Best Pragmatic Play Casinos in Canada 2024

Since its establishment in 2015, the studio has manifested speedy growth. Presently, it has offices and live studios in the United Kingdom, Malta and a couple of other countries. Today, a normal Pragmatic Play online casino showcases about two hundred titles, with new slots released about once a week. The company has gained credence among regular gamblers, experts, and professional organisations that furnished it with the following honours: SBC Awards 2022, SIGMA Americas Awards, and CasinoBeats Game Developer Awards, among many others. Trying to cement its presence in different countries, Pragmatic Play partners up with companies on local markets and extends its game suite with new, trademarked features and mechanics.  

When the igaming studio began operation more than five years ago, mobile devices were all the rage. Compared to Microgaming (now Games Global) or Net Entertainment that appeared more than 15 years ago, Pragmatic Play created their mobile games from scratch instead of redesigning their desktop slots to tailor them to mobile devices. Thus, no matter the game you pick, you can be sure it will be superbly compatible with your iOS or Android device. You can forget about freezes, glitches or crashes—everything works smoothly and perfectly with Pragmatic Play casino games on mobile.      

Online casino operators may equip their Pragmatic slots with a flexible customization tool that changes the standard slot format by adding extra free spins and other features. This implies that one specific game can have a different content across online casinos, and this difference can be slight or major. For example, a video slot may offer a standard set of free games plus an extra one, which is granted to users who bet higher than a certain amount. In some video slots, there’s a Countdown Free Round feature, enabling players to run as many free games as they can within one minute. This feature is often found in high roller online casinos.

The provider normally uses some well-known engines and features. They are not original or one-of-a-kind but Pragmatic Play often adds some modifications to them, therefore elevating players’ experience. Some of the mechanics implemented in their video slots are as follows:

• PowerNudge: Goblin Heist, Sweet, Rise of Giza. Whenever a winning combination is hit, the reels that contain even one winning symbol nudge down one spot, giving a chance to form new combos.
• Megaways: Wild West Gold, Elemental Gems. This widely-used engine (designed by BGaming) makes a slot form over 100,000 winning ways due to symbols of a variable height. 
• PowerWays: Yum Yum. On the one hand, this is an abridged version of Megaways (the related slots have up to 16384 ways). On the other hand, symbols count in four directions: left—right and reverse, top—bottom and reverse).
• Hold & Spin: Dragon. Similar to the classic Hold & Spin system, the one by Pragmatic Play gives four respins at the beginning. Win multipliers are also higher, reaching x5000. 

Our experts analysed the main characteristics of the Pragmatic Play portfolio and singled out a few standout facts about this provider. The below list is far from ideal. A smart and professional player will certainly add something to it.  

• Many video slots are equipped with a Bonus Buy tool. For example, a 7×7 Hot Pepper slot offers to buy a free spin round at x100 total bet, while Reel Banks activates the same feature at the cost of x80 times bet. 
• At the intro page (while the game is loaded), there is a lightning bar showing the slot volatility at the scale of 1 to 5.
• When a player holds Space, the duration of each spin decreases to one second (this is a so-called Turbo Spin option).   
• Maximum bet can be over 200 dollars per spin in some video slots. 
• The majority of video slots feature a return-to-player at 96.5%. This is a good value by today’s standards. If you want to know the exact rate for your selected game, visit Pragmatic’s official site and find the game. Besides, you can tap the “i” button inside a game to see its RTP value. 

In terms of bonus features, most games have just a basic set (wilds, scatters) and just a few advanced features. Their games cannot be said to be boring but they are not packed with features. Moreover, their graphics are down-to-earth in many titles, compared to some vibrant games from the competition (e.g. many games from Betsoft or Play’n GO). 

Pragmatic Play does not offer progressive jackpots in the true meaning of this phrase. As of writing this, the company had nine titles featuring fixed jackpots, which are not so popular in Canada or other countries. Some video slots you can test in new Pragmatic Play casinos are Fire 88, Chilli Heat, Lucky New Year, and Great Rhino.  

There is an important thing to note in this respect. Many real money online casinos market Chilli Heat and some other titles as progressive slots. But taking a quick look at them will tell you they are not. For example, a 5×3 Chilli Heat slot has a three-tiered jackpot awarded during a respin feature (much like in any Hold & Win title). These jackpots are fixed and dependent on the total bet: Mini awards x30, Major—x100, and Grande—x1000.  

Our Pragmatic Play casino list gives you lots of choices. Some of the casinos have exciting video slots that have a cross-cutting theme or a shared hero. Feature-wise, video slots of this kind are not distinctive, but some gamblers in Canada find game series attractive as they look like TV series with a recurrent plot. Pragmatic slots casinos offer more than ten video slots that are part of one or another series. The most popular ones are listed and explored below:   

• Big Bass: The seven video slots in this series feature a fishing theme. Each slot is unique in its way: one has big free spin modifiers, another one is based on the Megaways engine, while yet another one has retriggers and multipliers. Some of the video slots in this lineup are Big Bass Bonanza and Big Bass Splash.   
• John Hunter adventures: There are eight games devoted to this fictional adventurer, each revolving around some captivating story. Popular games are Da Vinci’s Treasure, Book of the Fallen, and John Hunter and the Quest for Bermuda Riches.
• Fire Hot: An almost identical group of slots of the same name. They differ in the number of paylines (5, 20, 40, 100) but all have the same classic theme with fruit symbols. There’s also a similar collection of four Shining Hot slots featuring 5, 20, 40, and 100 lines. 
• Snakes & Ladders: Two video slots with a bonus round in which a player throws dice and moves inside the field similar to the rules of the same-name classic board game.

Online table games produced by Pragmatic Play will make almost every gambler feel disappointed as this vertical is poor in all respects: games have a subpar quality and they are thin on the ground. Therefore, our experts cannot recommend any of their games but if you want to try them anyways, see their full roster below:  

• Keno
• Jacks or Better
• Baccarat
• Multihand Blackjack
• Scratchcards (7 titles)
• American Blackjack
• Roulette (European)
• Spaceman (crash game, RTP 95%)  

Pragmatic Play has developed 19 live games, with some of them being just language versions, so the number of original games is a bit lower (14 or 15). Originally, the company had a single live studio located in Romania but they opened another one in Bulgaria at the end of 2022. Quality-wise, most of their games are akin to Evolution but on the other hand, Pragmatic’s collection is way smaller. Some live games produced by the studio are classic, while others stand out for some unusual formats and rules. Below are listed the most interesting games in the live vertical that you can find in Pragmatic Play online casinos: 

• Sweet Bonanza CandyLand: Mixing the trendy Sweet Bonanza slot with a wheel of fortune, the company produced an epic game show featuring three bonus rounds and six betting options on the wheel. 
• PowerUP Roulette: Styled with a retro American pin-up artwork, the PowerUP Roulette has an unexpected twist on classic European rules. Each wheel spin, a player might enter a bonus round and win up to x8000. 
• ONE Blackjack: Belonging to the type of a common-draw game, the live game offers a one-to-one experience. All players can see the same cards but cannot see the actions of other players. The BJ has four side bets (21+3, PP, Bust, Crazy 7) and puts in place a Six-Charlie feature.
• Boom City: A live board game with a 6×6 grid where the results of each round are determined by two dice, similar to the Battleship game. A player can win access to three bonus rounds and win up to 500k dollars.
• Mega Roulette: The live game’s idea is similar to the one of Evolution’s Lightning Roulette. You get x50 to x500 multipliers assigned randomly on up to five numbers. In other respects, the game follows the set of European roulette rules. 
• Mega Wheel: This is a simplified, basic version of a wheel-based game without bonus features. A player just bets on any of the nine positions (1, 2, 5. . . 40) and gets corresponding payouts, if won.    

The masterminds behind the Drops & Wins campaign perhaps did not think their creations would become a must-be in virtually every Pragmatic Play online casino. The reasons of their popularity are evident: 

• The online casino games qualifying for the D&W events have the same return-to-player value as other slots and live games. 
• Cash prizes awarded as part of cash drops are really impressive. You can win up to CA$2000 at any moment (or higher. The matter is that they add or cut their prize pools regularly). 
• Entry is free. There’s no ante or other buy-ins for joining a D&W campaign at any stage. A player just spins as usual, while having a chance to hit a solid prize at the same time.
• Players participate in two events concurrently. If one is spinning the reels of a qualifying game, results are counted towards the D&W automatically.

The campaign has two components: daily cash drops and weekly freerolls. Their terms are permanent but some minor provisions are often modified on a weekly basis, e.g. prize pots, rules of participation, included games, and so on. For instance, the minimum bet to be in is normally fixed at CA$0.50 but it can be higher or lower in the following week.   

Cash drops are random. They give every player an opportunity to hit real money or free spins out of 600-900 daily prizes that make up a daily cash pot of about CA$40,000. It is best to look for current t&c on the studio’s official site rather than relying on your Pragmatic slots casino. There are four separate prize pools: prize drops for 1) slots, 2) all live games, 3) only live blackjack, and 4) a weekly selected game (e.g. Spaceman). 

Each weekly freeroll has a prize pool of about CA$80,000 to CA$100,000. The criteria for winning is basic (found in tourneys from other providers): tourney points come from a win-to-bet coefficient, e.g. if you bet CA$5 and win CA$50, you are awarded 10 points. The results are displayed on the leaderboard and at the end of the freeroll, 1800 winners receive cash, while 200 other participants get free spins. 

Pros:

• Drops & Wins tournaments and cash drops: a monthly pool is around one million dollars
• Small but quality selection of live dealer games
• Video slots are diverse; they are often built with Megaways, PowerNudge, Bonus Buy, Connect & Collect and other mechanisms (some are unique)

Cons:

• No progressive slots so far
• Online table games are not numerous and look totally outdated

The studio has been in operation since 2015. Today, it features about 200 slots, 20 live games, and just a handful of table games of dubious quality. Other products loved by some players are a set of bingo games, virtual sports, and a sportsbook. All of their products have perfect compatibility with mobile platforms (iOS, Android). The best Pragmatic Play casinos in Canada are part of the Drops & Wins campaign featuring cash drops and slot freerolls for real-money gamblers. The studio lacks progressive jackpots but it does boast of a couple of high-end video slots with multi-tiered jackpot prizes, including Congo Cash and Fire 88. There’s a new release about once a week.