Best Online Casinos in Ontario
If you’re interested in playing online casino games in Ontario, you’re on the right page. We’re going to suggest some of the top online gambling platforms, go through some common FAQs and more . Moreover, we’ll talk about some of the most popular online games in Ontario and reveal our method for selecting the best online gambling sites.
Basic facts
Population — 14.57 million
Legal age — 19 years
Licensed casinos — 24 land-based casinos
First licensed land-based casino — Casino Windsor (opened in 1994)
A historical overview
Ontario is one of the most liberal provinces in Canada, so it has a pretty long gambling history. Before 1969, gambling was largely unregulated, and illegal gambling activities took place in people’s homes. The 1969 amendment to the Criminal Code of Canada made it possible to host legal slots and gambling machines, which became popular in Ontario, and each province received an opportunity to regulate its own industry in 1985. Ontario’s regulator quickly started preparing the legal framework and opened the first casino in 1994. Many other casinos started popping up all over Ontario, and the regulator even legalized online casino gambling.
Gambling and regulations
Online gambling is legal in Ontario. It is regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, and there’s even an official operator in the state called the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. In fact, it’s the only operator that offers a state-licensed online casino, which offers a pretty limited selection of games. The good news is that many other international operators offer their services to players in Ontario. Apart from online casinos, Ontario licensed and regulated many other forms of gambling, including sports betting, lotteries, and more. Long story short — gambling is legal in Ontario, including online gambling.
Should you play for free or for real money?
Playing for real money
The most popular way to play online casino games in Ontario is for real money. The good news is that most online casinos offer real-money gambling as their primary service. If you want to make real wagers and take a shot at real-money prizes, you’ll have to become a member of the online casino of your choice. To do that, you’ll need to go through the registration process and make a deposit.
We selected the online casinos that offer Canada-friendly deposit and withdrawal methods, which means you shouldn’t have any trouble getting your funds to your casino balance and back to your bank account.
Playing for free
Many online casinos let players play games completely free of charge, and Ontario online casinos are no different. If you want to play for free, you don’t even have to open an account in most cases. Instead, you only need to select a game, choose Free Play or Demo Play, load the game, and start playing with the fake money provided by the operator. However, you’ll also have to get used to the fact that there are no real prizes when you’re playing for free, so your rewards will also come in the form of fake casino credit. If you want to switch to real money, you’ll have to open an account and make a deposit.
Most popular online games in Ontario
Players in Ontario love all the online casino games that are also popular worldwide. Let’s make a brief overview of all of them.
Baccarat is popular among Ontario players and is part of almost every online casino available in the Canadian province. Many casinos also feature live baccarat.
Blackjack is the most popular casino card game in the world, and you’ll find many variations of this game in Ontario online casinos, including plenty of live blackjack options.
Casinos in Ontario feature American, European, and French roulette, as well as other, less popular, roulette variations. Of course, there are plenty of live dealer roulette options.
Live casino games feature a real dealer streamed live to your desktop or mobile device. Ontario players can enjoy an array of live dealer options, including live game shows.
Casino poker games, such as Casino Hold’em, Caribbean Stud, Three Card Poker, and more, are always popular among card lovers in Ontario online casinos.
Video poker games, such as Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Joker Poker, and dozens of other variations are also available in many online casinos in Ontario.
How we rate our casinos
We want to make sure that the casinos featured for Ontario players are the best possible. Here’s what we pay attention to when choosing online gambling sites.
Every online casino needs to have all the security protocols in place to ensure the maximum protection of players in Ontario and prevent possible cyberattacks.
Bonuses are an essential part of every online casino, so we made sure that all casinos in Ontario feature enticing welcome offers and other promotions for their customers.
We go through the entire game portfolio for every casino we test to check for the quality, but also quantity and variety of online casino games. We also check available game providers.
We test online casinos on desktop and mobile devices to make sure they work well everywhere. We also test mobile apps if they are available to Ontario players.
Your questions answered
More frequent questions
Here we cover all the most important and common issues players often have.
Browse through our complete list of questions & answers
Problem gambling services are available at ConnexOntario.
Casinos by province
Read more info about casinos in British Colombia
Read more info about casinos in Alberta
Read more info about casinos in Manitoba
Responsible gambling
The OLG and the AGCO are committed to preventing the development of problem gambling among the players in Canada. The OLG especially makes sure to offer a self-help program for people who want to put a stop to their gambling activities. Most importantly, the OLG makes sure to spread important info and awareness about problem gambling and even features the PlaySmart resource, which serves as a gambling encyclopedia. Players from Ontario can use PlaySmart to learn about problem gambling and educate themselves on various casino options to keep gambling fun and smart. Moreover, many online casinos that are available to Ontario players feature their self-exclusion programs and even let you place a limit on your deposits or withdrawals to prevent spending too much money.