Is NetEnt Withdrawing from Canada?

Over the course of 2016, Swedish casino software developer NetEnt has made a number of shifts that may hint at a decision to leave the Canadian market. The most major of these shifts came in June when NetEnt announced that it was withdrawing its software from three online casinos that offer services to Canadians – Betspin, Rizk and Guts Casino.

These three online casinos remained open to Canadian players, but without access to any of the NetEnt software. Canadian players that were fans of NetEnt titles could still find their favorite games in the catalogs of other online casinos.

If you’re not familiar with the NetEnt brand, you’ll probably recognize them by their games – Aliens, Starburst, Mega Fortune, and South Park – to name just a few. We always liked the way NetEnt games are really high on entertainment value and are especially fun on tablets. Some NetEnt games are also good in terms of payout ratio, although this of course depends on the specific game.

For these reasons it’s sure that NetEnt will be missed to a certain extent by some players, but we’ll have to wait to see if this exit from the market will actually take place. Officials at NetEnt have yet to release any statement about a decision to leave, but in the past the company has mentioned an interest to focus on regulated business in North America. Canada is still somewhat complicated when it comes to regulations for online casinos, mainly because every province has its own rules. It would really be a pity if this much-loved casino brand leaves Canada completely although of course there will still be a huge selection of high quality online casino software available to Canadian players.

Will Canadians have Access to NetEnt Games?

The rumors of a withdrawal are based on reports that NetEnt began requesting that online casino operators offering their games start blocking them from Canadian players. Adding to the validity of these rumors, are reports from NetEnt affiliates who of course have to be aware of changes like this. Apparently a number of affiliates have confirmed that NetEnt might be planning to cease all activity in the Canadian market. Any moves to withdraw games would of course be private, between NetEnt and the operators, but it’s been suggested that players from Canada and Portugal are being IP-blocked from NetEnt games.

As far as IP-blocking is concerned, there have also been reports by Canadian casino fans who say they’ve been blocked from other games including those by one of the leading software developers NYX gaming. NYX hasn’t made any official statement about withdrawing access to their games from Canadian players so this can’t be confirmed.

As mentioned above, a withdrawal of NetEnt from Canada will disappoint some players, but there is still such a broad variety of online casino games out there that are still available to Canadians. Just Playtech and Microgaming casinos alone have a huge offering of games and when you add to that other developers such as ELK, Leander Games, 2By2, Quickspin, Ezugi and others, it becomes clear that there is still a lot going on for Canadians. At the end of the day, these industry leaders are still pumping out new games all the time, and that’s what matters.

If you’re looking for top quality casino games and a wide selection of game types from card and table games to slots, we recommend trying out one of the casinos reviewed here. All casinos are checked according to a number of parameters and scored to give you an idea of every brand’s strength and weaknesses. Whichever casino you choose, have fun and play smart!