For the benefit of anyone in Canada who hasn't yet encountered them, mobile casinos are online casinos that are designed to be fully compatible with mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. Some mobile casinos are intended to run in your mobile web browser, just as regular online casinos run in your desktop web browser. Others are presented as mobile apps that you can launch from your device at the press of a thumb, just as you would launch your favourite social media or video app.
Our aim in this article is to help you find a mobile casino that fits your needs like a glove. We'll discuss the aspects we look at when we are rating mobile casinos for TheCasinoGuide, why mobile casinos have become so popular, how you can benefit from mobile casino bonuses and even which games are best suited to the mobile casino format:
Mobile Casinos With Best Bonuses and Promotions
How We Rate Mobile Casinos in Canada
Our method of rating mobile casinos involves us visiting each venue and seeing how it fares in a number of areas that we consider to be most important to players here in Canada. We award a preliminary score out of 100 for each aspect, and those scores are then combined to generate the final overall rating. The areas that we assess for every mobile casino we review are as follows:
Legality and Security
The first thing we look for is legality and security. If a mobile casino isn’t operating legally then we drop it right there, but we also want to confirm that it has an official license to operate from a recognized regulatory body, such as the Malta Gaming Authority. We also investigate what measures are in place (such as encryption and firewalls) to ensure the safety and security of players data.
Rewards, Bonuses and Promotions
Choosing to spend your time and money with a particular mobile casino is an act of good faith that the best venues are keen to reward. We look at the kinds of rewards that are being offered to both new and regular players and compare any no-deposit bonus or first-deposit bonus deals with those available elsewhere. We also assess terms attached to bonuses so that we can award points on the basis of their fairness and transparency.
Mobile Casino Software Providers
A mobile casino is only ever as good as the quality of games that it offers, and as players who appreciate having plenty of choices, we like to see venues working with several different software providers. Of course, quality is just as important as quantity, so at least a few of the providers should be industry leaders, but variety is always a good thing.
Mobile Casino Games
Next, we turn to the games themselves. We’ve already said that we appreciate having a variety from several providers, but here we’re more focused on the range of genres and formats. Ideally, there should be something for everyone, whether you’re a slots fan, a table game player or a Live Casino aficionado.
Mobile Performance
We don’t really care whether a mobile casino makes itself available as a dedicated app or via a mobile web browser, but we do want it to perform well on both tablets and smartphones. Ideally, the casino will perform equally well no matter what platform you are on, and the experience on the web, iOS, Android or Linux should be similarly impressive.
Industry Reputation
No mobile casino operates in a vacuum, and every venue that launches soon establishes a reputation for itself among its customers, software providers and competing operators. We pay attention to such things, and while we work hard to remain objective, if a venue has a reputation for being particularly good or particularly bad, we take this into account when conducting our own review.
Banking and Account Management
The best mobile casinos shouldn’t be mere appendages to supplement a main desktop site but should be venues that stand perfectly well alone. This means we want to be able to manage our accounts on our tablets or smartphones, as well as make whatever deposits and withdrawals we want to make. If we can’t do all of this then we’ll mark the offending venue down to reflect that fact.
Mobile Casino Support
Being able to obtain support is just as important when playing at a mobile casino as it is when playing on a laptop or desktop. Ideally, we want support to be available at all times, and if that isn’t possible, for a good proportion of each 24-hour day. We also want it to be easy to access from the mobile device itself, and for it to be as friendly as it is helpful.
Three Good Reasons to Play at Mobile Casinos
In many cases, the range of games that you can play and bonuses you can claim at Canadian mobile casinos is exactly the same as at the desktop version. That being the case, why are mobile casinos so popular, and why should we play at them? Here are three good reasons that provide a satisfactory answer to both of those questions.
1 - Convenience
Just as playing at online casinos on a desktop computer is a lot more convenient than visiting a land-based venue, so playing on a mobile device is even more convenient. As long as you have internet coverage, a mobile casino lets you play almost anywhere at any time.
2 - Redeeming "Dead" Time
We all have moments in the day when there is little to do, and mobile casinos give us a way of using those moments for entertainment purposes. Whether you're having lunch in a fast-food restaurant, waiting for a dental appointment or simply sitting at home with a few minutes to kill, the "pick it up and play" convenience of mobile casinos makes it possible to turn such idle moments into miniature gaming sessions.
3 - Exclusive Promotions
We know that we said the mobile experience is often exactly the same as that offered by desktop casinos, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes it's possible to take advantage of exclusive promotions, especially at new mobile casinos that want to persuade players to give them a try.
Mobile-Friendly Web Casinos vs Dedicated Mobile Casino Apps
There are two ways to play casino games on a mobile device. One is by visiting the regular online casino website on your mobile browser, logging in and playing as normal. The other is by downloading a dedicated mobile casino app. Both are perfectly good approaches, but they do have some differences, as you can see from the lists below:
Mobile-Friendly Web Casinos:
Dedicated Mobile Casino Apps:
Five of the Best Mobile Casino Games
There are thousands of games that you can play at mobile casinos online, but five genres are particularly well suited to the mobile format, and that's why you should expect to find them at the majority of Canadian mobile casinos. Those genres are as follows:
Slots: These are the most popular online casino games in the world, and we don't know a single mobile casino that doesn't have plenty of them.
Video Poker: Make the best poker hand possible with five cards. Hold or discard any cards to try and improve your hand.
Roulette: Spin the wheel and bet on which number will be declared the winner when it comes to a stop.
Blackjack - The most popular casino card game is just as enjoyable when you play it at mobile casinos. Get closer to 21 than the dealer to win.
Live Dealer - Mobile casino gaming doesn't get any more realistic than when you play live dealer versions of blackjack, roulette, and a whole lot more.
Six of the Best Mobile Casino Software Providers
The quality of the games you get to play at mobile casinos will depend on which companies made them. There are hundreds of developers creating games for the online gaming industry, but if we could only have games from six of the best, the providers we'd choose would be as follows:
Games Global: This mobile casino software provider is one of the biggest, having purchased Microgaming’s Quickfire portfolio of games in 2022. Famous titles from this brand include Immortal Romance and Mega Moolah.
NetEnt: Another gaming giant is NetEnt, which has been around since 1996. This is the company that gave us Starburst, Gonzo’s Quest, and Dead or Alive.
Pragmatic Play: Launched in 2015, Pragmatic Play has since released over 450 games, most of which are available at mobile casinos. Notable titles include Wolf Gold, Sweet Bonanza and The Dog House.
Playtech: This is the company that has given us Age of the Gods, Buffalo Blitz, Rocky, Forest Prince, and more than 660 other games since its launch in 1999.
Red Tiger: Based in the Isle of Man, Red Tiger has more than 260 games in its portfolio. These include Cash Volt, Piggy Riches Megaways, and Jack in a Pot.
Evolution: Evolution specializes in creating live dealer games, and its titles are the best in the world. These include Lightning Roulette, Lightning Blackjack, Crazy Time, Cash or Crash Live and Side Bet City.
Payment Options at Mobile Casinos Online
Most mobile casinos will give you a variety of payment options to choose from when you come to make a deposit to your account. Some of the main ones that you'll find at mobile casinos in Canada are:
Credit Card
VISA and MasterCard are the most common options, but almost all mobile casinos will accept credit cards of some type. Just be aware that some credit card companies may view a casino deposit as a cash advance, and charge you accordingly. Always check beforehand.
E-Wallets
The advantage of using e-wallets such as PayPal, Neteller and Skrill is that they serve as middlemen between you and the casino, so you don’t have to share any financial details with the casino itself.
Pay By Phone
You can often make deposits at online casinos by charging them to your mobile payment method such as Google Pay or Apple Pay. This isn’t always possible and its availability depends on the mobile casino’s own policies, but it is becoming increasingly common.
Mobile Casino Bonuses
You can benefit from some great bonuses when you get involved with a mobile casino as a new player. The bonuses that are available vary from casino to casino, but they tend to come in one of two main forms, as follows:
Deposit Bonus
These require you to make a deposit of your own money to the mobile casino, so they are more generous than their no-deposit cousins. You can typically expect the casino to give you a 100% bonus or even better, up to a maximum sum, such as $200, $500 or even more.
Claiming any bonus is as easy as following the instructions provided by the mobile casino. Just be sure to check the terms and conditions so that you know how the bonus can be used and what the wagering requirements are.
No-Deposit Bonuses
These are given to you for doing nothing more than signing up for a new account, so they won't be worth much more than a few free spins or a very small amount of bonus funds. Of course, they won't cost you a cent to obtain, so you're a winner before you've even started.
Finding a Mobile Casino That Suits Your Needs
The mobile casino industry is booming, and there are thousands of venues that Canadians can sign up with, so how do you go about finding one that suits your needs? That's a good question, and we'll present our answer as a three-step action plan:
1 - Know What You're Looking For
The first step is to know what you're looking for. Do you want to be able to play the widest possible range of slots, or are you more interested in playing table games or live dealer games? What payment method do you want to use to make deposits? What kind of promotions or bonuses are you looking for? The more clear you are about what you want, the easier it will be for you to find it.
2 - Do Some Research
Now that you know what you're looking for, you can head over to our online casino reviews section and see how different venues match up with your requirements. If you want to speed things up, consider focusing on the casinos that have earned our highest ratings and see which of those might be most suitable for you.
3 - Take a Test Drive
Choosing a mobile casino to play at isn't like choosing a life partner or getting a permanent tattoo on your forehead, so feel free to take a test drive or two to see how a venue fits. If you like it, you can stick around for the long term. If you don't then you can try out a few more until you find one that fits you better.