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PowerPlay Ontario Review 2024 - Is PowerPlay.com legal in Ontario?
PowerPlay is now one of the available legal Ontario sportsbooks & online casino operators. In late February 2023, they gained their license from the AGCO and they will then look to integrate within the iGaming Ontario platform.
Is PowerPlay still available for customers in Canada, outside Ontario?
Yes. PowerPlay-dot-com still operates their "offshore" or "grey market" betting site and online casino from the Curaçao gaming jurisdiction. Thus, if you are located in Alberta, BC, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec, the Atlantic Provinces or the Territories, you can register and play at PowerPlay. But should you? We address some key issues below.
Does PowerPlay Canada offer a new player bonus?
Yes, PowerPlay offer a new player bonus outside Ontario worth up to $500. Unfortunately, PowerPlay does not provide terms and conditions for this offer. They provide links to T&C, but then no terms are actually shown for display. This is not a great sign. All bonuses will have various requirements like rollover or wagering requirements as well as minimum odds thresholds for qualifying bets. Not having these terms and conditions easily accessible to read is a bad sign. If you are outside Ontario, see and comper the major terms on our Canada sports betting bonuses page. We only show offers from highly reputable operators for players across Canada.
About the PowerPlay sportsbook platform & odds
PowerPlay operates on the FSB Technology sportsbook platform. FSB does not provide its sports betting platform to any regional or international brands that we would consider to be in the upper tier of operators. This is not a slight on their platform, it is just a reflection of the partners that do in fact use the FSB technology. When we actually review the experience of the PowerPlay site itself whether from mobile or computer, we generally get a quick and intuitive experience. Unlike some other sites, there is little-to-no lag time as you navigate around from page to page.
So what are the drawbacks on PowerPlay's FSB platform? A few points. First, FSB and thus PowerPlay is heavily focused on soccer coverage. For example, if you look at the available number of betting markets for say, an English Premier League or Serie A match, you will find in excess of 200 betting markets. This is on par with top tier betting brands. Very good.
However, if you look at the leagues and sports that tend to be most popular in Ontario and Canada at-large, the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB, you will find less than 20 available betting markets on these games. This is significantly less coverage compared to what might be considered the top legal Ontario betting sites, or those for the "rest of Canada" from the "grey market". Important to note, PowerPlay essentially offers no player-based prop betting markets for these key North American leagues. This is a big deal for many people that like searching for value on these bets.
Furthermore, this focus on soccer also means that the "Bet Builder" feature, where you build "same game parlays" is essentially only available for top-level soccer matches. You cannot build an SGP at PowerPlay within the top North American leagues. Even if they did support these leagues for their Bet Builder, the FSB platform offers so few markets, that your options here would be very limited.
PowerPlay Canada & Ontario approach to odds value
As a positive point, for the most popular betting markets, the odds value for top soccer and top North American leagues does tend to hover in a competitive region in terms of the "sportsbook hold" or "odds margin". However, if you take a step outside the most popular leagues, down to say the NCAA football or NCAA basketball for the main markets, odds value can look as low as 1.83/1.83 or -120/-120, which is a margin of over 9%. This is terrible value, and is not competitive with the top brands.
Most of the top betting brands for Ontario and Canada will keep margins on the most popular markets even in the NCAA, at odds that look like 1.90/1.90 or -110/-110, which is a margin around 5%. In other words, for key markets like point spread or totals, PowerPlay uses a margin that is nearly double that of most sportsbooks, which is horrific value for NCAA fans. Odds value is something that players should keep an eye on if they intend to play outside the most popular leagues, as this NCAA instance is just an example of a set of events outside the most popular leagues.
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PowerPlay Ontario & Canada banking methods
PowerPlay-dot-com supports Visa & Mastercard credit and debit cards, e-wallet app MuchBetter and pre-paid solution paysafecard. Crucially however, given the high interest rates associated with the "cash advance" deposits associated with all gaming site credit card payments in Canada, PowerPlay can also be considered one of many Interac betting sites, as they support these popular and inexpensive e-transfer payments. PowerPlay does appear to list either of the top alternative bank debit methods of Instadebit or iDebit for CAD deposits & withdrawals.
Does PowerPlay Ontario also offer casino games?
We would expect so, yes. PowerPlay-dot-com works with publishers PlayTech, Evolution Gaming, Microgaming, Pragmatic Play among other top studios. From outside Canada, PowerPlay offers a significant array or typical RNG-based games like slots and table games, but they also offer an impressive number of live dealer casino games and live game shows. If this carries over to Ontario, they will be a solid brand to consider in this sense, given all the options they look to be providing. For the brands that we recommend see our reviews of the top Ontario online casinos.
PowerPlay Ontario / Canada bottom line
If you are focused on soccer or casino action, PowerPlay is probably a solid option for you. Their sportsbook platform provides solid soccer coverage and their casino works with so many publishers that the selection of games is very good. However, most players in Ontario and across Canada tend to want to bet on so many other sports besides soccer. While PowerPlay as a brand is very much focused on Canada and Ontario in terms of those that they serve, this strange lack of North American sports betting coverage stems from their choice of sportsbook technology partner - which is a platform with a UK and European focus. So, it's really hard for PowerPlay to "square this circle". Unfortunately, PowerPlay's coverage and associated odds value on offer within these key events is just not up to par with the top operators that serve the legal Ontario market, or those that serve the rest of Canada.
