How Reputable Gambling Sites Canada rates online gambling sites

Five criteria decide whether a brand is listed here. Each criterion is pass or fail. Scores are not averaged. A fail on any one criterion stops the review. Support and mobile are scored first. Those are the two surfaces a player meets after sign-up. The other four criteria are applied only after that first one holds.

1. Support Availability and Mobile Access. An editor opens live chat at 10 a.m. Eastern on a weekday. Time is logged from the first human reply. Ten minutes is the pass line. A script that cannot answer a withdrawal question fails. Email-only contact during posted chat hours fails. After the chat test, the cashier is opened in a phone browser. Sign-in, deposit, and a cash-out request must each complete. A prompt to install an app or switch to a desktop view fails this check. Native apps are noted when they exist. They are not required to pass.
2. Licence and Regulatory Standing. The licence number in the footer is copied into the Kahnawake Gaming Commission register at gamingcommission.ca. The operating name in the register must match the legal name in the terms. Status must read active. A missing number, a lapsed line, or a name mismatch ends the review. No game or cashier test starts until this check passes. iGaming Ontario registration is not treated as a substitute. Players in Ontario who want a registered operator should begin with the official list at igamingontario.ca.
3. Deposit Options and Withdrawal Processing. A funded deposit is placed on a Canadian rail such as Interac. Visa and Mastercard are used when those rails are part of the test. Smooth verification is finished at sign-up, not after a cash-out is queued. A withdrawal is then submitted. Elapsed time is recorded from approval to funds received. That time is compared with the window printed on the payment page. Extra document demands that appear only after the request fail this check. A method that was not run is not listed as tested.
4. Return-to-Player Disclosure. Paytables are opened on three slot titles and one video poker title. Slot builds must read 96%+ on slots for the highest version the studio ships. Video poker is scored on its own line: up to 99.9% on video poker where the full-pay schedule is live. Those two figures are not merged into one range. Blackjack must pay 3:2, not 6:5. A locked or missing paytable fails. Sampled titles come from Pragmatic Play and Games Global, formerly Microgaming. A figure in the paytable that does not match the studio sheet fails.
5. Spend Control Tools. The account menu is used to set a deposit limit, a loss limit, a session limit, a time-out, and a self-exclusion. Each control must apply without a support ticket. A tool that waits behind a chat queue fails. Self-exclusion is set per brand. It does not automatically apply at the other brands on our shortlist. A link to player-protection resources must be reachable from the footer or the account area. See our responsible gaming page.

A funded Canadian account is opened before any score is written. Chat is tested at an off-peak hour. The mobile cashier is run on a physical handset. Three slot paytables and one video poker paytable are copied into the log. A cash-out is submitted and timed from approval to receipt. Limits and self-exclusion are set from the account screen. The licence number is rechecked on gamingcommission.ca. A second editor reads the log before publication.

This site earns referral commissions from the gambling sites we list. Commission income does not decide which brands appear or where they rank. A brand that fails any of the five checks is not listed. Content is for adults aged 18+. For self-help resources, see our responsible gaming page.