Best Canadian Sports Betting Sites

Betting on sports is almost as ancient as sports themselves. People have always put money on who will win a hockey game or win a fight. In 2021, thanks to a bill passed by the Trudeau Government, all forms of sports betting became 100% legal in Canada. Many online casinos offer some form of a sportsbook as it is one of the most popular ways to gamble online. At GambleGuys, we have reviewed many casinos, looking at their slots, live casino games, and classic games. We are now looking at sportsbooks to find the best ones for our readers. Indeed, we are on a mission to bring you the best sports betting sites in Canada. You may be wondering what makes a sportsbook "the best." Here's how our reviewers will be looking at these sportsbooks, and, as such, this is our basic methodology behind their ratings!

How to Choose the Best Sportsbooks

The best sportsbooks always have two things in common: the ability to bet on almost any game globally and an unrelenting focus on the player. From the player's perspective, this means having a wide selection of betting options, fast deposits and withdrawals, a well-designed site, and quality customer service. The best sportsbooks also offer the best odds - after all, sportsbook A's site can be excellent, but if sportsbook A is paying 30% less on a bet than sportsbook B, it's hard to justify going with sportsbook A.

By contrast, sites that offer a meagre selection of games or provide a bad user experience are poor sportsbooks. Additionally, any sportsbook that has issues with its licence or any problems with its reputation is probably one to avoid. Sportsbooks with low odds and confusing rules are also ones to avoid. Ultimately, it's often hard for players to determine which sportsbooks are fantastic and which ones players should avoid without reading reviews. That's, of course, where GambleGuys comes in! Our reviewers have extensive experience looking at sports betting sites in Canada and know how to spot great sportsbooks from mediocre ones. We know what to look for and what constitutes red flags that scream to stay away!

The Process Behind Our Online Sports Betting Sites Reviews

Not all sportsbooks are created equal. Some offer better odds, better selections, and a better user experience than others. At GambleGuys, our goal is to bring you the best sportsbooks and to do that, we rate our sportsbooks on eight different categories. The best-rated sports betting sites in Canada are the ones that score the highest in each of the following areas.

Sports Available for Betting

Sportsbooks offer the ability to bet on sports. That's an obvious statement, but what qualifies as a sport? Some sportsbooks only allow bets on the most common sports, like NHL, NFL, NBA, and MLB. These sportsbooks are ok, and many people are perfectly content with making wagers on games in those leagues. However, the top sportsbooks have various sports available for betting. You can not only bet on the NHL, but on the OHL, WHL, Russian hockey league, and more. You can bet on MLS and English Premier League. They'll let you wager on NASCAR events, rugby matches, the Olympics, boxing matches, UFC fights, and the World Cup. Even if you plan on wagering on one sport right now, who's to say that you won't get into another sport in the future and want to bet on it? Perhaps you'll get caught up in World Cup fever and wish to place a bet on France to win it all! The best sportsbooks allow bets on all kinds of sports. From the common to the obscure, they will have a way to bet on it! Our reviews look at what sports they offer to bet for and see how that compares with various other sportsbooks!

Bonuses, Promotions, and Free Bets for Sports Betting Sites Canada

The best sportsbooks will offer numerous bonuses, promotions, and free bets to entice prospective players to join and keep them using the sportsbook for all their betting needs. Usually, the bigger the welcome bonuses and promotions are, the better the sportsbook is! The top sportsbooks want to ensure that players always think of their site first when placing bets. They put as much of a focus on getting new customers as they do on retaining existing ones. While the welcome bonuses are typically the largest, good casinos usually have various promotions that keep players coming back. Usually, casinos will offer incentives to continue making deposits or offer cashback on losses. Additionally, the best sportsbooks provide a loyalty program that includes various perks and rewards as you wager more! We look for the sportsbooks that offer you the best rewards for your play to ensure that you always get the best bang for your buck!

Live Betting

Live betting is one of the most exciting ways to bet on sports. It's also a fantastic hedge against losses. Live betting works by having the odds of a particular outcome (who will win the match, who will cover the spread, etc.) updated continuously as the game progresses. So, let's say you take the Leafs to beat the Senators in hockey. At the beginning of the match, the Leafs are the favourites, but if the Senators go up by two goals in the first period, the live odds will reflect that the Senators are the favourites.

Additionally, these live bets can sometimes be different from what you can bet at the start of the game. For example, there might be a prop bet as to whether or not anyone else will score in the game, or there might be a bet as to whether or not the hockey game will go to a shootout if it is currently tied. These bets make the game exciting, but they also provide a fantastic way (sometimes) for a player to hedge existing bets. Of course, the best sportsbooks offer a wide variety of exciting and diverse live bets throughout the matches!

Mobile Betting

Most people use their mobile devices frequently, and, as such, it is crucial for sports betting sites Canada to offer a version of their sportsbook that works well on mobile devices. However, the mobile and tablet versions must be the same quality as the desktop/laptop versions. Indeed, you don't want to need to be in front of your computer to make a bet! The best sportsbooks offer an elegant mobile site or app that makes betting a breeze.

Additionally, the site or app should work seamlessly for iOS and Android and across a broad spectrum of devices. All too often, the developers behind these sportsbook sites optimize the site for one particular platform or one particular class of devices. Doing this can lead to inconsistent experiences for players depending on what their preferred phone is. Our reviews will delve into the mobile aspects of the sportsbooks to ensure that the experience you receive is top-notch, no matter how you wish to bet! All the best sports betting sites have a quality mobile experience.

Deposit Options and Payouts

Deposits and withdrawals are some of the essential features a sportsbook offers. After all, if you cannot deposit or withdraw money, you cannot make any bets or retrieve your winnings. The best sports betting sites typically allow multiple ways to deposit and withdraw money. For online betting Canada, this often means having the ability to deposit or withdraw funds via VISA, MasterCard, Interac, direct bank transfers, and various other e-wallet solutions. We also rate sportsbooks based on how quickly or slowly they process these transactions. You don't want to have to be waiting too long to get your money in or out of the sportsbook. Most of the top sites will have near-instant deposits for most payment methods and withdrawals that process within 1-2 days. If it takes more than a day or so to deposit money and more than a few days to get your money out, that's almost always a negative sign.

Crypto Support in Betting Sites Canada

Cryptocurrencies have exploded in popularity for various reasons. It is becoming a much more common request for online casinos to support transactions using these digital currencies. Many sports betting sites in Canada are adding support for Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, etc. If you don't plan on using crypto for deposits or withdrawals, having that support in a sportsbook might not be a dealbreaker for you. However, at GambleGuys, we always try to make it easy to find the sites that support crypto if you would like to use it.

Our reviewers typically take that a step further, though. There are two types of crypto casinos: those that allow bets only in fiat currency and those that enable wagers in crypto. Or, put another way, some casinos convert 0.01 BTC to about $554 CAD and let you put $100 CAD on a sporting event. Other casinos allow you to deposit 0.01 BTC and let you wager 0.0025 BTC on a sporting event. If you want to use crypto, the best option is to find a sportsbook that lets you wager in crypto! Our reviews make it easy to understand what support a casino has for crypto and how the casino supports it!

Customer Service

When betting on sports, you will invariably run into potential issues or have questions about the site. For example, you might not receive the payout you expected and want to know why that happened. Or, you might want to see the status of your withdrawal. Having a rock-solid customer service team is essential when these questions come up. If the casino lags on customer service, it can be challenging for players to enjoy the casino because they're worried about whatever issue they have encountered. Plus, quality customer service shows that the casino truly cares about players and wants to make their experience at their online property as pleasant as possible.

The top sportsbooks typically have three modes of communication: online chat, email, and a phone number. Many sportsbooks only have the first two as a phone number is increasingly less common, but it's always nice to see when phoning the sportsbook is an option. Sometimes it's nice to know that the answers you seek are just a phone call away! Online chat is often instantaneous, emails should receive a response same-day, and customer service representatives should answer phones promptly within business hours. When a sportsbook has all of these, that increases confidence that it is one of the best out there!

Reputation and Legality

Last but not least, the staff at GambleGuys review a sportsbook's reputation and legality.

Since 2021, sports betting has been 100% legal in Canada. However, some online sportsbooks lack the licenses in their jurisdictions to operate legally. For example, an online sportsbook in Curacao needs a permit from the Curacao Gaming Board to operate legally. If they don't have one, it's not an operation you can trust as it does not have proper government oversight.

Additionally, various sportsbooks also developed a reputation over the years. With newer casinos, that's sometimes harder to gauge because their history is shorter. Still, if you have a casino operating for 5-10 years, they have developed a reputation within the community. That reputation is usually honourable, or they have black marks on their records (withholding funds, false accusations, etc.). The reviews at GambleGuys always discuss a sportsbook's licensing, and we also go into the site's reputation. Of course, the best online betting Canada sites have both the correct government licences and a stellar reputation!

We're Going to Pick the Best Sports Betting Sites Canada

At GambleGuys, our reviewers have become pretty skillful at picking Canada's top casinos and sportsbooks. The team knows what red flags to look for and what is evidence of a well-run operation. We distill all that knowledge into a comprehensive review that will let you decide which sportsbook is the best for you! If you are interested in learning more about sports betting and seeing some of the best casinos for it, please check out more in the sports betting section. We would love to help you find the best online experience for your sports betting comfort level!