International edition · 4 houses

Here the evening is already the whole route

Four Canadian resorts that we looked at as buildings and as entertainment operations — from an island in the Saint Lawrence to a lake in Ontario.

Casino resorts — arcanclash international edition — Four Canadian houses

Why four Canadian houses appear in this guide

This is the one selection in the guide that leaves our usual ground, and it is not here because of what happens in the halls. It is here because of scale: buildings of this size, where hall, stage, spa and a kitchen that runs into the night sit under one roof, barely exist in the places we normally write about.

We looked at these four addresses the way we look at every other house — as architecture, as the shape of an evening, as a question about where you sit in the morning. The tables are not our subject and do not appear in these texts. What is described is the building, the programme, the food and the view.

Gambling can be addictive. Strictly 18 and over.

The four houses

International edition

Montreal Casino & Hotel

Île Notre-Dame, Montréal, Québec

The building occupies the sculptural pavilions of Expo '67, set on an island in the middle of the Saint Lawrence, and from the bank it reads like a ship that never left. Inside, one of the largest halls on the continent spreads across several levels that you wander rather than enter. Restaurants with their own kitchens and a steady programme of live nights fill the rest of the plan. The island setting gives the place a cool architectural severity you rarely find on land.

Several levels: Floors
Expo '67: Architecture
Island in the river: Setting

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International edition

Fallsview Casino Resort

Niagara Falls, Ontario

The house stands directly above the falls, and the falls work as a backdrop for an entire entertainment complex: a broad hall, a theatre with touring headliners, a wellness wing and restaurants whose glazing carries the water along their full length. In the Fallsview rooms the spectacle starts at first light and ends with the last order of the evening. The architecture subordinates itself to the view and does not apologise for it.

Live headliners: Theatre
Wellness wing: Spa
Right at the falls: View

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International edition

River Rock Casino Resort

Richmond, British Columbia

The complex sits close to the water outside Vancouver and has a marina of its own, where boats tie up in front of the building. The programme runs to a concert hall, several restaurants and a spa that makes the day after a long flight bearable. Its closeness to the airport makes it useful as the first and the last night of a route through the province. Get up early and you watch float planes leave before the day begins.

Own moorings: Marina
Concert hall: Stage
Close to the airport: Arrival

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International edition

Casino Rama Resort

Rama, Ontario

The resort stands on the land of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation beside Lake Couchiching, a good hour and a half north of Toronto. It works as a country house at resort scale: a large concert hall, several kitchens, a spa, and lake landscape and golf all around it. What you notice first on arrival is the change of scale, because the building sits in a setting considerably older than itself. In the evening the lake is what is left of the soundtrack.

Large concert hall: Stage
On the lake: Setting
Resort in open country: Surroundings

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A note from the desk

arcanclash does not advertise gambling and does not broker any gaming offers. These resorts sit outside the everyday focus of the guide and appear here solely for their architecture and their entertainment programme. Stay within your own limits. If gambling stops being entertainment, free and confidential help is available from a national support service in your country; most publish a helpline and an online chat that are open around the clock.