Much of the thrill of gambling comes from its clever nesting in the midst of Canada’s legal grey area. The realm of online casinos has grown rapidly in the past decade into a 46-billion-dollar industry, but laws have been slow to catch up. This is your way of staying ahead – becoming familiar with all of their cryptic terms and conditions.
Exploiting the Internet’s Grey Zone
The laws of online gambling are set under Canadian provincial jurisdiction. Any foreign server outside of the country is therefore exempt from any local regulations and allow players to gamble in complete legality. This applies to anyone who is 19 or older in all regions of Canada.
This ambiguity does however persist within online casinos themselves. A common problem is that casinos offer bonuses to players and they often use bonuses without reading the terms and conditions applied on them.
You spin the slot, you win, and you gleefully watch the money add up into your account. Soon enough you are rushing to the slot to claim your prize only to realise that you cannot yet withdraw your earnings. What happened? Wagering requirements.
Let’s Ask an Expert
One of the most popular and attractive reward will be well-known to even the most novice of gamblers: free spin bonuses.
As free as they might be, players have to bet a minimum number of times, meeting the wagering requirement, to unlock their winnings. After betting the bonus money 40 times over, the only thing you might have actually gained are multiple try-outs at a particular slot machine. A $20 bonus with a 40x wagering requirement requires you to spend at least $800 to withdraw any winnings.
A comment on this is given by James Taylor, chief editor of CasinoNow Canada:
“The most popular type of bonus is free spins, so there are many questions arise about it. By the way, we have already researched the use of free spins on our portal and wrote about it in detail for our readers. It is important to carefully follow all the wagering requirements.â€
A Few Terms and Conditions to Look Out for
- Minimum wagering requirements to withdraw
- A set maximum bet
- Minimum total winning to withdraw
- Limited time to complete wagering requirement
- Bonus money applicable to limited slots
What Exactly Are These Dreaded Terms and Conditions Looming behind Every Online Site?
In short, a casino’s terms and conditions will summarise the procedures of player accounts, of money exchange, rules of gaming, illegal activities and other legal information. It details how the casino functions and what is permitted or prohibited. By agreeing to them, or simply using the site, you are effectively binding yourself to a contract with the online casino.
Luckily, this does not have to sound so sinister, especially since its ultimate aim is not only to protect the site but also the player – and their money.
The issue is that both participants have the same ultimate aim – make the most money through the site. Casinos are nothing without players. To attract players to their site and then get them to stay, online gambling sites often offer a variety of free bonuses.
Who can resist a complimentary gift, particularly if you can win money from it?
The Hidden World of Terms and Conditions
Nowadays, terms and conditions are thrown around at you from every corner of the online world. From the moment you set up your phone, download your first app or sign up to a social media platform, the ominous ‘terms and conditions’ pop up every time. And every time, most of us will just accept them without a second thought. After all, who would want to read through lines and lines of legal jargon?
Fortunately, it is unlikely that you will ever find yourself having to think about them once you have set up your laptop. However, this changes when your hard-earned money comes into play.
Online gambling is not for the faint hearted, and you should not have to overload your mind with additional worry about accidentally breaking one of the platform’s rules. At least having a bit of an idea of what the terms and conditions of online gambling are in Canada will help you keep that bit of extra focus on your casino game. Even if that doesn’t necessarily get you a win, it will at least help you avoid any losses.
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