PlayNow BC is the only provincially-run sportsbook offered in British Columbia — but that doesn’t mean it’s the only sportsbook bettors can legally access. In this PlayNow review, we cover the pros and cons of PlayNow Sports, and discuss a few of the better online betting options available for British Columbia sports betting fans as well.
When it comes to online gambling and sports betting, the industry boomed across Canada with the legalization of single-game betting. With it brought a number of sportsbooks besides PlayNow.com; sportsbooks with arguably much better odds and betting markets. For avid sports fans everywhere, PlayNow BC has become a popular source for folks to check out odds and place their bets. Without further ado, let’s dive into this PlayNow review!
Compare These BC Sportsbooks To PlayNow:
- The world's favourite sportsbook
- Provides action for nearly all international sports events.
- Safe, secure betting services and competitive lines.
- Vast Selection of Global Sports Odds
- Excellent Live Mobile Betting Platform
- Secure service – Licensed in Canada!
- The world's favourite sportsbook
- Provides action for nearly all international sports events.
- Safe, secure betting services and competitive lines.
- Vast Selection of Global Sports Odds
- Excellent Live Mobile Betting Platform
- Secure service – Licensed in Canada!
PlayNow BC Overview
PlayNow.com is the only regulated sportsbook in British Columbia, and is maintained by the BCLC, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation. Because PlayNow BC is a legal, regulated sportsbook, it is the only sportsbook in BC that pays taxes towards the BC government. This means some portion of your dollars go back towards the community. Unfortunately, this also means your potential winnings are much lower than at a private sportsbook, such as bet365 or Sports Interaction. This occurs because PlayNow.com is more likely to charge a larger vigorish, as they have to pay out taxes.
The best part of sports betting with PlayNow BC is the certainty behind their security. While all private sportsbooks that our team recommends are verified as legit and trustworthy, we understand some bettors will be more comfortable simply betting with the provincially-regulated site. We guarantee that PlayNow BC is a fully secure, trusted, legal sportsbook that will store your data securely.
PlayNow BC Pros & Cons
As far as sportsbook go, PlayNow Sports certainly gets the job done and covers most popular major leagues. They check most boxes that we would look for in a sportsbook, but PlayNow BC falls short in a number of areas such as their welcome bonus, odds value, and user experience.
| Pros of PlayNow BC | Cons of PlayNow BC |
|---|---|
| ✅ Legally regulated in British Columbia. | ❌ Non-competitive odds. |
| ✅ Single-betting options now available. | ❌ Low-value welcome bonus. |
| ✅ Online sports betting capabilities. | ❌ Confusing to navigate. |
| ✅ Major sports and betting markets. | ❌ No live-streaming capabilities. |
Alternatives To PlayNow Sports
PlayNow sports has earned a solid reputation in British Columbia for the safety and security that their site presents to bettors. While sports bettors can access a number of betting leagues, can bet online, and can rest easy knowing their payment information is secure, they unfortunately don’t have access to the same benefits that private sportsbooks bring to the table. As a sportsbook review site, we wouldn’t be helping out the betting public if we didn’t recommend some better alternatives. The truth is there are simply better options out there than PlayNow BC. If you’re looking for a safe, profitable, fun alternative to PlayNow.com, here are some of the best sportsbooks that BC sports bettors can legally access. All of the sportsbooks listed below also offer a full online casino! For a full breakdown, check our guide to British Columbia Sports Betting.
1. Sports Interaction
- Vast Selection of Global Sports Odds
- Excellent Live Mobile Betting Platform
- Secure service – Licensed in Canada!
Sports Interaction Canada is a highly reputable sportsbook, and is owned by the Entain Group — one of the largest gambling companies in the world. Sports Interaction operates legally in the regulated Ontario market, and is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (based near Montreal) to operate within Canada. Sports Interaction is great for a number of reasons, but largely we like them for their huge selection of sports leagues, and their 100% deposit match bonus up to $1000 (not available to residents of Ontario). At Sports Interaction, you can bet on everything from alpine skiing, to chess, Formula 1, gaelic games, MMA, snooker, and every popular North American league like the NFL, NHL, NBA, and more.
2. bet365
- The world’s favourite sportsbook
- Provides action for nearly all international sports events.
- Safe, secure betting services and competitive lines.
Next on our list is bet365 Canada. By now, you’ve probably seen one of their ads for the ‘Never Ordinary’ campaign circling various sports channels in Canada. Known for continuously updating their platform to deliver the best user experience, and for offering some of the most valuable odds in Canada, we think the title of ‘Never Ordinary’ is well-earned. If you’re looking for the best bang for your buck, bet365 is the sportsbook for you. Our team has found their odds to be the most competitive across Canada, and they’re usually the quickest to update odds for upcoming events. If you’re somebody who likes futures betting, bet365 Canada is for you.
3. TonyBet
- Intuitive live betting platform
- VIP program for sports betting
- Partnered with CPL
4. NorthStar Bets
- Built for the Canadian market
- Integrated with Sports Reporting for Maximum Info
- Significant Depth in Prop Bets
NorthStar Bets began as an Ontario-exclusive sports betting site, and recently acquired Spreads.ca which set them up to expand across all of Canada. Now as one of the top sportsbooks available in BC, and another alternative to PlayNow BC, NorthStar Bets offers an easy to navigate site with a ton of fun prop betting options. We particularly like NorthStar Bets for their large variety on ongoing promotions such as bet boosters, specials, and VIP programs (unfortunately not available for residents of Ontario). NorthStar also offers betting on politics and TV awards shows, and has daily trending bets you should definitely check out!
5. Bet99
- 100% Canadian Focus
- Plenty of deposit methods
- Clean and easy-to-navigate user interface
Bet99 comes in as our last, but certainly not least, great betting alternative to PlayNow BC. Bet99 is another BC sportsbook to offer players $800 First Bet Encore (not available for Ontario), and in addition to some ultra-competitive odds. Recently, Bet99 rebranded to Canada’s Premiere Online Sportsbook and Casino — so we guarantee this is a reputable sportsbook that values your business. Bet99 brings a sleek layout to the table, and has some really fun ongoing promotions for regular customers. In addition, Bet99 offers odds on nearly every league and sport, including the major North American leagues, and more niche areas like cricket, motor sports, handball, water polo, and more.
Leagues & Markets Available At PlayNow Sports
PlayNow BC categorizes the sports leagues available by region. When you select a sport on the PlayNow.com left-hand menu, you’ll then be given the option to choose a country. We found this structure to be a tad bit confusing. Typically, a sportsbook will organize their sports and leagues by upcoming events or popular leagues, rather than by country. If you’re only interested in betting on, say Australian teams, then you may prefer this system. In all, PlayNow BC offers the following leagues:
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Boxing
- Bull Riding
- Cricket
- Curling
- Darts
- E-Sports
- Football
- Golf
- Handball
- Hockey
- Lacrosse
- MMA
- Novelty & Specials
- Motor Racing
- Rugby Union
- Snooker
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Volleyball
As for betting markets, PlayNow BC does pretty well in this space and offers a decent variety of bets to choose from. As with any book, PlayNow BC offers odds on the moneyline, the spread, and totals, in addition to a handful of common proposition bets you’d expect for each league. They also offer decent odds on futures and outright betting options.
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PlayNow BC Customer Service Review
When it comes to customer service, PlayNow Sports makes it easy to get help when you need it. PlayNow BC definitely falls short in the FAQ category, seeing as they only have about 5 questions answered. We’d love to see them add some information about payment methods, how to place a bet, and other sports betting specific questions. You can access more information on how to pay from each page, but we find this system a bit clunky and would like to see all the FAQs in one place. As for getting in touch, You can use the following methods to contact PlayNow BC customer service:
- PlayNow live chat.
- By phone at 1-877-706-6789.
- By email via contact form.
PlayNow BC Navigation & User Experience
For the most part, PlayNow.com is set up like most major sportsbooks, but lacks a few key navigation features that detract from the fun. The homepage of PlayNow BC is straight forward, and promotes their ongoing bonuses and live betting odds front and center. They have a slight issue where some names are cut off as they’re squeezed into a too-small space for the amount of text. This can get a little frustrating when trying to scan for a good PlayNow line.
We like PlayNow BC’s dedication to responsible gambling (which makes sense as a government regulated book). PlayNow sports has a number of great betting tools and guides to help you play smart. They showcase a number of popular bets for you to browse, and make it easy to flip between odds formats. As mentioned earlier, we don’t love the organization of leagues by country. It’s an usual way to build a navigation, and definitely took us longer than average to figure out. If you’re looking for an easy to to navigate sportsbook, we’d highly recommend Bet99 or bet365.
PlayNow BC Mobile App
The PlayNow sports app is now available to BC sports bettors as well. We found the PlayNow app to be fairly innovative for the sports betting apps space. At this time, the PlayNow app is available for download for both Android and iOS users. So whether you use an Apple or another device, you can enjoy the PlayNow app.
The app comes with lots of great features, and enables bettors to access the lottery, casino, and sports betting sections of PlayNow.com. The BCLC has long been an expert in app development, so the addition of single sports wagers is no big deal here. In the PlayNow lotto app, you can check BCLC tickets, scan them, and buy them. We were thoroughly impressed with just how easy and fun the BCLC designed the PlayNow app to be.
PlayNow Review Summary
Overall, PlayNow.com is a great choice for British Columbia sports bettors if your primary concern is keeping Canadian money in Canada. If you’re more concerned with getting more value for your bets, better bonuses, a specific odds markets, we’d recommend players seek out another sportsbook to compare with PlayNow. As with any government-run business, it won’t quite compare to the private market, but we think overall the team at BCLC did a decent job with PlayNow.com. Happy betting!
PlayNow Sports FAQ
NowPlay is a network allowing safe online gaming to the community in BC, supported by the BCLC. The software allows players to play great games online through eye-catching graphics and realistic gameplay, delivering a great overall experience. NowPlay runs PlayNow.
NowPlay offers an array of games for bettors to enjoy, including classics like Blackjack, Sicbo and Craps, as well as many more. The main betting avenues are as follows:
Casino
Poker
Bingo
Sports
Liver Casinos
Lottery
Through NowPlay bettors can enjoy a variety of games and tournaments through the Poker software. The provinces of Manitoba and Quebec can access NowPlay for Poker and Bingo.
Bettors can access PlayNow betting during the following periods of time, any day of the week:
Lottery: 6:00 am – 4:00 am (approximately)
Live Casino: 24 hours a day
Casino Games: 24 hours a day
Sports: 24 hours a day
Bingo: 24 hours a day
Poker Games: 24 hours a day
On occasion, PlayNow carries out software updates and scheduled maintenance, which means betting us unavailable during these periods.
BCLC is licenced the provision of games within the province of British Columbia (BC) only. Players must physically reside in BC to play.
The best way to access the latest results and up-coming draws is through the PlayNow site. Users can navigate to the section “Lottery Winning Numbers” and “Sports Results” to see the latest.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the Lottery, once tickets have been purchased they are valid until the draw has taken place. They cannot be cancelled.
Lotteries are drawn in a procedural manner, which ensures security and integrity for every draw. The BCLC has stringent rules and ensures draws are conducted using their computerized drawing system.
Quick Pick Lottery draws function as part of a Lottery subscription. The original numbers chosen by the user will be applied for all subsequent tickets in the draw. The numbers aren’t randomly generated for each draw, as may be found with other providers.
In order for players to bet on the Lottery with PlayNow they need to be 19 years old, or older. The BCLC is heavily invested in safeguarding the integrity of the law and ensuring bettors are of age.
Do not worry! If this happens, we’ll contact you via email to inform you that your account has no more funds. However, if you want to ensure you manage to purchase your ticket every week, keep the funds in your account topped up at all times.
While it might be frustrating to miss out on a regular Lottery ticket, it’s easily avoided. Remember, keep your account topped up and check it on a regular basis!
The customer support team at PlayNow have been serving their customers for years and offer help at the drop of a hat. If you have any questions, for check the “How to Play” pages. If you don’t find what you need there, you can contact them on 1-877-706-6789 or email PlayNow.