Online Casinos that Accept Canadian Dollars

Finding an online casino to play at isn’t hard, as hundreds of websites operate in Canada. Not all of them, however, let you deposit and withdraw money in Canadian dollars (CAD).

If you are a resident of Ontario, plenty of fully legal online casinos are available to you, all of which accept CAD for payments. Canadians in other provinces may still gamble online, but they will have to register and log in with an offshore operator, some of which don’t accept Canadian dollars.

Here’s a list of our recommended online casinos with CAD.

Benefits of Playing in Canadian Dollars

You might think it’s not a big deal if an online casino doesn’t accept Canadian dollars, but you wouldn’t be more wrong. Playing real money games in a foreign currency has several disadvantages and could cost you hundreds or even thousands of CA$ in the long term.

To understand this better, we will break this down into a few sections, which are as follows:

1. Payment processors
2. Transaction fees
3. Currency conversion

1. Payment processors

Like other websites, e.g., e-commerce shops, online casinos do not process payments themselves. Building the whole infrastructure to handle financial transactions is complex, especially from a security standpoint, and gambling operators prefer to focus on what they do best; providing casino games.

As a result, these companies sign agreements with payment processors who handle deposits and withdrawals for them. If you have ever played at an online casino, you might have noticed that you can deposit and receive payouts in several ways, e.g., Interac, Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, or bank transfer.

All of the companies above are financial institutions that process payments. They typically have been around for decades and provide secure, fast, and efficient ways to move funds between companies and customers.

As you can imagine, firms like Interac don’t work for free, and online casinos have to pay a fee for each transaction. This brings us to the next point: transaction fees.

2. Transaction Fees

Payment processing companies need to earn money, and they do so by charging a fee for sending money through their facilities.

Interac e-Transfers, for example, allow almost instant money transfers between personal and business accounts. For that reason, many Canadians choose Interac when playing at online casinos.

While receiving money through their interbank network is free, sending funds costs between C$1-C$1.50 per transaction and can go as high as C$4 if your bank doesn’t support Interac.

It’s cheap because they’re dealing within Canada and in Canadian dollars, but things quickly get more expensive when international transfers and foreign currencies are involved.

For example, another famous payment processor, PayPal, currently charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction in the United States. However, the company already charges a minimum of 4.4% + a fixed fee for international payments.

This matters because gambling operators typically don’t soak up the fee themselves but pass it on to their players. When you request a payout, an online casino usually charges a processing fee, either a percentage of the withdrawal amount or a fixed fee. More often than not, it includes the fee the payment processor is charging them.

3. Currency Conversion

Now we understand how banks, credit cards & e-wallets earn money from processing payments, but that’s not all. A significant share of their revenues comes from charging, to say it in layman’s terms, fake conversion rates.

Therefore, if you decide to play at an online casino that only accepts Euros, you might lose hundreds of Canadian dollars on fake conversion rates. When you request a payout (say €500) from the website, the operator will send that amount in Euros. Your bank, however, won’t credit Euros to your account but instead converts it into CAD. If we look at the example above, you will lose over CA$30 on that transaction alone.

If this is news to you, read Wise’s article on mid-market rates and the hidden cost you have to cover when exchanging money through your regular bank.

Online Casinos with Canadian Dollars

Luckily, most online casinos that operate in Canada also accept CAD. To ensure you don’t accidentally sign up with one that doesn’t, we put together a table of the top 10 sites with CA$.

Welcome Bonuses in Dollars ($) Might be Misleading

When browsing online casinos, you might have noticed that almost all websites advertise their welcome bonuses and other promotions in dollars. Here, it’s important to remember that these operators might be referring to USD, not CAD.

It’s easy to distinguish between the two, i.e., by using C$ or CA$, but it’s equally common not to do so across websites in Canada. Therefore, when you come across an online casino that promotes a $500 welcome bonus, there is a good chance it’s CAD, but you cannot be 100% sure. We recommend always contacting customer support and getting their confirmation that you can deposit and withdraw in Canadian dollars.

Conclusion

It’s beneficial for players to gamble in CAD, and we highly recommend signing up with an online casino that accepts Canadian dollars. It not only makes transactions cheaper but also faster.

Since most websites advertise their welcome bonuses and promotions in dollars, it’s easy to assume they mean CAD. However, remember they might be talking in USD, so speak to their support team before registering to be on the safe side.

As for everything else, check out our following FAQ, where we answer some of the most asked questions.

FAQ