Casino Games for Canadians
Online casinos have unlimited capacity so, although the casino games offered online for Canadians are often the same as the games you can find in a brick-and-mortar casino, the sheer variety and volume of online casino games in Canada is one of the primary attractions of the computerized casino over their land-based cousins.
The online casino can offer many more slots for example; a couple of hundred in fact. Whereas a land-based casino may have a few video poker machines, the online casino may have a few dozen. Online casinos let you play in practice mode before you feel ready to make the switch to real money casino games. The biggest and the best land casinos can’t offer mobile games but more and more online casinos are offering mobile games for Canadians as well.
Before we make a quick sketch of the games available online to Canadians, we should mention why we often repeat “for Canadians” or “in Canada”. Online gaming is severely limited in our large neighbor to the south. Furthermore, online gaming is restricted or outlawed in other countries around the world. Canada stands firm in allowing her citizens the right to play casino games online. Most casinos now accept deposits and allow withdrawals in Canadian dollars so you can play your favourite casino games with Canadian dollars.
Games
Casino games can be divided into three basic categories: machine games, table games, and arcade games. Machine games are primarily slots and video poker. Table games would be poker, blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps and such. Arcade games are basically all the "other" games you'll find at the online casino you've chosen.
Slots
Everyone has heard about the one-armed bandit. It may surprise you to know that most casinos return, to players as a group, about 96-97% of all money wagered on slots. Slots lend themselves well to progressive jackpots; these jackpots often exceed $1,000,000! Many online casinos still provide nostalgia slots, the old three-reel slots that you may have played when you were young. Modern slots have five reels and many paylines. Modern technology has found a way to regularly offer 243 ways to win in a slot machine. During the bonus rounds, many slots become even more winnable with over 1000 ways to win. Twenty-first century slots have fantastic animation and graphics plus high-quality music. They are often based on a hit movie or cartoon character and have film clips from the movie.
Video Poker
Many players eschew playing poker because they are uncomfortable with the bluffing culture of live poker. Video poker is the perfect game for them. There are many variations such as Jacks-or-Better and Deuces Wild. Each game has slightly different rules so you have to be sure you understand the game you’re playing. The games are basically quite simple, being a variation of five-card draw poker.
Table Games
Obviously, these are games played at a table. The online casino simulates the table for you. One major aspect of online gaming is the quality of the software that simulates the table.
Blackjack
There are also many different types of blackjack but the basic goal of each game is the same: to get as close to 21 without going over that number. As a player, you play before the dealer, so, if you go over 21, you lose automatically no matter what happens when the dealer plays. Almost all blackjack strategy involves playing the odds: when to take another card and when to stand pat. Good strategic play on the player’s part can reduce the house’s edge to near zero.
Roulette
This classic game was once the game of choice of sedate high rollers forever dressed in evening clothes. The large number of possible bets in roulette make the game a bit daunting to new players, so we advise making even money bets until you get the hang of it. One bit of advice: European roulette has much better odds for players than American roulette because the former doesn’t have 00.
Craps
This game was the source of the many phrases we use that employ dice as a motif: “it’s a roll of the dice”; “no dice”; “roll the dice” (meaning to take a risk, as in business); and “it’s a bit dicey”. One player, the Shooter, rolls the dice and the number shown becomes the “point”. If the Shooter rolls 2, 3, or 12 he loses automatically. After establishing the “point” the Shooter continues to roll the dice until he gets the “point” again and wins or rolls seven and loses. Observers bet on whether the Shooter will win or lose. Craps is one game that all online casinos offer but which lends itself more to brick-and-mortar casinos where the twenty or so people around the table whoop it up as they bet for or against the Shooter.
Other Table Games
Most casinos offer keno, baccarat, poker, sic bo, pontoon, pai gow and other table games. For some reason, they have less appeal than the classics but are all much fun to play.
Arcade Games
These games are strictly for fun even though you can bet on them as well. Surely, you’ve heard of Bingo but have you heard of Slingo? You can play a game with rubber duckies, lotteries, skeeball, costume party, darts, pinball, bowling, and many others.
Live Games
Many online players do want to play “live” at times. They may go to a land-based casino but, if they want to stay at home, they can play “live” casino games on their computer. These live games are truly live; the online casino draws a live feed from a real casino. The games offered live are usually blackjack, roulette, baccarat, and poker.
O Canada
As you can see, you don’t have to travel long distances to play casino games in Canada. Let us help you find a suitable online casino, where you can play free casino games as a warm-up, real money casino games, mobile games, and all with the convenience of playing online casino games with Canadian dollars.