How to play casino games
A plain guide for players who are new to online casino games. What each game is, how a round works, and what it costs you over time.
On this page
Before you start
You need an account, completed identity verification, a confirmed location in Ontario, and funds. You must be 19 or older. Decide your deposit limit before your first session rather than after — it is far easier to choose a number when nothing is at stake.
How to play slots
Choose a stake, spin, and see whether the symbols that land match a winning line on the paytable. That is the whole game. Read the paytable first: it tells you which combinations pay, what the special symbols do, and how any bonus round is triggered.
The result is decided by a certified random number generator at the moment you spin. Nothing you do afterwards affects it, and each spin is independent of every spin before it. Slots need no skill, which makes them relaxing and also makes them the easiest game to play for longer than you meant to.
More detail on how slots work.
How to play blackjack
Get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. Cards count face value, pictures count ten, and an ace counts one or eleven. You choose to Hit, Stand, Double or Split; the dealer follows a fixed rule with no choices.
Blackjack has the lowest house edge on this site, but only when played well. The decisions genuinely matter, and a printed basic strategy chart is not cheating — it is just the arithmetic.
How to play roulette
Place chips on the layout before the ball is released. Inside bets cover individual numbers and pay more; outside bets cover large groups and pay less. Choose a European wheel over an American one where you can: the single zero halves the house edge for identical payouts.
The bet types and what they pay.
How to play baccarat
Baccarat looks formal and is the simplest game here. You bet on one of three outcomes before any card is dealt: Player, Banker or Tie. Two hands are then dealt, and the one closer to nine wins.
Tens and picture cards count zero, an ace counts one, other cards count face value. If a total goes above nine, only the last digit counts — a seven and a six make thirteen, which is three. Whether a third card is drawn follows a fixed table that the dealer applies. You make no decisions after the bet.
Banker wins slightly more often than Player, which is why a winning Banker bet usually pays a commission. Banker is the best of the three bets, Player is close behind, and Tie pays attractively but carries a much higher house edge and is best left alone.
How to play live dealer games
Same games, real equipment, a human dealer, and a video stream. You bet through an overlay during a betting window that opens and closes for each round. The pace is set by the studio rather than by you.
You will need a stable connection. If yours drops mid-round, the round is resolved by the servers according to the game rules and the result stands.
How live dealer games are run.
How jackpots work
A fixed jackpot is a top prize of a set amount, paid whenever the winning combination lands.
A progressive jackpot grows. A small slice of every bet placed on the game — often across many players and sometimes across several games — is added to a shared pool, which keeps rising until somebody wins it and it resets to a seed amount.
Two things are worth knowing. That slice comes out of the game's base return, so progressives usually pay less on ordinary spins than comparable fixed-jackpot games. And some jackpots require a maximum bet or a specific side bet to qualify — if you are not betting at the qualifying level, the jackpot cannot be won no matter what lands. The game rules say which applies.
The odds of taking a large progressive are very long. Treat it as a remote possibility attached to a game you would enjoy anyway, not as a plan.
The house edge
Every game here is designed to return less than it takes in. The difference is the house edge, and it is how the business works. Return to player is the same fact stated the other way round: a 96% RTP means a roughly 4% edge.
The edge applies over a very large number of rounds, not over your session. In the short run anything can happen, which is what makes the games interesting. Over time the arithmetic holds, which is why the only sound way to play is with money you have decided in advance you can afford to lose.
If that stops being true, stop and read our Responsible Gambling page. It is not a disclaimer — the limits, breaks and self-exclusion described there are real controls, and they work.
19+. You must be physically located in Ontario to play. Please play responsibly.
Gambling is entertainment that costs money, not a way to earn it. Set your limits before you start, and use only money you can afford to lose.