Best Online Casinos in British Columbia
If you’re looking for the best online casinos in British Columbia, you’re on the right page. This guide will cover some of the most important aspects of online casino gambling in BC and discuss what makes a great online casino. We’ll also talk about the difference between playing for free and for real money, show you how we rated casinos in BC and more.
A little bit of history….
After the two amendments to the Criminal Code in 1969 and 1985, the gambling landscape in British Columbia has evolved significantly. Right after the first amendment in 1969, the provincial government permitted public gambling and issued licenses to various charitable and religious organizations. Moreover, many agricultural fairs were allowed to conduct the so-called lottery schemes in BC: After 1985, casino gambling took off and resulted in many charity casinos. The industry continued to evolve, resulting in full-scale land-based gambling properties. Over the past 2 decades, the number of online casinos have gradually and consistently grown and today players are quite spoiled for choice when it comes to playing online.
….. and some basic facts
- Population — 5.071 million [More info about census here]
- Legal gambling age — 19 years
- Licensed casinos — More than 40 casinos and community gaming centers
- First licensed land-based casino — The Casino at the Holiday Inn
Gambling & regulations
Online gambling is legal and regulated in British Columbia. However, BC casino lovers can only access one government-controlled online casino, which features a pretty limited choice of games. However, there are no laws prohibiting gamblers from joining offshore online casinos, but you have to be careful and stay away from the suspicious ones, which is actually the main reason why we decided to offer a list of safe and trustworthy online casinos. The main body in BC is the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, which is a Canadian Crown organization offering an array of gambling products. However, a separate organization focuses on regulating gambling, and it’s called the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch.
Should you play for real money or for free?
Playing for money or for free both have advantages and disadvantages. It’s worth looking at these 2 options more closely should you need better guidance on which is best for you.
Playing for real money
If you’re interested in playing games for real money in British Columbia online casinos, you need to select a platform that offers that type of service. The good news is that all online casinos featured on our site offer real-money gambling. You need to open an account and make a real-money deposit using one of the available payment methods.
After funding the account, just select the game you want to play, make a bet, and start playing. All online casinos featured here offer the payment options that are frequently used by players in British Columbia for deposits and withdrawals.
Playing for free
If you want, you can play online casino games for free. Players who don’t feel comfortable making real-money bets can easily find the games they like and start playing them. After selecting an online casino from our list, you just have to explore their gaming portfolio and select Free Play or Demo Play if it’s available. That said, many online casinos don’t allow free play for live dealer games simply because they have limited seating and high maintenance cost. Unfortunately, playing for free also means not receiving real-money prizes. Still, if you want to play for real money, you can always open an account, make a deposit, and select any available casino game.
Most popular online games in British Columbia
Here’s a list of online casino games that players in British Columbia love playing.
- Baccarat: BC online casinos usually feature this popular card game as an RNG (non-live) and live casino game. RNG baccarat is also available for free.
- Blackjack: this is the most popular card game, and every online casino in British Columbia features RNG and live dealer blackjack options, in addition to many variations.
- Slots: online video slots usually make the biggest part of every online casino in British Columbia, as you’ll find hundreds of popular games from industry-leading slot providers.
- Live dealer: many online casinos in British Columbia feature live casino games, such as live baccarat, live blackjack, live roulette, live poker, and even live game shows.
- Video poker: video poker games are also part of almost every online casino featured on this site. You’ll find many popular and less popular variations of the game.
- Roulette: you can find American, European, and French roulette in many BC online casinos, and some even feature less popular variations of this game.
How we rate our casinos
Here’s a short list of the things we pay attention to when reviewing online casinos in British Columbia. There are of course other factors we take into consideration but the below are pretty much the one we feel are most important and can be applied to any casino.
We make sure that every British Columbia online casino featured on our site has all the necessary security measures to protect its customers and sensitive data.
We analyze bonuses offered by online casinos to players from British Columbia and even compare their terms to select the platforms with the most enticing offers.
We test online casinos on a wide array of devices, including PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, to see how they work. Some of them even have native mobile apps.
We analyze the entire game portfolio of every casino we review to ensure the best possible quality of games, in addition to quantity and variety.
We look at the payment options and go for the casinos with the best array of payment options for withdrawing and depositing.
Every casino that makes it to our final list is licensed and regulated by an official regulatory body and has all the necessary fairness certificates from independent auditors.
Your questions answered
More frequent questions
Here we cover all the most important and common issues players often have.
Casinos in other provinces
Read more about online casinos in Alberta
Read more about online casinos in Manitoba
Read more about online casinos in Ontario
Responsible gambling
The main regulatory body that manages provincial programs for responsible gambling is the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch. The regulator is committed to ensuring that all gambling activities on the territory of British Columbia are carried out in a responsible manner. It ensures that the gambling-related risks are minimized. Every online casino also features a responsible gambling section. Players can take part in a self-exclusion scheme or simply limit their deposit and withdrawal. In some cases, you might have to contact customer support and discuss your options regarding limits and self-exclusion. There are also many online resources that you can use to inform yourself on problem gambling and how to remain a responsible gambler.