This page explains how we review online casinos, from the first check to the score you see at the top of each review. It lists what we read, how the points are shared out, what we leave aside on purpose and how a rating changes over time.
Everything a review says can be traced to a document you could open yourself: a regulator’s directory, a published standard or the casino’s own terms. Where we could not confirm something, the review says so instead of guessing.
Before any review: is the casino legal in your province?
Gambling law in Canada is set province by province. Only two provinces let private companies run online casinos under a regulator, and our first check depends on which one you live in.
- Ontario opened its market in April 2022. A legal site must be registered with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and listed in the iGaming Ontario directory. In October 2026 that directory showed 49 operators running 84 sites. Players must be 19 or older.
- Alberta opened on July 13, 2026. The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) regulates the market, and the Alberta iGaming Corporation keeps the list of approved sites, which had 41 entries in October 2026. Approved sites show the corporation’s logo. Players must be 18 or older.
- Elsewhere in Canada, the only legal casino games online are those run by provincial lottery corporations, where they exist. We do not review offshore sites that take players from those provinces.
We match the exact web address, not only the brand. Several international brands run one site for Ontario or Alberta and another for the rest of the world, and only the provincial version is regulated. A licence from Malta, Curaçao or Kahnawà:ke does not make a site legal in either province.
You can run this check yourself in under a minute: find the brand in the official list for your province and open the casino from the link the list gives you, not from an ad. A site that fails gets no review, no ranking and no link from us. Ontario players can see the casinos that pass in our guide to regulated online casinos in Ontario.
What we read before scoring an online casino
A review starts with documents, read in full and dated, so that a later change in the casino’s terms shows up when we compare versions:
- the official directory of the province and its rules for operators, including the AGCO Registrar’s Standards for Internet Gaming in Ontario and the AGLC framework in Alberta;
- the casino’s terms and conditions, privacy policy, payments page and responsible gambling page;
- its help centre, which often holds the details the terms leave out, such as withdrawal limits per method or the documents asked for at verification;
- what any visitor sees before signing up: the game lobby, the studios listed, support channels and opening hours, and the site on a phone.
We do not publish stories of a deposit and a quick cash-out. One test tells you little about the next player, and nobody can check it. When a review states a withdrawal time, it is the time the casino commits to in writing, and the review names the document.
How the Casiloon score out of 10 adds up
| Area | Points | What we look at |
|---|---|---|
| Payouts | 2.5 | Withdrawal methods for Canadians (Interac, cards, e-wallets), accounts in Canadian dollars, minimums, fees, limits per day or week and the processing times written in the terms. |
| Safer-play tools | 2 | Deposit and loss limits, a waiting period before a limit can be raised, time-outs, self-exclusion and the link to the province’s central self-exclusion program, plus how quickly each tool can be found. |
| Terms | 2 | Plain wording, rules on dormant accounts and account closure, any clause that allows winnings to be voided, and a complaints route that can be taken to the province if the casino does not resolve it. |
| Games | 1.5 | Range of the lobby, studios behind the games, live dealer tables, and whether rules and return-to-player figures are easy to read. |
| Account checks | 1 | How sign-up works, when identity is verified and which documents are requested, ideally before the first withdrawal rather than during it. |
| Support | 1 | Live chat, email and phone, opening hours, help in French as well as English, and how the site behaves on a small screen. |
| Total | 10 | The mark shown at the top of every review |
Payouts weigh the most because that is where players run into trouble most often: a withdrawal paused for extra documents, a weekly cap lower than expected, a fee nobody mentioned. Safer-play tools and terms come next. Both provinces set a minimum for them, and the score shows which casinos go further, for instance by offering limits during sign-up.
Being legal earns no points. It is the condition for being reviewed at all, and every site we score has already passed it.
Reading an online casino rating
- 8.5 to 10: strong on nearly every check, with nothing in the terms we would warn you about.
- 7.0 to 8.4: a sound choice with one or two weaker areas, named in the review.
- 5.5 to 6.9: legal and usable, with gaps that matter for some players, such as slow payouts or tools that are hard to find.
- Below 5.5: the review explains what pulled the score down and which licensed sites handle that point better.
Each of our casino reviews shows the six marks separately, so you can weigh them your own way. Someone who plays live blackjack on a phone and someone who wants the fastest Interac payout will not put sites in the same order.
Why our reviews leave bonuses out
Ontario allows casinos to advertise bonuses, credits and other inducements only on their own sites, or to players who have agreed to receive offers (AGCO Standard 2.05). Alberta adopted the same principle for its market. Comparison sites cannot display these offers, so ours does not.
We think that works in your favour. With no welcome offer competing for attention, a casino is judged on what stays with you after the first week: how it pays, how it protects you and what its terms allow it to do.
How Casiloon earns money without selling scores
Casiloon is free to read. Some links to casinos are affiliate links, so we may earn a commission when a reader opens an account. Commissions have no effect on a score. The order of our lists follows the scores, and no casino can buy a review, a better position or a softer verdict.
Before the site went live, we described this activity to the AGCO through its iAGCO portal. The written reply classed our services as non-gaming-related, with no registration required in Ontario. We have sent the same question to the AGLC, and Alberta reviews will follow its answer.
To learn who runs Casiloon and why, see the about page. If a review contains a mistake or an outdated detail, write to us through the contact page: we check it against the source, correct the review and change its update date.
When a review is checked again
Every review is read again in full at least every six months. We reopen it sooner when a casino changes its terms, when it joins or leaves a provincial directory, or when a regulator publishes a decision about it. The “Last checked” date at the top of each review tells you when that happened.
Reviews are where this method is put to work. To see which sites currently pass the legal check and how they compare, start from the licensed Canadian online casinos we compare.