Captain Cooks casino review (CA)

Like all quality casinos, Captain Cooks tries to charm their customers with attractive bonuses and promotions. Let’s take a look at the principal offers for their players.

All new Captain Cooks casino members will receive a bonus when registering. New Canadian players receive an instant welcome gift of CA$25 after depositing a minimum of only CA$5. This welcome bonus is branded as the “100 Chances” as it refers to 100 free spins playable on progressive slots such as Mega Moolah at a minimum bet of $0.25 per spin. But one of my live chats with client support informed me that the bonus is playable anywhere in the casino. The “100 Free Spins” is only symbolic, and doesn’t limit you to use your bonus on pregressive slots alone.

After my deposit, I noticed that the casino had immediately added $25 to my account. As I enjoyed my gaming experience through various slots and table games, I saw my welcome bonus gradually dwindle. All winnings were added to my bonus balance and the casino deducted my cash and bonus balances based on a 70/30 proportion. In other words, every dollar wagered meant that $0.70 was taken out of my cash balance and $0.30 from my bonus balance.

The wagering requirement for this bonus is quite tough actually and way over the industry average. Therefore it is very hard to complete the bonus and it takes a long time to rollover the 200x amount. As a side note, slots contribute to 100% of the wagering requirements, Craps, Baccarat and all Blackjack tables (minus Classic Blackjack) are at 10% while classic Blackjack and all Roulette variants contribute to only 2%. This annoys me as I’m a huge Classic Blackjack fan, but is in line with other online casinos. Knowing this, I switched to European Blackjack.

One interesting surprise: I noticed that my bonus balance was still active well after the 7-day limit, as stated in the Terms & Conditions. Another quick chat with customer support cleared that up and revealed that all welcome bonuses remain active for as long as you have a bonus balance.

Captain Cook boasts an extensive game portfolio exceeding 550 slots and classic table games provided by Microgaming. It irks me when there’s only one game provider… I’m a fan of variety and partnering with a few other top studios such as Betsoft and NetEnt would have been a major advantage. Microgaming is supplying an incredible variety of games to the Captain Cooks platform, though. You will find an impressive number of slot machines as well as the usual table favorites, including variants of poker, blackjack, baccarat and roulette.

For the test slots, I immediately directed my attention to some of the most popular Microgaming titles in online gaming. Being familiar with their rules and graphics, I was anxious to find out how they perform. Because of their dark themes based on storytelling, my favorite in Microgaming's “rockstar” group are Immortal Romance and Game of Thrones. I also like Mega Moolah for the simple pleasure of knowing there’s always a massive progressive jackpot at stake, and because of their massive popularity, I also tested Avalon, Break Da Bank Again and Jurassic Park.

To be honest, I need my preferred “space” encompassing dark color palettes and mysterious music to keep me playing… That’s just what I love: I pick games for the feeling they provide and not for the money that I could win. The other slots I tested are part of the titles that you see appear in the “best of” sections across the web on various blogs.

I found that the Microgaming-Captain Cooks duo provided a fabulous product with fluid gameplay, crisp and clean graphics and flawless sound effects. This casino team delivers a stunning gaming experience that would enchant any beginner or expert slot player.

I’m not much of a live casino gamer. I prefer a mode of playing that allows me some freedom and time to do my thing on the side. I still tested the section and the casino appears to be at par with what we see in industry. The game library Includes an impressive number of live variants of the usual table games (Baccarat, Blackjack, Roulette, and Poker) and even non-classic casino games such as the infamous board game Monopoly.

I prefer to play online casino games on my laptop. With a computer, I benefit from a broader range of features and I benefit from the full visual experience enabled by a much larger screen. But the direct-play mobile version of Captain Cook was surprisingly pleasant. Graphics were crisp, and the music and sound effects were on par with the computer version.

The mobile version also provided easy and clear access to the various parts of the casino, including the various games as well as the Help and Banking sections.

There was only one caveat with the non-download version. I found that controlling the game in auto-play mode on some slots lacked clarity, and getting out of games could be more intuitive. Here, Captain Cook would gain by improving the user experience. This will be a key feature to please newcomers to online casino gaming. Captain Cooks also offers a dedicated Androids downloadable casino app for an enhanced and more complete gaming experience. However, no Apple version is currently available, but the non-download Flash version is powerful enough to satisfy the majority of player needs and requirements.

Questions concerning the casino at large or your personal account will be answered by customer support staff, who are available 24/7. Providing all day all night member assistance is now standard in the industry and the casino delivers accordingly.

Captain Cook offers 2 ways to get in touch with customer service: live chat and email.

I tested the live chat and the response time was almost immediate. Note that the casino offers a 2-level live chat system. When reaching customer service, it's obvious that we initially deal with an automated system. Using AI is increasingly popular across all sorts of industries and interacting with this technology here was expected.

After asking a few questions that required a more detailed answer, I was transferred to a real person. At this point, the response speed became slower, but fast enough that I remained satisfied with the service. The customer support person took between 3-5 minutes to provide a reply to my questions, and was courteous and efficient.

The new member subscription process is straightforward and simple. I was immediately directed to the registration page where I was asked to provide my full legal name, address, email address, and a mobile phone number. Providing a regular landline (home phone) works fine if you don’t have a mobile phone.

When making my first deposit, I was asked to submit some kind of government ID in order to confirm my identification. I uploaded a photo of the main page of my Canadian passport and was immediately accepted.

Canucks won’t have a problem making their first deposit at Captain Cooks. Canadians can use Mastercard and Visa credit cards, debit cards, e-wallets such as ecoPayz and cash vouchers like the widely used PaySafeCard. Sadly, the site doesn’t take Paypal. I always have a point of contention when sites won’t accept the undisputed leader in the world on virtual wallets. Seriously, Paypal is so popular that even my 75 years old father has an account, and actually uses it to make online purchases!

I reverted to my trusty Mastercard debit card, and I’m happy to say that the process was clear and void of unnecessary stress. I was pointed to a payment page after completing the basic registration, and after providing the required government ID, 4 deposit options popped-up on my screen: $5 (the minimum required deposit), $10, $50, or your “Own Amount”. I completed my deposit and off I went, eager to find out what’s all the fuss about.