Now that my first foray into Ontario’s newly open and regulated online casino market is under my belt, it’s go-time.
Unfortunately, I have to leave Toronto and hop on a plane back to Nova Scotia on Sunday. As much as I love my home province and its abundance of salty air and craft beer, I’m not a big fan of the local sports betting option. And don’t even get me started on the lack of online casinos. Not even ALC has much to offer in that sense.
How nice it was to try out my second option: BetRivers Online Casino, to see what they had to offer.
Here’s how that panned out.
BetRivers Casino: Crossing the Ts and dotting the Is
Similar to my experience with BetMGM, the registration process at BetRivers was straightforward and achieved with relative ease. Additionally, as with that first experience, I started with PlayCanada’s BetRivers Ontario launch page to access the associated offers.
To sign-up, I had to drop all the usual sign-up details: name, address, DOB, phone number, country of residence, citizenship, industry and occupation. I also uploaded a picture of my drivers’ license to the platform to satisfy their identity confirmation requirements.
Thankfully, that was another requirement met with ease.
When it came time to deposit, that too went off without issue. I especially liked using my debit card through my banking website just as I make any other purchase. And in this case, I didn’t have to wait while my bank did its due diligence. The money appeared in my account almost instantaneously, along with the associated perks.
When all was said and done, registering and depositing with BetRivers was simple and quick. All in all, it was a positive experience, and I was soon able to get to the good ‘ish.’
Plenty of slots, table games options at BetRivers Casino
Slots were my first stop on the BetRivers casino page.
Ever one for temptation, I kicked things off with Divine Fortune, one of two progressive slots. The chance of winning big offers a substantial draw, but after several dud spins, I decided to cut my losses and try another game.
Next, I moved to Cash Machine, then Capital Gains, but neither showed me much love, so I moved on again.
Now don’t get me wrong, I dig a one-arm bandit. In fact, other than bingo, slots were my first introduction to gambling at what was undoubtedly too young an age. Take that as you will, but you’d have to take it up with my nan if you have a problem.
That said, when it comes to online casinos, blackjack is my game. So off I went to give Blackjack Infinite, a live dealer online casino game played with many others at once, a try.
As I said, blackjack is my JAM. But for whatever reason, I found this particular variation a bit tedious and difficult to navigate, so I quickly moved again, choosing the standard blackjack offering.
Mercifully, this game was right up my alley. And while I didn’t win much, I was able to play for a nice stretch. To me, that extended playtime made losing a few dollars worthwhile. In my opinion, it’s not dissimilar to paying $20 to see a movie. In this case, that money funded a couple of hours of digital entertainment from the comfort of my hotel bed. Viewed in that light, it’s a cost I’m more than happy to pay.
Takeaways from BetRivers Casino
Overall, my experience playing with BetRivers was worthwhile. I will say, however, that I found the user interface a tad more clunky than my initial experience with BetMGM. But, that’s not necessarily surprising; BetMGM is one of the old guards of online casino gaming.
What BetRivers has on offer only a few days into the opening of Ontario’s open market is a solid start. But, I’m already looking forward to what I find a few months from now when I’m back in the big city.
You can bet I’ll be firing up the BetRivers app to try my chances again.
