03.1
Montreal Casino & Hotel
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The property occupies the former French and Quebec pavilions built for Expo 67 on Île Notre-Dame, which gives it an architectural pedigree unusual for the category: an angular, glass-walled structure sitting alone on an island in the Saint Lawrence, connected to the city by bridge and metro.
Accommodation is handled through an adjoining hotel operation, with the island's parkland — Parc Jean-Drapeau, the rowing basin, the Formula 1 circuit — immediately outside. Guests tend to combine a stay with events on the island rather than treating the building as a destination on its own.
Inside, the pavilion's central atrium is kept open across several levels, with restaurants, a cabaret-style show venue and function rooms arranged around it. The gaming floor is one of those levels, operated by the provincial gaming corporation.
- SettingÎle Notre-Dame, Montreal, reached by bridge and metro
- BuildingConverted Expo 67 pavilions with a multi-level atrium
- On siteRestaurants, cabaret venue, function space, gaming floor
- SurroundingsParc Jean-Drapeau, rowing basin and circuit
03.2
Fallsview Casino Resort
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Fallsview is built into the escarpment above the Horseshoe Falls, and the whole resort is arranged to exploit that position. Guest rooms on the upper floors face the falls directly, and the public levels step down the slope so that the view is available from lobbies and restaurants as well.
It is a large full-service hotel: several hundred rooms, a spa, a shopping promenade, and a purpose-built theatre that programmes touring concerts and comedy through the year. Conference and banquet facilities occupy a substantial part of the lower levels.
The gaming floor is one component of the complex, and sits alongside the theatre and dining levels rather than at the centre of circulation. Most visitors arrive for the falls, which are a few minutes' walk downhill.
- SettingEscarpment above the Horseshoe Falls, Niagara Falls, Ontario
- RoomsSeveral hundred, with falls-facing upper floors
- On siteTheatre, spa, retail promenade, restaurants, gaming floor
- NearbyNiagara Parkway and the falls viewing areas
03.3
River Rock Casino Resort
Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
River Rock sits on the Fraser River in Richmond, a few minutes from Vancouver International Airport and on the Canada Line into downtown Vancouver — a location that makes it as much an airport-adjacent conference hotel as anything else.
The resort includes a hotel tower, a riverside marina, a theatre used for touring shows, and a spread of restaurants covering both quick dining and longer sit-down meals. Richmond's own restaurant scene, particularly its Cantonese and Taiwanese establishments, is immediately around it.
The gaming floor occupies the lower levels of the complex. Rooms upstairs are conventional full-service hotel rooms, and the property is regularly used for events and meetings independent of anything happening downstairs.
- SettingFraser River, Richmond, near Vancouver airport
- TransportCanada Line rapid transit into central Vancouver
- On siteHotel tower, marina, show theatre, restaurants, gaming floor
- Use patternFrequently used for conferences and touring events
03.4
Casino Rama Resort
Rama, Ontario, Canada
Casino Rama stands on the Chippewas of Rama First Nation's land near Orillia, roughly an hour and a half north of Toronto, in the lake country around Lake Couchiching. That setting gives it a resort character quite different from an urban property.
The hotel component includes several hundred rooms alongside a spa, a golf course nearby, and a large entertainment centre that has hosted touring acts for decades — for many visitors the concert schedule, not the building, is the reason for the trip.
Dining runs from a buffet to several full-service restaurants. The gaming floor is one of the resort's facilities, and the property is also used as a base for exploring the surrounding lakes and the Trent-Severn Waterway.
- SettingRama First Nation land near Orillia, Ontario, in lake country
- RoomsSeveral hundred, with spa and resort facilities
- On siteEntertainment centre, multiple restaurants, gaming floor
- NearbyLake Couchiching and the Trent-Severn Waterway
