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Our in-depth PlayNow review details all the key elements for this new Canadian bookmaker, such as:
As far as sports betting promotions are concerned, our sportsbook review for PlayNow found the brand a bit light in this department. The main promotion on offer at the time of writing is a simple free bet worth up to $50 when you sign up and follow a few stipulations.
The process includes completing your registration and entering a specific promo code on their promotions page. You then have to make your first deposit, followed by your first bet at odds of not less than 1.50. You can place a bet of any amount up to $50 and, once you have completed these steps, you will receive your bonus as a free bet in your account. The amount of your bonus will match whatever amount you first placed.
Additional sports betting promotions available at PlayNow currently include Sports Pools, where you can get involved in some PlayNow sports pools to get a $5 Free Bet by picking the pool and picking the winners, and Powered Up Pools - the more weeks that you play, the more Free Bets you can earn.
PlayNow naturally focuses predominantly on the most popular sports in Canada and North America in general. This includes NHL hockey action, NBA basketball, MLB baseball and NFL American football. Of course there are other sports getting good coverage too, including plenty of soccer, and slightly more limited coverage on tennis, golf, eSports and novelty betting.
This combination makes it one of the best options for Canadian punters. The bookmaker is quick to list new lines and it generally keeps the odds sharp, with reduced juice. Quick links for the leagues with the biggest following are available on the left, followed by the entire list of sports.
The main betting options are featured in the center and players can easily view the other lines available. Some sporting events have more than 100 betting options so there are plenty of details to consider betting on. A simple click is enough to add the selection on the bet slip, which is listed in the top right section.
Being a provincially run online website, PlayNow understandably offers a more limited range of online banking options than most international online sportsbooks would do. There are a number of reasons for this but the biggest reason behind only offering limited options has to do with player online security.
BetOnline.ag offers several methods in which deposits can be made, many of which are instant:
Visa
Mastercard
PlayNow offers a variety of deposit methods that players can choose from, specifically:
Withdrawal methods are safe and secure ensuring that all winners claim their funds almost instantly.
PlayNow Casino has over 275 games for you to try out on the site. The new design for the lobby makes sure that everything is nicely organized in multiple categories. Slots are very popular and the online casino has plenty of versions for fans of the machines. Iconic titles from IGT can be found in the collection, along with extra titles from developers like Bally and WMS.
A special category found in the PlayNow Casino review is called PowerBucks. It’s powered by IGT and features several slots games where players can bet for the chance to win the shared jackpot across 33 BC casino locations. The prize is usually well over C$1 million and it can be won with a bet of just C$3. More online progressive jackpots are available in the dedicated category.
Although the online casino doesn’t have a whole lot of table games, it does cover the biggest titles, such as blackjack, roulette, and baccarat. The live casino section provides more options in the category with the added feature of being able to see the dealers via live video.
On the topic of casino games, PlayNow has its own online poker room that gets decent traffic in Canada. There are quite a few active tables at any time but the peak is during EDT rush hours. The biggest tournament of the regular schedule has a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000 and there are satellites for it that start from just $0.27.
NetBet has one of the best online casinos in Canada. It’s available on the same site as the sportsbook and so players can access it from their existing accounts. The new casino section has a very clean interface with a simple lobby that presents the different categories for the games. And speaking of games, NetBet Casino has around 1,000 options that can be played for real money on the site, instantly.
The very impressive number has been achieved with games from multiple providers. Featured studios include Microgaming, NYX, Play'n GO, IGT, Evolution Gaming, NetEnt, iSoftBet, Yggdrasil, Quickspin, WMS, and others. With these top developers on the same platform, the selection of slots and other games is simply amazing.
In addition to NetBet Casino, you’ll also find dedicated tabs for the NetBet Live Casino and for NetBet Vegas. The latter is an additional casino product that uses software provided by Playtech and has about 300 games. Some of the biggest progressive jackpots can be found right here in games like Gladiator Jackpot, Funky Fruits, and Jackpot Giant.
For even more betting options, NetBet provides online lotteries and a full online poker room on the iPoker Network.
Online security is one of the most important features to examine in a sportsbook review. You want to make sure you can bet without any risk of someone stealing your details. PlayNow.com, through its parent BCLC, have a number of highly effective security measures in place to ensure the absolute safety of their players at all times.
This includes SSL (128 bit) digital encryption protocols, high level firewalls, and secure login protection including personal verification questions. PlayNow also make use of a third party credit processing company, Equifax, to verify the identity of all players that register an account with PlayNow.
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All in all our impression of PlayNow is, for the most part, very good. The brand offer a reliable and safe online sports betting alternative to international online sportsbooks, which not all Canadians feel safe at. While the brand may be somewhat limited in a number of key areas including bonuses and promotions, payment options (particularly withdrawal ones), and one or two other areas, on the whole they do quite well.
They’re a great option for Canadians that are more interested in the top North American sports including hockey and football, where the odds and betting options are much better. However, punters looking for a wider range of sports and relevant markets, as well as bigger bonuses and promotions, may be slightly disappointed here.