Our Testing Methodology — How We Review Every Casino

Why We Publish This

We publish our complete testing methodology so you can evaluate our process and hold us accountable. If you think our methodology is flawed, we want to hear about it: [email protected].

Our review process is built specifically around the Canadian credit card deposit experience. Most casino review sites use generic criteria — we test what actually matters to Canadian players using credit cards.

How We Select Sites to Test

We don’t test every casino on the internet. Our testing pool is curated based on:

• Canadian market presence: The site must actively accept Canadian players and support CAD deposits
• Credit card acceptance: The site must accept Visa and/or Mastercard — our entire research focus is credit card deposits
• Minimum licence threshold: The site must hold a licence from a recognised jurisdiction (MGA, UKGC, Kahnawake, Gibraltar, or iGaming Ontario) before we invest time and money in testing
• Reader requests: We receive testing requests via email and prioritise sites that multiple readers ask about

In our February 2025 cycle, we tested 34 casinos — our largest test batch to date. We spent $2,400 in real deposits from accounts at 9 Canadian banks.

The 6-Step Process

Step 1: Licence Verification

Every licence number is checked against the regulator’s live public database. We don’t take the casino’s word for it — we verify directly.

How we do it: Our regulatory analyst Karen Webb visits the regulator’s website, navigates to their public register, and searches for the specific licence number displayed on the casino’s site. We check:

• Is the licence number valid?
• Is the licence currently active (not expired, suspended, or revoked)?
• Does the licence holder match the entity operating the casino?
• For Ontario sites: is the operator currently registered with iGaming Ontario? [Source 10]

Regulators we verify against:

• Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) — mga.org.mt [Sources 7, 8]
• UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) — gamblingcommission.gov.uk
• Kahnawake Gaming Commission — gamingcommission.ca [Source 7]
• iGaming Ontario — igamingontario.ca [Source 10]
• Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner

Disqualification rule: Expired or unverifiable licences disqualify a site immediately — regardless of how much commission they’d pay us. This is non-negotiable. Genesis Casino was rejected specifically for this reason.

Step 2: Real Deposit Testing

We make real deposits using Visa and Mastercard credit cards from real Canadian bank accounts. This is first-party testing — not surveys, not user reports, not theoretical analysis.

Banks we test from: TD Bank, RBC, BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank, National Bank, Desjardins, and 2 credit unions.

What we record for each deposit:

• Success or failure (with decline code if available)
• Processing time (seconds from submission to funds appearing)
• Cash advance coding (confirmed via statement review)
• Any fees charged beyond the stated cash advance rate
• Whether Amex is accepted (tested at sites that claim Amex support)

How we calculate acceptance rates: Number of successful deposits ÷ total attempts across all 9 banks, expressed as a percentage. A casino needs 90%+ to qualify for our rankings.

Equipment: We use standard consumer hardware — no VPNs, no special network configurations. We want our test results to reflect what a typical Canadian player would experience.

Step 3: Withdrawal Tracking

We request a withdrawal and track every step from request to funds received in our bank account.

What we track:

• Time from withdrawal request to processing (casino’s internal processing time)
• Time from processing to funds received (banking/transfer time)
• Total elapsed time
• Comparison to the casino’s stated withdrawal timeframe
• Any verification or documentation requests during the process

Scoring: Sites are scored based on actual vs. stated timing. Arriving within the stated window = full marks. Every day beyond the stated window reduces the score. Sites exceeding double the stated timeframe are removed from rankings — this is why Betway was delisted after an 11-day withdrawal against a stated 3–5 day window.

Step 4: Responsible Gambling Tools Audit

Responsible gambling tools must be present, functional, and accessible. Specifically:

• Deposit limits: Must be settable by the player. Daily, weekly, and monthly options required.
• Session time reminders: Must be available and configurable.
• Cooling-off period: Must allow temporary account suspension.
• Self-exclusion: Must allow permanent or long-term self-exclusion.

The 2-click rule: All of the above must be accessible within 2 clicks from the main account page. This is the standard that Rizk Casino failed — their RG tools required 3 clicks and were hidden under “Advanced Settings.” Players who need deposit limits need them to be easy to find, not buried.

How we test: Sophie Laroche conducts the RG audit. She logs into the casino, navigates to the account page, and counts clicks to reach each RG tool. She also tests that the tools actually work — setting a deposit limit and attempting to exceed it, for example.

Step 5: Terms & Conditions Analysis

Our regulatory analyst Karen Webb reads the full T&Cs for every site under evaluation. She specifically looks for:

• Withdrawal limits: What’s the maximum weekly/monthly withdrawal? Anything below $10,000/week is flagged (this disqualified Wildz at $4,000/week).
• Credit card bonus restrictions: Some casinos exclude credit card deposits from bonus eligibility — we note this where applicable.
• Wagering requirements: We record the wagering requirements for all bonuses. We don’t factor bonuses into our scores, but we disclose the terms.
• Clauses disadvantaging Canadian players: Currency conversion fees, restricted games, or region-specific limitations.
• Dispute resolution: What process exists if something goes wrong? Which ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) provider is specified?

Step 6: Monthly Re-Test

Every ranked site is re-tested monthly. The gambling industry changes rapidly — payment processors change, licences lapse, withdrawal times shift, support quality fluctuates. A review from 6 months ago is unreliable.

What triggers a re-test cycle:

• Scheduled monthly re-test: Every ranked site, every month. Our next round begins March 7, 2025.
• Emergency re-test: Triggered by credible player complaints, regulatory action against the operator, news of a licence change, or significant website/processor changes.
• Re-entry test: Rejected sites that may have resolved their issues get a fresh full evaluation.

You’ll always see the exact last-tested date on every listing. If a listing shows a date more than 45 days old, something has gone wrong with our process — email us.

Scoring Weights

Why bonuses are excluded: Most welcome bonuses are negative expected value once wagering requirements are applied. We don’t think they should influence where you play. We report bonus details for informational purposes but they carry zero weight in our scoring.

Our Relationship With Casinos

Full transparency:

• We earn referral commission from casinos when users sign up via our links. This is how we fund our testing (real deposits cost real money).
• We do NOT accept free accounts. Every test deposit comes from our own funds.
• We do NOT accept special treatment. We sign up as regular players, not as reviewers. Casinos don’t know they’re being tested.
• Commission does NOT influence rankings. Our scoring criteria are fixed and published above. A casino paying us more does not move it up the list.
• We have rejected sites that offered high commissions because they failed our criteria. Commission is irrelevant to the evaluation.

We encourage you to read our editorial standards and affiliate disclosure for full details on how we handle the inherent conflict of interest in affiliate publishing.

Methodology in effect since site launch (March 15, 2019), with refinements. Current version reflects February 2025 testing cycle. 72 monthly data points tracked. [Source 12]