Editorial standards

How we rank Ontario online casinos

Trust is the entire product here. This page documents exactly where our data comes from, how we test it, how we score operators, who is responsible, and where we use AI assistance — so you can judge our work the same way we judge casinos.

Who we are and why we built this

Ontario Casino Index is an independent reference site, not a casino. We don't take bets, hold player funds or operate games. We exist because the search results for "Ontario online casino" and "Interac casino Canada" are crowded with pages that do two things badly: they mix legal Ontario operators with offshore brands that aren't allowed to serve Ontarians, and they quote marketing "instant payout" claims while ignoring the review windows that decide how long you actually wait.

Who this is for: adults (19+) in Ontario choosing between regulated casinos. How we help: a mirror of the official licence directory plus an honest payout tracker. Why you should trust it: every claim on this site is traceable to a primary source, and we tell you when something is uncertain instead of inventing a number.

Our data sources

We work from primary, public records and the operators' own published terms — never from rumour or from each other's affiliate pages.

As of our last review there were roughly 44 operators running about 78 gaming sites on the iGO directory (as of June 8, 2026). Because that list churns — brands launch, delist, or transition, such as the PointsBet-to-Betr change — we re-check it on at least a monthly cadence and stamp every record with a last verified date.

How we test payout speed

This is where we differ most from thin competitors. A casino's advertised Interac SLA (for example, "under 60 minutes") is only half the story. Before that clock starts, most operators run a Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and internal review — and on a first withdrawal that can take days. So we record two numbers for every casino:

• Published Interac SLA — the operator's stated processing time once a withdrawal is approved.
• Review window — the realistic KYC/internal-review time before approval, especially on a first cash-out. BetMGM, for instance, can take 3–5 business days here.

Our tracker then shows realistic time to cash = review window + SLA, and sorts by that by default. It's why BetMGM ranks slower than its 8-hour headline implies, and why PlayOJO and Caesars — fast SLA and same-day review for verified players — sit near the top. Where we can, we confirm with our own test deposits and withdrawals; otherwise we rely on the operator's published figures and clearly say so. All speeds vary by verification status, first-versus-repeat withdrawal and amount.

Scoring weights

Each operator earns a rating out of 5, built from weighted pillars. We weight payout reality and licensing transparency most heavily because, in a market where bonuses can't be advertised, those are what genuinely separate operators.

A casino cannot rank at all unless it passes the binary gate first: it must be on the iGO directory (or be OLG, the government operator). Offshore brands are never ranked — they're flagged.

How we handle bonuses (legally)

Ontario prohibits public advertising of bonuses, free spins, credits or any gambling inducement. AGCO Standard 2.06 requires that any inducement's material conditions be disclosed at first presentation, with the rest one click away — and operators are liable for what their affiliates publish. Two enforcement actions make the stakes clear: BetMGM was fined C$110,000 in 2024 for inducement marketing via affiliates and a trade-show offer, and Casino Days was fined C$54,000 in 2025 for a deceptive, high-wagering bonus.

So our policy is simple: we describe offers editorially and factually ("on-site only after sign-up"), we never render a bonus call-to-action, and we link to the operator's own page for terms. We are not the inducement channel. This protects you and the operators, and it's why our pages look calmer than Curaçao-market affiliate sites. Full explainer →

Independence and how we make money

We may earn a commission when a reader signs up with an operator through some of our links. Those links are marked and use rel="sponsored nofollow". Commercial relationships never change a rating, a rank or a verdict — our scoring is mechanical and documented above, and we'll rank a partner below a non-partner without hesitation when the data says so. We also flag every operator that is not legal in Ontario, even though we could never earn from them, because that legal clarity is the whole point of the site.

AI-assistance disclosure

We believe in transparency about how content is produced. We use AI tools to assist with drafting, summarising source material, structuring data and checking consistency across pages. Every page is then reviewed, fact-checked against the primary sources above, and edited by a human before publication. AI is a research and drafting aid here — it does not set ratings, invent statistics or have the final word. Where a figure could not be verified against a primary source, we omit it or hedge it rather than let a model guess.

Freshness and corrections

Licence status is re-checked at least monthly against the iGO directory; payout and payment details are reviewed on a rolling basis and whenever an operator changes its terms. Each record carries a last-verified date (currently June 8, 2026 for operator data). Spotted something out of date or wrong? We want to know — corrections strengthen the index. Reach us via the about page.