Montreal Casino & Hotel
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The Montreal property is unusual among casino hotels because its main building was never built for the purpose: the complex occupies the former French and Quebec pavilions from Expo 67, on Île Notre-Dame in the middle of the Saint Lawrence. The French pavilion's angled aluminium façade and its interior of long ramps and open voids survive the conversion, and the result is a gaming and hospitality building that reads more like an exhibition hall than a resort.
Guests stay on the island, surrounded by the Parc Jean-Drapeau grounds, with the Montreal skyline across the water and the city itself a short metro or bridge crossing away. The wider complex holds several restaurants across a wide range of formality, a cabaret-style theatre used for concerts and comedy, and function space. The gaming floor occupies the lower and mid levels of the pavilion and is one element of a much larger building.
Fallsview Casino Resort
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Fallsview is built into the escarpment above the Horseshoe Falls, and the whole property is organised around that fact. Public rooms, restaurants and a substantial share of the guest rooms face the falls directly, with the upper floors high enough to take in both the Canadian and American cataracts at once. The hotel tower rises above a broad podium that contains most of the resort's other functions.
That podium holds a large concert theatre that draws touring acts year-round, a spa, a retail galleria and a range of dining from casual counters to a top-floor room with a full window wall. A walkway system connects the resort down the hill toward the falls promenade, which makes it practical as a base for the town rather than only for itself. Gaming occupies the main floor of the complex.
River Rock Casino Resort
Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
River Rock sits on the north arm of the Fraser River in Richmond, minutes from Vancouver International Airport and on the rapid transit line into downtown Vancouver — a location that shapes how it is used. A good share of guests are in transit, and the hotel is built for that: a covered arrival, generous rooms in two wings, and a marina and riverside walk immediately outside.
The resort's theatre is one of the larger show rooms in the region and hosts touring music and comedy through the year. Dining leans heavily on the surrounding area's strengths, with several Chinese restaurants alongside western rooms and a late-night noodle counter. There is a spa, a pool, and a good deal of conference space. The gaming floor sits at the centre of the complex, adjacent to the theatre entrance.
Casino Rama Resort
Rama, Ontario, Canada
Casino Rama stands on the Chippewas of Rama First Nation's land near Orillia, about ninety minutes north of Toronto in the lake country between Simcoe and Couchiching. It is owned by the First Nation, and that is reflected throughout the property — in the artwork, in the naming of the restaurants and rooms, and in the design of the public spaces, which draw on Anishinaabe motifs rather than the generic resort vocabulary.
The hotel is a full-service resort in a rural setting: several hundred rooms and suites, a spa, indoor pool, and a broad spread of restaurants including a long-running buffet and a steakhouse. Its entertainment centre seats several thousand and has been a fixture of the Ontario touring circuit for decades. Cottage-country lakes, trails and marinas surround the site, and the resort works as a base for them.
