If you are a sports fan and enjoy making an occasional wager – you have probably heard a lot of exciting things related to the local sports betting scene lately. The most significant changes starting from the end of 2022 / beginning of 2023 are related to regulation. Single-event sports betting is not legal and local sportsbooks are allowed to take such bets online.
This opened the door for international sportsbook brands, industry giants to register their own Canadian betting companies. Therefore, local sports betting enthusiasts now have a huge variety of betting sites to choose from.
Local companies that existed prior to changes in regulation and the ones that were founded just recently will have to stay competitive. So far, they have been doing it rather well and you can find some original Canadian betting brands that are as good as the bigger and better-known ones.
Even though you will now generally have more options to choose from – there are a lot more things you have to consider, hence choosing a betting site for yourself becomes quite difficult. This is especially the case for those of you, who are casual sports bettors, who aren’t really interested in how all of this works under the hood.
We will try to break this down into several sections, in a way that gives you a good overview of the current situation. If you are interested in some betting brand recommendations – we will have them too, however first let’s cover the basics.
First of all, let’s cover the two main local iGaming regulators: the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and iGaming Ontario (iGO). Having more regulation in place builds a safer gaming environment for everyone involved.
Does this mean that all betting operators with local licenses are equally good? No, not necessarily. Locally issued licenses ensure that the betting brands follow a number of rules and regulations based on local laws. However, this doesn’t guarantee a high-quality sportsbook product.
Having the above in mind, in addition to making sure that the sports betting brand of your choice is well-regulated, you also have to make sure that you are getting the user experience you want.
International regulators like MGA (Malta Gaming Authority) and Curacao eGaming are often brought up in controversial discussions. Partly because they work with hundreds of operators, so accidents are bound to happen sooner or later. Nevertheless, there are some reputable and reliable betting brands that operate with these licenses for years without any issues.
Should you avoid sportsbooks with such licenses? No, not necessarily. You should use your own judgment and common sense, a lot of well-known and respected sportsbooks hold a Curacao license.
Is it illegal to bet with such operators? No, it technically isn’t. Everything happens online and the service itself is based overseas, so there is nothing stopping you from using the service even though you, yourself are in Canada.
The most important thing here is that you take everything into consideration: look at the license, look at the quality of the website, content variety, read some reviews online. Make sure you have all your bases covered and make an informed decision that is based on facts.
There are already over 25 betting brands that are licensed by iGaming Ontario, more are surely going to appear in the near future. You can always see the most up-to-date lists of licensed sportsbooks on the regulator’s official website. Most names on that list will be companies from other countries and just a couple of original Canadian brands. Those are the ones we would like to focus on in this section, one brand in particular.
Bet99 Canada is a local company that has been around since 2020, so you can say they are fairly new. The main reason why we wanted to bring them to your attention is the fact that they are licensed by both local regulators. Bet99 holds a Kahnawake Gaming Commission license and since mid-2022 they also have an iGaming Ontario license.
Besides being well-regulated and founded in Canada, Bet99 simply has a good sports betting product. They have a quick registration process, so any newcomer can set up a player account in just a couple of minutes. All popular payment methods are supported and you can also use several cryptocurrencies for payments and withdrawals.
This is the second kind of sports betting permit that you can see in Canada. There are significantly more companies that hold this permit, compared to the Ontario one. At the moment there are already over 100 betting and gaming brands that have a valid Kahnawake License.
It’s also worth mentioning that the Kahnawake Gaming Commission is one of the oldest iGaming regulators in the world. The main purpose of founding this commission was to make online gaming fair, safe and lawful.
True North Bet is a great example of a local company that was founded in response to recent regulation changes. They have been operating since 2021 and are an original Canadian brand with a valid Kahnawake license. We are also fairly certain that they will obtain an Ontario license in the near future.
All new players from Canada can get free bets as welcome presents, but there is definitely much more to explore. The eSports betting section is especially well-polished, so if that is your thing – we absolutely recommend checking them out. In case you would still like to know more about them, then you might first want to read a full True North Bet review.
As we already mentioned earlier, the two most common international licenses are the Curacao and Maltese ones. In this section, we will only talk about the Curacao Antillephone license simply because the betting brand we would like to talk about holds this license. Of course, there are many more sportsbooks that have Canada as their main target region and probably some good ones too. Nevertheless, you will need to do your own research before deciding to give your funds and personal information to a betting brand you haven’t heard of before.
Is it safe to bet with a sportsbook that doesn’t have a local license? It is, as long as you are sure that the betting operator in question is reliable.
How can you find that out? You will need to do your own research, read reviews and listen to people’s feedback. Here, we will give you one example of a betting brand that doesn’t have a local license, yet still is a rather safe and reliable place for sports betting.
In other words, a Curacao license is good as long as you are familiar with the brand and know what you are doing.
Cobrabet is a sportsbook that specifically targets Canada. They’ve configured their platform in a way that is most appealing to local sports fans. You will find a rich selection of games form popular Canadian leagues. All “go-to” payment methods are also supported and on top of that, you can make cryptocurrency payments.
Cobrabet hold an Antillephone N.V. (no. 8048/JAZ2020-013) license, which is quite common among internet betting operators. The license badge should always be visible in the footer of their website. If you click or tap their license badge, it should lead you to their certificate page, where you can check whether the license is still valid. The same approach of checking license validity can be used with any operator that holds a similar license.
Finally, we would like to take a minute and talk about a sensitive topic – responsible betting. Sports betting is, first of all, a hobby and it is aimed at making your favorite sporting events even more exciting. This isn’t something most people should rely on as a source of income and your life shouldn’t be centered around it.
If you find yourself in a situation, where you clearly need to stop and take a break but can’t – it might be time to seek assistance. A good place to start is https://www.gamblingtherapy.org/en – they have a number of free online help resources that you can use. For example, you can chat with a trained professional and try to build a coping strategy or you can take part in group discussion where you can listen to other people and share your own feelings.
