PointsBet Review

As the official sportsbook and betting partner of MLSE’s Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, PointsBet is a trusted and reliable brand committed to the Canadian market.

Despite being a relatively new sportsbook and one that currently only operates in Ontario, PointsBet has already proven to be a viable competitor with enticing odds and various betting markets.

Without further ado, let’s dive into our PointsBet review!

While PointsBet Canada offers a host of impressive features, promotions, and betting markets, it is still important to recognize where it shines and where it comes up short compared to the competition.

PointsBet Strengths ✔️

• Seamless live streaming/live betting: Allows you to stay in the thick of the action and make wagers in real-time.
• Patented points betting: PointsBet offers a unique points-based bet type that increases or decreases your payout based on the points for and against you in a wagered event. As explained on PointsBet’s website, “the more you’re right, the more you win” and likewise, “the more you’re wrong, the more you lose”.
• Unique “Name A Bet” feature: One of the only sportsbooks that allow users to suggest alternative bets. If the PointsBet team likes your proposal, they will add it to the mix!

PointsBet Weaknesses ❌

• Not available in other provinces: At this moment in time, PointsBet is only available in Ontario. However, other provinces, like Alberta, are looking to expand their market in the future by introducing major betting sites like PointsBet.
• Limited deposit/withdraw options: While PointsBet does provide users with all of the more popular banking options (Visa, MasterCard, Interac, PayPal, etc.), they are relatively limited compared to some of their competitors. For example, they do not accept cryptocurrency, American Express, or Discover, to name a few.

Conclusion

PointsBet Canada is far from the “perfect” sportsbook, but the level of ingenuity it takes to develop such an innovative product should not go unnoticed. It is rare to find a reputable sportsbook that provides good odds on all of the sports PointsBet offers, and most registered bettors won’t be affected by their limited banking options. As PointsBet continues to expand to the rest of the country, it should only grow even further and could potentially become the go-to sportsbook for all Canadians. 

With such a well-established reputation in the sports industry, PointsBet is keying in on the Canadian market by providing new customers with a few generous welcome bonuses, which we explain in more detail below, along with some risk-free bets, free bets, parlay boosts, and a special “Refer A Friend” bonus.

PointsBet doesn’t just offer a juicy welcome package for new users, but they also ensure that you never run out of markets to bet on even after you’ve registered thanks to their impressive sports coverage. In fact, with more than 25 available sports to wager on, as well as dozens of international leagues for every sport. There’s truly something for everyone at PointsBet, including more niche betting markets like entertainment and politics.

Another one of PointsBet Canada’s shining features is all of the different markets and types of bets they offer. Outside of traditional bet types like totals, spreads, moneylines, prop and future bets, they also have a wide range of markets such as fixed odds, in-play, half-time/full-time, draw no bet, and more. Not to mention some of the most competitive odds of any sportsbook available in Canada.

In regards to banking, this is where PointsBet falls a little short I’m afraid. While they do accept a few of the more popular forms of currency like Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and Interac, they don’t provide nearly as much variety as other sportsbooks. Currently, they do not accept the cryptocurrency of Amex, among others.

The customer support team at PointsBet is incredibly knowledgeable and quick to respond. General inquiries can be made at any point in the day via the 24/7 live chat feature, while more serious questions can be handled through their responsive email support system or phone line.

As far as the mobile experience is concerned, you’ll find it to be a nice change as it allows you to place your bets while on the move or when you’re away from your desktop. However, the mobile layout is almost identical to the desktop version, so there are no clear advantages other than mobility and accessibility.

All things considered, PointsBet Ontario provides users with everything they need in a sportsbook: competitive odds, numerous betting markets, and dozens of different sports to bet on outside of the big four (NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB). Most users won’t be limited in regards to the banking options, and in case they do run into any issues, customer support can be reached within minutes.

Bonuses & Offers: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Offers a variety of welcome bonuses and ongoing promotions, though not as many as some other sites. 

Betting Variety: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tons of different sports and leagues to choose from, outside of those most commonly associated with the Canadian sports betting market.

Banking Options: ⭐⭐⭐

Only a select handful of ways to deposit and withdraw funds, which is well below average. 

Payout Speed: ⭐⭐⭐

Due to their limited banking options, most transactions take at least two to five business days to process. 

Key Features: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Loads of fun betting features, including a few of their own that are completely unique to PointsBet. 

App & Mobile Experience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Smooth mobile experience with a similar layout to the desktop version (easy transition). 

Security and Trust: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Reputable sportsbook with years of industry experience and knowledge, partnered with some of the most recognizable brands in Canada.  

Licensing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Regulated by iGaming Ontario, and licensed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). 

Software & Games: ⭐⭐⭐

The software feels a tad outdated and they don’t offer as many online casino games as other brands. 

User Betting Experience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Everything is easy to find within seconds, and laid out in a comprehensive manner. 

Sign-up Process: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The registration process is quick and easy, takes less than 10 minutes to sign up and deposit funds. 

Customer Support: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Live chat is available 24/7 and a very responsive email support system. 

One of PointsBet Canada’s best features, in my opinion, is their welcome offers. In fact, they are one of the few sportsbooks that offer newly registered users three different welcome bonuses to choose from: Basketball Welcome Offer, Football Welcome Offer, and Exclusive Welcome Offer.

How to Claim PointsBet Welcome Bonus?

• Hit “Sign Up” in the top right-hand corner of the screen to create a new account. 
• Enter the relevant code in the “Sign Up Code” box for the welcome offer you would like to receive. 
• Complete the registration process. 
• Place a fixed odds bet each day for 10 days. 
• If you lose one of your bets, PointsBet will provide you with a Second Chance bet to redeem. 

After you’ve claimed the PointsBet sign-up bonus of your choice, you will instantly gain access to hundreds of sports betting markets. Although, before you jump into all of the action, you should first gain an understanding of the different features PointsBet has to offer.

PointsBet Live Betting

With the rapid advancement of technology, sportsbooks are hard at work to create a more digital-friendly user experience. As a result, live streaming is one of the biggest and fastest-growing markets in the sports betting industry, as it allows bettors to place wagers after a game has already begun. The market odds will fluctuate as the game progresses and whenever something noteworthy occurs, the live betting feature will pause momentarily so that the system can recalculate new betting lines based on what’s happening in the game. Games don’t always go as predicted, but live betting enables you to make more informed bets in real-time based on the ebbs and flows of the game while it is taking place.

PointsBet Live Streaming

Another feature that PointsBet offers that ties into live betting is live streaming. Chances are you’re not going to be physically watching every single game you have money on, but many top-tier sportsbooks (like PointsBet) allow users to stream the events you’ve wagered on live without ever having to leave the app or website. This feature will assist you in making live bets since you can follow the momentum of the game and place wagers based on all of the ongoing action.

Live Same-Game Parlays

One of the best ways to increase your payout in sports betting is by parlaying your bets into one. However, PointsBet not only allows you to parlay your bets but also enables you to build a same-game parlay as the game is taking place. Generally, standard same-game parlays must be put together pre-game, but PointsBet is one of the few sportsbooks that allow you to build a parlay bet at any point during an event. 

PointsBet Cash Out

Similar to other leaders in the sports betting industry, PointsBet provides users with a “Cash Out” feature for most pre-match singles in fixed-odds bets. This means that after placing a bet with the cash-out feature, users can collect their winnings before the match is over and still walk away with a decent payout if the game isn’t going as projected. 

Points Betting

PointsBet separates itself from the competition with its unique points betting feature. Essentially, points betting allows you to bet on the over/under or the point spread of a specific game. However, unlike traditional fixed odds betting, the payout for points betting changes right up to the final seconds of the game and you can either gain or lose points depending on how well you fare with the over/under as well. So, if your bet wins by one point (or unit), you would win one multiplied by your wager amount, and if your bet wins by two points, you would win two times the initial amount wagered. Although, the flipside to it is that if you lose by one point (or unit), you would lose one times the wager amount, and if you win by just one point but fail to cover the spread by six points, for example, then you would lose six times the original amount wagered. It’s a high-risk, high-reward betting option that builds excitement down to the last minute.

PointsBet “Name A Bet”

Have you ever wanted to create your very own bets? Well, that is just one of the many impressive features PointsBet offers its users! In PointsBet’s “Name A Bet” section, registered bettors are allowed the unique opportunity to come up with any bet they want, within reason. Simply fill out a form to request your bet and if their team of traders finds it interesting and worth adding, they will price it out and send you a notification that your bet is active.  

Before you sign-up with any bookmaker, one of the most important factors to consider is what sports they offer. After all, every fan has a specific market they’re hoping to wager on, and not every sport is offered with every sportsbook.

The good news is that PointsBet Canada truly caters to the Canadian market by offering all of the most popular sports in the Great White North, as well as various international sports like Aussie rules football (AFL), boxing, cricket, curling, cycling, darts, eSports, golf, motorsports, netball, racing, rodeo/bull riding, rugby, snooker, surfing/swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball/beach volleyball, UFC/MMA and the Olympics.

Below is a list of the biggest sports markets Canadian bettors can expect to find at PointsBet Ontario:

• 🏈 PointsBet Football: PointsBet is one of the best NFL betting sites on the market. They offer competitive odds on traditional bet types like totals, spreads, and moneylines, as well as more exotic bet types like futures, teasers, player props, and team props. 
  
  
• ⚾ PointsBet Baseball: Despite being less popular than the NFL and other sports in Canada, PointsBet still provides a host of traditional and niche betting markets for baseball fans. Although, as of right now, users can only wager on the MLB.
  
  
• 🏀 PointsBet Basketball: As you can tell, PointsBet has taken advantage of Canada’s newfound obsession with the sport of basketball, offering some of the best odds on numerous leagues around the world.
  
  
• 🏒 PointsBet Hockey: No Canadian sportsbook would be complete without hockey betting. Luckily, PointsBet provides a wide range of bet types guaranteed to keep hockey fans entertained, including spreads, totals, moneylines, futures, teasers, player props, and team props. Oh, and outside of the NHL and AHL, users can also wager on the IIHF World Championship!
  
  
• ⚽ PointsBet Soccer: Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and it’s now beginning to find a home in Canada as well. With the success of the men’s and women’s national teams, soccer has never been bigger than it is right now in Canada. As a result, PointsBet offers an intriguing number of bet types on all of the most popular leagues from around the world, including the EPL, UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup.

PointsBet Sponsorship Deals

• Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE)
• CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks
• Alpine Canada Alpin (ACA)
• Curling Canada (Team Kevin Koe and Team Kerri Einarson)
• NHL Alumni Association
• Daily Faceoff & The Nation Network

Now that we’ve touched on what sports you can wager on with PointsBet Canada, it’s time to dive into the nitty-gritty as to the different types of bets you can place.

Types of Bets Available

• Moneyline: The most straightforward and popular way to wager on sports that simply involves you picking whichever team or player you believe is going to win the game.
• Point Spread: Instead of trying to predict who will win or lose the match, this time you are trying to project how much they will win or lose by. Essentially, the favoured team would need to win by more than the spread or the underdog would need to not lose by more than the spread and/or win the game outright for you to cash in on your bet. The spread is determined by the bookmakers based on the team’s recent play, player injuries, betting trends, etc.
• Over/Under (Totals): Over/Under (Totals) are a great form of betting if you don’t know which team or player will win the game but you know it will be a high or low-scoring affair. With over/under bets, the goal is to try and predict whether both teams will score more (over) or less (under) than a certain number of combined points.
• Futures: Futures bets are wagers that you would place months ahead of time before the outcome is actually determined. For example, this could be the MVP of a particular league, the winning team by the end of the season, the leading points scorer etc. Since the odds fluctuate over the course of the season based on team and player performance, you are more likely to find the best odds before the season starts. This obviously requires a lot of foresight and patience, but the reward can be massive.
• Props: Prop bets are a fun way to bet on sports since they tend to have little to no effect on the outcome of the game. These would be bets you can place on an individual or team performance not in relation to the final score, as well as certain/random events to take place during the game. For example, what song will play at halftime of the Super Bowl, what colour will the Gatorade be for the winning team, how many points will Team A score in the first quarter, etc.
• Parlays: Lastly, one of the more popular forms of sports betting is parlay betting, which is when you combine two or more bets into one for hopes of a landing a larger payout. By combining your bets, you have the potential to double, triple, or  quadruple the payout since the odds would also be conjoined. For example, instead of placing three separate moneyline bets with odds of 1.5, you could parlay the three into one bet which would increase the odds to 3.375 (1.5x1.5x1.5=3.375), thus more than doubling your potential payout. Of course, the catch is that all three bets need to hit in order for you to cash in, so, there’s an obvious risk/reward factor that plays into parlay betting as well. 

How to Place a Bet at PointsBet?

Once you’ve registered with PointsBet, they make the rest of the process to begin placing bets quite simple. After you’ve logged into your account, and made your first deposit, you can place your first bet by: 

• Navigate to your favourite sports/leagues using the toolbar on the left-hand side of the screen. 
• Select the event you would like to wager on and choose from one of the various bet types available. 
• Click on the odds for the bet you want to place. 
• Enter the wager amount in the box on-screen. 
• Double-check the amount and confirm your bet!

Once your bet has been placed, all you need to do is sit back and wait to see if it hits. Keep in mind that because PointsBet offers live betting, you can always place additional wagers during the game if you don’t think one of your pre-game wagers will hit.

While we personally did not find any serious issues with PointsBet’s desktop version, it is worth noting that their mobile app is extremely highly rated amongst users. Outside of the sheer simplicity and convenience of having all the odds at your fingertips, the app itself is incredibly intuitive and easy to navigate. 

After you’ve downloaded the app, which takes just a couple of minutes and is available for all iOS and Android devices, you’ll instantly be met with one of the smoothest betting applications on the market. Within seconds you can find the exact market and bet type you’re looking for, and moving from screen to screen is seamless.

The layout is almost identical to the desktop version as well, with a “Featured” section of all the ongoing events you can wager on as well as a “Live” tab for all of the current live events, in addition to early cash-out and secure banking options. So, it should be a smooth transition for most users. Bettors should also feel confident using the app due to its impressive 4.8 rating on the App Store, which ranks much better than other high end sportsbooks.

As soon as you reach the PointsBet Ontario homepage, you will find two tabs in the top right-hand corner of the screen: “Log In” and “Sign Up”. To register for an account, you will need to click on “Sign Up”.

After you’ve made it past this stage, you will then have to fill out the first of two sections to complete the registration process. The first section will ask for some personal information like first name, last name, and email address. Keep in mind that there will be a box that says “Sign Up Code” where you will need to ensure you claim the welcome bonus using the relevant code. For new customers, it will just be “WELCOME”.

From there, you will need to enter some more personal information on the second page before you can begin placing bets. This will include your full address and date of birth as well as your desired username and password. It is also important to note that they may ask you to verify your information to ensure you are of legal age and in a region where sports betting is legal.

Once all of your personal information has been validated, you will be able to choose from one of the provided banking options to make your first deposit, at which point you can then begin wagering on your favourite teams and sports!

As one of the more reputable sportsbooks in Canada, PointsBet offers several popular deposit and withdrawal options. Here is a full list of how you can deposit and withdraw money from your sports betting account:

PointsBet Deposit Options: 

• Visa (Debit or Credit)
• MasterCard (Debit or Credit)
• Interac
• PayPal
• Trustly
• Bank Transfers

The minimum deposit for each of the aforementioned methods is $10 (CAD).

PointsBet Withdraw Options:

• Visa (Debit or Credit)
• MasterCard (Debit or Credit)
• Interac
• PayPal
• Trustly
• Bank Transfers

Sportsbooks don’t always offer the same deposit methods when it comes to withdrawals, but thankfully, PointsBet Canada users won’t have to worry about that.

All of the deposit methods listed above can be used to withdraw funds as well, which generally takes between two and seven business days depending on the banking method.

PointsBet is committed to delivering industry-leading customer service and there are plenty of options should you run into questions.

Not only is there a 24/7 live chat feature that will instantly connect you with one of their very knowledgeable service reps, but there’s also a phone line and email service you can use as well. The fact that PointsBet offers all three is certainly beneficial as not all sportsbooks do, and personally, I found the email response to be much quicker than most sportsbooks.

The 24/7 live chat should truly be used for general inquiries, whereas anything more serious should be done through email or phone line. Although, if you’re just looking for a quick answer to a simple question, I would first check out their FAQs section. Here you can find tons of related questions from other users that might provide you with the answer you’re looking for.

The FAQs can be found by clicking on the “Help” tab on the homepage. This will take you to a separate page where you can browse by category depending on the question at hand. They even have some incredibly thorough guides that can help walk you through the majority of situations.

PointsBet is set to take the Canadian market by storm. In all honesty, it’s unusual to find such a reputable bookmaker that offers this wide a variety of markets, including a few of their own patented bet types. Let alone one with such competitive odds and a plethora of daily odds boosts, promotions, and live betting/streaming features.

If you’re an Ontario resident and on the hunt for a safe and secure sportsbook, look no further than PointsBet Canada!