About Crusty

How a Crusty Montrealer Ended Up Reviewing Casinos

My name is Marc-André Dupont. People call me Crusty. I've been told it's because of my personality, not my appearance - though after 20+ years of late-night gambling sessions, I'm not sure that distinction still holds.

I grew up in the Plateau-Mont-Royal, which in the '90s was a lot less hipster and a lot more working class. My introduction to gambling was Casino de Montreal, back when it first opened on Ile Notre-Dame. I was barely old enough to walk through the door, and I remember being completely mesmerized. The sounds, the lights, the energy of a craps table at midnight. I was hooked immediately.

For the next decade, I was a regular. Blackjack was my game - still is, honestly. I learned card counting from a dog-eared copy of Beat the Dealer that I found at a used bookshop on Saint-Laurent. Never got rich from it, but I got banned from two casinos in Atlantic City, which I still consider a personal achievement.

When online casinos started popping up in the mid-2000s, I was skeptical. How could you trust a website with your money? But curiosity got the better of me, and I made my first online deposit in 2005 - $50 at an offshore casino that no longer exists. I won $200, requested a withdrawal, and waited three agonizing weeks for a check to arrive in my mailbox. It felt like a miracle when it actually showed up.

Since then, I've deposited at over 100 online casinos. I've been scammed twice (both times by casinos that are now defunct - good riddance). I've had payouts that arrived in 12 hours and payouts that took 6 weeks. I've cleared bonuses with 1x wagering requirements and rage-quit bonuses with 60x playthrough attached to them. I've seen it all.

I started CrustysMTL.ca because I got tired of watching people - especially fellow Canadians - get taken for a ride. The casino review space is full of sites that have never deposited a dollar of real money. They copy bonus information from the casino's marketing page, slap a "9.5/10" rating on it, and collect their affiliate commission. That's not a review. That's an advertisement.

Everything on this site comes from my actual experience. When I say Jackpot City pays out in under 5 business days, it's because I timed it on my phone. When I say Wild.io's 100% BTC match has reasonable wagering terms, it's because I read every line of the T&Cs and then actually cleared the bonus myself. When I warn you about a slow payout or a sketchy bonus clause, it's because I learned the hard way so you don't have to.

I live in Montreal. I argue about the Canadiens at my local dépanneur. I smoke meat on my balcony and claim it rivals Schwartz's (it doesn't, but don't tell anyone). I have an overweight tabby cat named Poutine who judges me silently while I play online blackjack at 2 AM. This is not a faceless corporation - it's one crusty Montrealer sharing what he knows.

I don't have a team. I don't have interns running test deposits. It's just me, my laptop, and a stubborn refusal to recommend anything I wouldn't use myself. Here's how every review on this site gets done:

I deposit my own money. Always. If a casino won't let me deposit smoothly from a Canadian IP with either CAD credit card or Bitcoin, it doesn't make the list. I test the deposit process from start to finish, including any verification requirements.

I play the games. Not for 10 minutes - I put in real sessions. Blackjack, slots, poker if they have it. I'm testing the software quality, the game fairness, and whether the experience is actually enjoyable or just tolerable.

I read the bonus terms. Every single line. Wagering requirements, maximum bet limits during wagering, game contribution percentages, withdrawal caps on bonus winnings. If the bonus looks generous in the headline but is impossible to clear in practice, I'll tell you.

I request a withdrawal and time it. This is the most important test. I request a withdrawal at different times of day and different days of the week. I note exactly when I submit the request, when the casino processes it, and when the money arrives in my wallet or mailbox. The payout times on this site are real, not estimates.

I test customer support. I contact support with a real question (usually about a bonus term or payout method) and evaluate response time, helpfulness, and whether they actually resolved my issue or just gave me a canned response.