Online casino beginner’s guide for Canadians 2021

Welcome to our online casino beginner’s guide for Canadians, which will hold your hand while you successfully begin your online gambling journey. New players at online casinos can be daunted by the sheer number of gambling sites available that will accept CAD deposits. But the good news is beginners at online casinos can follow our easy step-by-step guide and be playing for real money within five minutes. Sign up at one of the following safe casinos for beginners or jump to the beginner’s guide.


Beginner’s Guide to CA online casinos

In this section of our beginners guide to Canadian online casinos, we break down the process you should follow to safely begin your online gambling journey.

  1. Find a safe online casino

    This is probably the most important factor when starting out at online casinos, with beginner’s needing to be cautious. The World Gambling List Canada has personally trialled the casino sites we advertise on this page and deemed them to be safe and suitable for beginners. As a quick options, definitely have a look at Betway.com.

  2. Follow the casino sign up process

    After you have chosen a suitable casino, you will need to complete the sign up process. This involves giving over things like your name, address and email address, with it imperative that beginners give over the correct details. If you don’t and you win you may not be able to cash out your winnings.

  3. Should I accept casino bonus offers at online casinos?

    New casino players can be confused by gambling bonus offers, which can come in the form of free money, sign up offers and even things like cash back on losses. Beginner’s to online casinos should just be aware there are terms and conditions on bonus offers, that you should read before you accept any bonus.

  4. Funding your casino account as a beginner

    One of the most important aspects to gambling online from Canada is that you must fund your account. Canadians have a bevy of payment options including things like web wallets, payment processors and bank/credit cards that they can use to fund their account. Beginner’s can learn more about Canadian casino payments here.

  5. Playing games at online gambling sites

    Now you have a funded casino account, you are ready to begin playing. Real money casino games includes live dealer titles and hundreds of online slots. Navigating the top beginner online casinos is generally straight forward and you will find the different games categories clearly labelled. Read our CA casino reviews for more information about what games are available.

  6. Cashing out and verifying your casino account

    One of the hardest things for beginners at gambling sites can be cashing out any winnings. It’s important to note that you will have to verify your account (prove your identity) before you can cash out. This involves either an online form that automatically verifies you via your details, or sending in scans of personal documents. After you have completed the casino account verification you will be free to withdraw any winnings. Common withdrawal methods include bank transfers and checks.


Starting out at online casinos

If you are in Canada and looking to play at an at a top online casino for the first time, this article will run you through the basics and in turn keep you safe when gambling for real money. We will teach casino beginner’s how to choose a safe casino, how to test out the casino before you buy and explain how to maximise your returns when playing online.

After you have selected an online casino to play at you will need to hand over information to the company during the registration process. After you have handed over these details in the future you will also have to verify your account, but more about that in a minute. The initial details you have to hand over are:

  • Your real name
  • Email address
  • Date of birth
  • Your address: this must be current and real for the verification process.
  • Phone number: Be warned, pick some casinos and they will constantly message you with offers, The bigger, more reputable brands that are regulated in places such as the UK, however, won’t.

Top CA casinos for beginners

This is the most important part of successfully playing at an online casino, choosing your virtual casino. For beginners at online casinos, it can determine whether you are treated fairly and end up enjoying your experience. Basically there are thousands of online gambling websites to choose from, and a large proportion of them will also accept Canadian punters. This means you need to weed out the ones which are not legitimate. Here are a few tips for finding the best gambling sites for beginners:

  • Licensing: Because Canada has not specifically banned “offshore” casinos it means every licensing jurisdiction in the world will have casinos offering their wares to residents. Casinos licensed in places such as the United Kingdom and Malta are the best bet for Canadians to play at, however, there is also our very own Kahnawake Gaming Commission-condoned casinos, but many of these are actually internationally owned and targeting markets that have banned online casinos. WGL gives its tick of approval to casinos licensed in the United Kingdom and Malta.
  • Currency: Not the be-all and end-all of selecting a casino, but we strongly recommend choosing an online casino that caters specifically to the Canadian dollar. It’s better for numerous reasons but one key one is that it’s easier to keep track of your bankroll when it is displayed in a currency you are familiar with. Beginners at online casinos should always be wary of gambling in a foreign currency, particularly if it is an offshore gambling operator.
  • Casino bonus offers: Many of the top online casino bonus offers are available to Canadians, with many different types of sign up bonus offers, matched deposits and cash back offers available to customers of real money casinos.
  • Customer service: Again the experienced player may not worry too much about this, but for beginners it can be a comfort to know there is someone there to talk to. Check it out when you are signing up, most licensed in the UK and Malta will have live chat and phone numbers to call.
  • Software: If you read a review of an online casino, it will undoubtedly mention the software that the casino is powered by. For a beginner this may seem like jibberish, but you can trust that if a casino is licensed in Malta or the United Kingdom the software they use will also have the accreditation in that country, plus a likely tick from eCOGRA, which is a respected online casino watchdog.
  • Reputation: This is one of the most important facets of choosing an online casino. Using websites like this one to read casino reviews and user feedback is crucial. While there are plenty of affiliate sites in it to make a quick buck, we believe that our best chance of building a business that will allow us to quit our day jobs is by building a loyal following over time and a reputation for honesty. We will only promote casinos we know respect the player.

How to fund your online casino account

We have covered this topic extensively in our Canadian casino banking article, but in short there are plenty of legal ways we can fund our casino accounts. Read the more detailed explanation in the article linked to in the previous sentence.

CARDS:

EWALLETS:

INSTANT BANKING:

  • iDebit
  • eCheck

CRYPTOCURRENCY:

  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum

Online casino withdrawals & the verification process

Withdrawing from your online casino account is a simple process once you have verified your new account. As a general rule you will not be able to withdraw your money until you have verified your account. Some online casinos will have an online verification process that will basically get you to enter in plenty of your details, including things like your driver’s license number or a scan of the document. If the casino is unsatisfied with this method they will get you to fax or email in things such as utility bills or a picture of your licence. One this is completed some of the more common ways you can withdraw money from your online casino account are:

  • Credit cards
  • Debit cards
  • iDebit
  • ecoPayz
  • Instadebit
  • eCheck
  • Entropay

Best casino games for beginners

Live blackjack is among the most popular with beginners to gambling sites
Live blackjack is very popular among beginners at online casinos.

Beginners at online casinos will be amazed by the sheer volume of real money games available. For instance, some gambling sites for beginners will have over 3000 real money slots games — a major increase over traditional gambling venues.

You can browse the games available at an online casino before you sign up and some will even allow you play free play modes. This means you can make sure the online casino has what you want.

Still just because a real money online casino has the game you want to play it doesn’t make it the best place to play the game. If it’s by a particular iGaming developer, do a quick Google search and you will find heaps of casinos stocking that game so you can find one that is safe and reputable.

When gambling online in Canada the games available at casinos is staggering, with very few games not accessible. This might change in 2021, with new gambling sites set to launch, with an update to the Canadian gambling laws on the way.

Some of the best casino games for beginners includes:

  • Online slots
  • Live dealer blackjack
  • Live dealer roulette
  • Baccarat variants

Is download, flash or instant play casino best for beginners?

The online casino landscape has changed significantly in the past five or so years with the emergence of instant play games. This just means instead of downloading casino software you can also play in your internet browser, or mobile browser for that matter.

What is better? That really is a personal preference, however, players on Mac computers are generally forced into playing via their browser because there are no downloadable platforms available for osx (that we know of).

For those using Windows many casinos including those powered by Microgaming and Playtech have a downloadable platform available. Having said this more and more casinos are going instant play only and have many software providers available as a result. There are some great in-house platforms built for Windows by some of the bigger casinos online, including Bet365 and BetOnline.

Flash casinos have been pretty much discontinued in modern times with many of the top gambling sites upgrading their offerings.

Really, there are many great options for Canadians to play real money casinos, with these coming in both download format and instant-play. If you are just starting out gambling online, we probably recommend playing at instant-play casinos, because there are less requirements.


Casino Apps for beginners in 2022

Canadian casino apps are readily available in both the Apple App store and Google Play which covers both iOS and Android devices.

Still, don’t just jump into an app, do your research and find casinos that do have apps that are suitable for Canadians.

The best beginner casino apps for Canadians will change significantly in the second half of this year, with more regulation set to roll out surrounding online gambling by the provinces in the coming months.

While there is nothing set in concrete, it is expected bill-218, which effectively legalized single-event sports wagers will trigger a chain of events which will see many of the biggest gambling brands in the world, enter the Canadian market.

In essence, if you are looking for a casino app for a beginner, still do your homework, because in particular the apps available on Android devices can be less than satisfactory.


Province guides to gambling in Canada

More:


Verdict? What is the best CA casino for beginners?

There is no one size fits all approach as to what is the best casino for beginners to iGaming, with this depending on several different factors, most notably what you are looking for and how much money you have got to spend. For instance, a rich beginner to online casinos might be better served by playing at a website that is a big international venture. While regular budgets may find their beginner online experience is better at smaller gambling sites that can provide a bespoke experience. We will update our guide to the best online casinos for beginners when more information comes to light about the regulated gambling industry in Canada.