Leave it to Canada to circumvent its own laws when it comes to online gambling. Only local governments are allowed to legally operate online casinos for profits within the nation’s borders, but offshore gambling sites are still allowed to cater to its citizens. Although it’s only been a few years since the government gave its blessing, the Great North has quickly become the new iGaming frontier.
Canadians have taken to online gambling like beavers take to building dams, and business is booming! Overseas online casinos popped up faster than you can gobble down half-a-dozen cream cheese doughnuts at a Tim Horton’s anywhere from Moose Jaw to the Bay of Fundy.
In all honesty, if you want something to fail miserably you just have to leave it to the government, which is why players are on a quest to find the best real money online casinos in Canada and it’s not exactly slim pickings.
Canadian players are reaping all the benefits
As with any emerging market, iGaming is doing its best to vie for attention in Canada and the players stand to reap all the benefits. The Welcome Bonuses on offer are usually redonkulous compared to what players are offered on other jurisdictions.
And the lure to play slots for free or real money before choosing where to gamble allows for new players to get acquainted with how everything works. Hundreds of thousands of players have already signed up and more and more European online casinos are gearing up to enter the market.
Bricks-and-mortar casinos are losing the war
Bricks-and-mortar casinos were forced to shut down operations back in March 2020 due to the global pandemic. While some have since reopened, the restrictions on how many visitors are allowed at a time, what types of table games are on offer, and the physical spacing between slots have made the whole affair almost unsustainable.
An estimated 15,000 workers have lost their jobs while top executives are still eligible for bonuses despite losses projected to be in the hundreds of millions. This has put a very negative spotlight onthe Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation in particular, where the top brass has threatened with lawsuits in case they don’t get their bonuses.
So there’s no wonder that online casinos fiercely target Canadian players. If current conditions persist for a longer period of time, there’s no question that bricks-and-mortar casinos, with the exception of those that adapt, will lose this war to its online counterparts.
Online casinos in Canada to stay, unless…
With online gambling booming in Canada, online casinos are there to stay, unless the government decides to restrict foreign sites from operating in the country. Nations in Europe like Sweden, UK, and Germany have been making it harder for online gambling companies to operate by adding more stringent rules and licenses, while enforcing compliance and slapping companies with extortionate fines in the millions.
As long as Canada allows for a free and open market with few restrictions, online casinos will keep coming, and so will the perks to the players who sign up.