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CoolBet Canada Review 2024 - Is CoolBet legal in Ontario
CoolBet was one of the first brands to gain a license to serve Ontario, launching in the spring of 2022. However, in March of 2023, CoolBet began contacting existing Ontario customers to let them know that they would be exiting the market, and that players should begin to withdraw funds. In late March, they closed their Ontario site. In other words, no, CoolBet is can no longer be considered one of the available legal Ontario sportsbooks. This is further evidence for why even in a highly regulated market, where the regulator is supposed to be looking out for its population, players need to seek out the largest and most stable companies, which can manage the swings of the iGaming business.
This is why SNBET recommends only a small number of brands for the regulated Ontario market, and the "rest of Canada" as served by "offshore" or "grey market" operators. While Ontario players will be able to withdraw all their money from CoolBet, players will lose out on any potentially winning futures bets set to resolve beyond the point of licensure. These such futures bets will be voided, refunded. This is why we only recommend big and stable betting operators, it's a pain to have to start over again, when you shouldn't have to.
Does CoolBet still serve the rest of Canada
Yes. CoolBet serves the rest of Canada. Headquartered in Estonia, but operated from the Malta Gaming Authority, which is home to many international brands, CoolBet remains an "off shore" or "grey market" online sportsbook and casino provider for players in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec, the Atlantic Provinces and the Territories. While CoolBet is unlikely to exit the "rest of Canada" market any time soon, they might have to readjust if and when various provinces follow the lead of Ontario to regulate locally. This is why we only recommend brands that are large enough, and liquid enough to serve Canadians in a reliable fashion, over the long-term. If you're outside Ontario, we would point you to our recommended betting sites in Canada to find the top brands for players that want better odds and platforms than the lottery corporation options.
Does CoolBet Canada offer a new player bonus?
Yes. At last check in March of 2023, CoolBet offered a $200 welcome bonus. The terms of the offer are reasonable. The minimum odds threshold for qualifying bets is -200 or 1.50. Rollover is 6X and there is 30 days to fulfill the requirements. These are nicely achievable as they line up with some of the Canadian betting bonuses from our recommended "rest of Canada" operators.
Does CoolBet offer Canadian dollar accounts?
Yes. As a brand that is focused on Canada as a "grey market" sportsbook, they understood the need to offer accounts in the local currency. Not all international brands made this decision when serving Canada however, so don't take CAD accounts for granted everywhere.
Does CoolBet accept Interac & other CAD payment methods?
CoolBet can indeed be considered one of the Canadian market's available Interac betting sites. They also support Visa and Mastercard credit and debit payments, EcoPayz (e-wallet) and Neosurf (pre-paid solution). As we've mentioned in many places throughout our site, credit card payments to all gaming sites across all of Canada incur interest charges, as the payments are deemed "cash advances", rather than "purchases". Avoid high interest by using debit or transfer methods.
Does CoolBet Canada have competitive odds?
Yes. CoolBet has always tried to offer odds with better value than your average betting site. They use a relatively "low margin" approach to their business. For the most popular leagues and betting markets, you will find margins in the region of 4%. This is 20% better odds value than most sportsbooks, which tend to use 5% margins for the same betting markets. At CoolBet, for spreads and totals markets for leagues like the NBA and NFL, odds will often look like 1.92/1.92 or -109/-109. At most other Canadian market sportsbooks, you'll find odds that look like 1.90/1.90 or -110/-110. CoolBet is highly competitive here.
Just keep in mind that CoolBet had to leave the Ontario market after just one year of operation. If you want to bet on matches at CoolBet for the good odds, super. However, you may want to steer clear of betting on their futures bets, like the Stanley Cup Winner or Super Bowl winner. This is an outstanding issue in Ontario now, where numerous potentially winning futures bets will be voided and refunded, as they would have to be settled outside of their license period, which ends on April 4, 2023. If you are in a province that might follow Ontario's lead to regulate their local market, CoolBet may end up having to do the same to you. So be aware of this if you register and play at CoolBet.
Does CoolBet Canada offer a Bet Builder for same game parlays?
Yes. CoolBet has a reasonably satisfactory Bet Builder. It works across the most popular sports, not just soccer. A lot of Eurocentric sportsbooks only support a Bet Builder for top soccer leagues, so this is a plus for CoolBet. However, for the top features of this type, we've found access to far more prop bets, especially those related to player outcomes within the game or match. For us, bet365 Canada and bet365 Ontario do this better than anyone.
Does CoolBet Canada offer a cash out feature?
Yes. Like most online sportsbooks that serve the "rest of Canada" from their "off shore" jurisdiction, CoolBet offers the ability to take a partial win or protect stake money, by securing a "cash out" offer before your event has reached its natural conclusion Find available cash out offers for your ongoing wagers in the bet slip area, next to your "Bet History".
Does CoolBet Canada offer poker, online & live dealer casino games?
Yes. Players across Canada, outside Ontario, can play at CoolBet for all three of these gaming verticals. CoolBet has deals with numerous casino game suppliers, and has a very nice option for just about any kind of casino player. Live dealer fans get some great choices from Pragmatic Play, with dozens of live table games. Hundreds of slots and other RNG-based games are available from studios including Play'n Go, Quickspin, Spinomenal, Yggdrasil and many more. On the downside however, the CoolBet Casino welcome offer is just a $150 deposit bonus + 50 free spins. This is one of the smallest new player casino offers you can come across these days. Most of the Canadian casino bonuses that we've highlighted from our recommended brands are in excess of $1,000 in value, and our biggest, semi-exclusive new player offer is good for up to a $3,000 deposit match.
CoolBet Canada bottom line: compelling offering, but how long will they serve Canada outside Ontario?
CoolBet only lasted one year in the newly regulated Ontario market. This is somewhat surprising as they should have had a reasonable Ontario customer-base that was migrated into the legal market. With the success of iGaming Ontario as an overal market, with numerous international brands, several provinces are likely to progress regulation to create their own markets, or simply piggy-back onto the Ontario market infrastructure.
For us, this leaves a serious doubt as to how long CoolBet will choose to serve the "rest of Canada" market as it currently stands. For the most part, CoolBet has served national markets that fell into the "grey market," where the Malta Gaming Authority was their only regulator. Although the Ontario regime is thought to be a fairly good one from an operator perspective, CoolBet clearly showed that it can still be difficult operate there is a sustainable fashion. One could only imagine that they would take similar decisions, and likely stay out of any new provincial markets that might follow Ontario's lead.
So, while we actually really like the CoolBet platform (we are not affiliated with them whatsoever), we would be remiss to recommend them to anyone that is looking for a long term betting platform. If you stay completely clear of futures bets, we don't have a problem saying that they are a nice option from the "rest of Canada". However, if you tend to bet reasonably large sums on Futures that might include a bet on the Stanley Cup winner or the Super Bowl winner or likewise, with the result to be concluded several months out into the future, you are, in our opinion, taking a risk in betting with a company that may move to exit the market as the regulatory winds continue to shift in provinces across Canada.
