Best Betting Sites in Canada in 2023

Sports betting in Canada is rapidly growing and changing, with new laws and regulations being introduced, more and more brands are entering the scene. Existing local betting brands have to become better and adapt, while bigger and well-known international bookmakers make their debut in Canada.

Having that in mind, there is quite a lot of information to shovel through and you might not always have the time to do it yourself. To be honest, if you are into sports betting just as a hobby – that might not be necessary at all. We would like to give you a breakdown of some key things you should pay attention to and give some “safe” betting site recommendations. We, of course, always encourage you to do your own research but are always happy to steer you in the right direction.

A Betting Site Should be Regulated

Any company that handles sensitive information and/or funds should be properly regulated, this also applies to betting operators. If we set all smaller details aside, there are going to be two main variations here – bookmakers that hold a locally issued license and the ones that don’t.

Having a local Canadian license does imply a certain level of legitimacy, however it doesn’t guarantee a high-quality betting product. At the same time, a betting site that is licensed by an overseas regulator is not necessarily something you should shy away from.

Local License

The main local regulatory body in Canada is the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, who has all needed information publicly available on its official website. You can find a completely up-to-date list of all active permit holders, so whenever in doubt, you can always refer to them.

Other Licenses

There are a lot of iGaming regulators out there and we will not go over each and every one of them, only the two most popular ones. If you find a bookmaker is not locally licensed in Canada then you will most likely see that they have a MGA (Malta Gaming Authority) or will hold a Curacao eGaming license. Both of these licenses are perfectly fine as long as the actual bookmaker provides a high-quality service. Some of the betting operators that we will feature below hold one (or both) of these licenses.

Good Betting Brands to Look Into

We did our own research on your behalf and are happy to give you our “safe” betting site recommendations. The brands we bring to your attention have been specifically selected to significantly differ from each other. This gives you an option to choose one based on your betting habits and the sports you are interested in. Nevertheless, before settling with any of the given options we would recommend opening their websites, creating an account and clicking around to see whether it “clicks” with you.

Bet99

Bet99 is one of the most well-known local betting brands and probably one of the most reliable ones. Even though they haven’t been around for long (online since 2020) they already made a name for themselves and are one of the “go-to” bookmakers for Canadian sports fans. Bet99 holds a locally issued Kahnawake Gaming Commission as well as a Malta Gaming Authority license. As they are a Canadian brand, they support all popular local payment methods and heavily focus on local leagues, tournaments, and competitions.

Why Bet99?

As we already mentioned earlier, Bet99 holds a local license so that means that they operate in accordance with local rules and regulations. They have fast payments that come with no hidden fees, which is always a big plus.

New players can benefit from a nice C$600 welcome offer, which has a reasonable and realistic wagering requirement of 5x. The minimum amount required to trigger the welcome offer is just C$20.

Existing active players will have daily and weekly odds boost offers for NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA games as well as stake refunds and parlay bonuses.

STS

STSBet is a mature and well-known betting brand worldwide, they have been around even before online betting became a thing. Despite being in the industry for years and having millions of active players, STS haven’t entered Canada until 2016. They hold a valid Malta Gaming Authority license, which you can always check yourself, the link can be found in the footer of their website. Even though STS is not licensed locally, that doesn’t mean they can’t facilitate online betting, the only thing they can’t do is open land-based betting shops.

Why STS

STS is a mature company, probably even older than some of you, who are reading this. They have decades of experience and they utilize that experience to build the best possible betting product. Having that in mind, they have done a good job at tailoring their Canadian website for local sports fans. They’ve introduced coverage for all popular sports and leagues as well as added a wider variety of bet types.

All new players from Canada will get a welcome offer up to C$300. This bonus comes with a reasonable 5x wagering requirement and a relatively small C$20 minimum deposit requirement.

STS also has a lot of free bet offers, so you can get weekly league-specific free bets. For example, weekly NBA free bets, NHL free bets, and similar offers for other popular leagues. 

Neo.Bet

Finally, the last bookie we would like to recommend is NeoBet Canada – they are one of the most innovative betting brands out there. Similar to the two other brands we have already mentioned here, NeoBet holds a Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) license. They have a specific Canadian instance of their website where the main currency is CAD (C$) and you can use all “go-to” payment gateways. An important thing to mention about NeoBet is the fact that they are all about sports betting, they heavily focus on sports and don’t have a casino section.

Why Neo.Bet

NeoBet has an unusual approach to the visual aspect of their product. While a lot of other betting sites have a “cookie cutter” design – NeoBet has a completely fresh user interface. UI elements are positioned differently and the entire “user journey” is structured in an unusual way. Despite all the changes they introduced, their website is still intuitive and easy to use. After you get used to it, you might not even want to go back to average “industry standard” sportsbooks.

New Canadian players can get two welcome bonuses, with the first one being C$200. The second bonus is C$100 and both of them have a 5x wagering requirement with the minimum deposit requirement being just C$10.

Bet Responsibly

To wrap things up, we would like to remind you that it is vital to be in control of your betting hobby. Sports betting is something that should make your favorite sporting events even more exciting and it should make your life harder.

If you find yourself in a situation, where you are spending more than you can afford and/or

are unable to take a break – it might be time to seek assistance. A good place to start would be https://www.gamblingtherapy.org/en – they have 24/7 support for gambling-related issues. You can talk with a trained professional and discuss your issues and you can also take part in group therapy sessions.

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