.67%. Microgaming’s Craps is a popular option, as is Evolution’s suite of games in this category.

Keno is a lottery-type game that was brought over to North America by Chinese railroad workers in the 19th century, and has since become popular at both land-based and online casinos in the US and Canada. 

Keno works similarly to bingo, except that players get to choose their own numbers rather than purchasing a set bingo card. Though the parameters can vary, players can usually bet on a series of numbers between 1 and 80, and then wait to see if any of their numbers are called out. The more you get right, the bigger the payout. It’s as simple as that.  

A number of Canadian gambling sites offer a sportsbook alongside their online casino. In this case, sportsbooks will come with their own sign up bonuses and promotions that can be used to bet on a variety of different sports and markets in Canada and abroad. Check to see if your online casino also offers sports betting, and if you’re entitled to a separate free bet bonus when you sign up. 

Video poker is a fun amalgamation of slot mechanics and online poker that has been a permanent fixture at land-based casinos since the 1970s, but has since made the transition to the online market. When you hit ‘deal’, the machine reveals a five-card poker hand before giving you the option to discard certain cards before the hand is redealt, the aim being to get the best possible poker hand.