Every online casino and sportsbook we rate gets one score out of 100, built from five criteria with fixed weights, and turn that score into one of four verdicts. Licence and legal standing carries the most weight, because it decides who protects you when something goes wrong. The same rules apply to every brand, whether it is a crown site, an Ontario or Alberta licensee or an offshore operator.
The five criteria and their weights
| Criterion | Points | What we look at |
|---|---|---|
| Licence and legal standing | 30 | Who licenses the site and whether a province does |
| Payments and payouts | 20 | Interac, Canadian dollars, published payout terms |
| Bonus fairness | 15 | Wagering, caps, clarity of the terms |
| Product | 15 | Games, sports betting, apps |
| Player protection | 20 | Limits, self-exclusion, complaints route, ownership transparency |
How licence points are given
A crown site or a provincially licensed private operator, registered with the AGCO and iGaming Ontario or with AGLC and the Alberta iGaming Corporation, receives the full 30 points. Offshore licences receive fewer: 14 for the Malta Gaming Authority, 12 for the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, 6 for Curacao or Anjouan, and 0 when we find no licence at all. Our guide to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission explains why a licence from outside a province is scored lower.
Payments, bonuses, product and protection
Payments and payouts (20) reward Interac e-Transfer, accounts in Canadian dollars and payout terms that are written down: processing times, limits and verification steps. Bonus fairness (15) looks at wagering multiples, maximum win or cash-out caps, game weighting and how easy the terms are to read. Product (15) covers the range and quality of games, sports markets and apps. Player protection (20) checks deposit and loss limits, time-outs, self-exclusion, a clear complaints route and whether the company behind the site is named.
The four verdicts
- Recommended: 80 and above. Only crown sites and provincially licensed operators can receive it.
- Acceptable: 65 to 79.
- Caution: 45 to 64.
- Avoid: below 45.
Brands with the status warning (fake brands, impersonation or scam adverts), closed or not accepting Canadians always receive avoid or no score. Brands whose licence or Canadian acceptance we could not confirm are written up like offshore brands, with a plain note on what we could and could not verify.
Where our facts come from
Our researchers use public sources: regulator registers, the operator’s terms and help pages, and app store listings. We do not claim to have tested a site with real money, and we do not state numbers we cannot source. Bonus amounts, wagering, minimum deposits and payout times come from our operator data, and a blank field means the value is unconfirmed. Affiliate relationships never change a score; see our affiliate disclosure. The full list of scored brands is in our casino reviews.
Questions readers ask
- Can an offshore casino get a recommended verdict?
No. The recommended verdict is reserved for crown sites and provincially licensed operators, and offshore licences earn at most 14 of the 30 licence points.
- How often are scores updated?
When our research changes: a new licence, a lost licence, new payment methods or new terms. Each report shows the date it was last checked.
- Does a commercial deal add points anywhere in the score?
No. None of the five criteria measures a commercial relationship, and the weights are the same for every brand.