How Many Casinos Are in Canada? About 106, Province by Province, and Exactly One in Toronto
No national body licenses casinos in Canada, so the national count is a sum of provincial ones, and the provinces do not agree on what the word means. British Columbia went from 26 casinos to 36 this year without opening a building. The count for each province, from its own lottery corporation, and the direct answer for Toronto.
Published 2026-11-10.
Canada has about 106 casinos, and the City of Toronto has one of them: Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto, at the Woodbine racetrack, 18 road miles from Union Station. The Greater Toronto Area has five. The national figure is "about" because no national body licenses casinos, each province publishes its own count, and the provinces do not agree on what the word means. British Columbia's lottery corporation reported 26 casinos in February 2026 and 36 in August without a single building opening.
What follows is each province's number from its own lottery corporation or regulator, who runs the casinos, how old you have to be, and what an American player's loyalty card is worth across the border.
Ontario 30, British Columbia 26 or 36 depending on the report, Alberta 25, Saskatchewan 9, Manitoba 5, Quebec 4, two each in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and one seasonal hall in the Yukon. That sums to 106 on B.C.'s older definition, which is also the Canadian Gaming Association's figure, and 116 on its newer one. Toronto: one casino in the city, five in the GTA. The casino age is 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec and 19 everywhere else. Caesars Rewards works at one Canadian casino and Hard Rock's Unity card at one; a Mohegan Sun card does not carry its status to Niagara.
The count, province by province
| Province or territory | Casinos | Who runs them | Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 30, with a 31st under construction in Kenora | OLG conducts all of them; five private operators run the floors | 19 |
| British Columbia | 36 by BCLC's August 2026 report; 26 casinos plus 10 community gaming centres in February | BCLC, through 14 service providers | 19 |
| Alberta | 25: 19 traditional and 6 on First Nations land, plus 5 racetrack slot halls | Private and First Nations operators under AGLC; charities hold the event licenses | 18 |
| Saskatchewan | 9 | SIGA runs 7; SaskGaming runs Regina and Moose Jaw | 19 |
| Manitoba | 5: 2 provincial and 3 First Nations, plus the Shark Club Gaming Centre | Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries | 18 |
| Quebec | 4, plus 2 gaming halls | Loto-Québec | 18 |
| New Brunswick | 2 | Great Canadian in Moncton; Madawaska Maliseet First Nation in Edmundston | 19 |
| Nova Scotia | 2 | Great Canadian, for the provincial gaming corporation | 19 |
| Prince Edward Island | 2 racetrack casinos | Red Shores (Atlantic Lottery) | 19 |
| Yukon | 1, seasonal | Diamond Tooth Gerties, Dawson City | 19 |
Add the column and you get 106 with British Columbia at 26, or 116 at 36. The Canadian Gaming Association's industry-facts page also says 106 casinos, with no date and no definition, so we cannot say the two 106s count the same buildings. Count Alberta's five racing entertainment centres, Quebec's two salons de jeux and Winnipeg's Shark Club Gaming Centre as well and the widest defensible figure is 124. We found no casino listed by any lottery corporation in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut.
The British Columbia jump is the clearest case of a definition doing the work. BCLC's service plan in February 2026 described "26 casinos, 10 community gaming centres" and one commercial bingo hall. Its annual report in August said it offers slot machines, table games and bingo "at 36 casinos and one commercial bingo hall." Same 36 buildings, new label.
Some of these are not what an American would call a casino. Diamond Tooth Gerties in Dawson City calls itself Canada's oldest gambling hall and is closed until January 29, 2027, when it reopens for Friday and Saturday nights. Red Shores at Summerside describes its floor as a mix of video lottery terminals. Ontario's 30 include a slots room at Kawartha Downs with 150 machines, and the same list includes the biggest casino in the country.
Toronto has one, and the reason is a council vote
The single casino inside the City of Toronto is the Great Canadian resort at Woodbine, in the city's northwest corner near Pearson airport. It opened on June 20, 2023 with 328,000 square feet of gaming space, 4,800 slot machines, 145 live tables and a 400-room hotel, which makes it the largest in Canada by published floor; our biggest casinos ranking has the comparison.
There is no casino downtown, and that was a decision. On May 21, 2013, Toronto City Council opposed a new gaming site in the OLG zone that included downtown and, in the same decision, opposed expanding gaming at Woodbine. Five years later it reversed the second half: on April 26, 2018 council approved expanded gaming at Woodbine Racetrack by 26 votes to 15. There is still no casino downtown.
The Greater Toronto Area, drawn the usual way as Toronto plus Durham, York, Peel and Halton regions, has five casinos, and none of them is in York or Peel.
- Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto, in the city, with live tables around the clock.
- Pickering Casino Resort, 27 road miles east of Union Station, with live tables and a 275-room hotel.
- Casino Ajax, a few exits further, with about 500 slot machines and electronic tables only.
- Great Blue Heron, on Scugog Island near Port Perry, 59 road miles out, hosted by the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation, with 20 live tables.
- Elements Casino Mohawk, at the racetrack in Milton, with 34 live tables.
OLG's own "Greater Toronto Area" bundle is the first four. It puts Mohawk in a separate West GTA bundle with Brantford, Flamboro and Grand River, so anyone who answers "four" is using the lottery corporation's map. Great Canadian runs all five on one card.
One thing to check before going. Security officers at the Toronto resort have been locked out since July 23, 2026, and on November 9 the operator said the casino was open with cars let through the picket every three minutes. A strike at Pickering and Ajax that began in the summer ended with a contract ratified on November 6, and staff went back on November 9; Pickering's poker room was still closed that day.
Who actually runs them
Every province owns its gambling and almost none of them deals the cards. Ontario's lottery corporation says it is responsible for "conducting and managing all 30 facilities," and five companies run them under contract: Great Canadian has 12, Gateway 14, Mohegan the two in Niagara Falls, Caesars the one in Windsor and Hard Rock the one in Ottawa. Windsor was the last to move to that model, on March 3, 2026. Our Ontario guide goes bundle by bundle.
British Columbia works the same way with 14 service providers, and the names are changing fast. Great Canadian has been selling its B.C. casinos to First Nations. River Rock in Richmond went to a partnership of the Snuneymuxw First Nation's Petroglyph Development Group and Musqueam Capital Corp. on June 16, 2026. The Coquitlam casino went to Petroglyph on May 5, Elements Chilliwack to the Ts'elxwéyeqw Group on July 28, and an agreement to sell Elements Surrey to the Semiahmoo First Nation was announced on March 9.
Alberta is the outlier. Its regulator describes it as the only province where charities are licensed to conduct and manage casino events, so the casino company supplies the building and charities take turns holding the license for the events run in it. Six of its 25 casinos are on reserve land, among them River Cree outside Edmonton and Grey Eagle in Calgary. Alberta also opened a regulated online market on July 13, 2026.
Quebec is the only large province that runs its own floors. Loto-Québec operates Montréal, Lac-Leamy, Charlevoix and Mont-Tremblant and gaming halls in Québec City and Trois-Rivières, with a third promised for Rimouski in 2027. In Saskatchewan the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority runs seven of the nine. In Nova Scotia the Halifax casino is due to be replaced by a new one at Dartmouth Crossing in 2028-29.
Where the cross-border advice is wrong
American visitors are usually told two things: that their casino card works in Canada, and that the winnings are tax-free. Each is true in one place and false in general.
The card first. Caesars Windsor is a Caesars Rewards property, and it is the only one in Canada. Hard Rock Ottawa uses Unity, which Hard Rock says earns and redeems at more than 200 Hard Rock and Seminole locations. The trap is Niagara. Fallsview and Casino Niagara are run by Mohegan and their card is called Momentum, the same name as the card at Mohegan Sun. Mohegan Sun's own program page says members keep separate account numbers, offers and hotel rates at each property and that its benefits are valid at the Connecticut location only, and its FAQ names Mohegan Pennsylvania as the one other place its dollars spend. Nothing we read says Connecticut status is honored in Niagara, so assume it is not and ask; our Momentum explainer has the tiers. Great Canadian Rewards covers that company's 12 Ontario casinos and nothing in the United States.
The tax second. The Canada Revenue Agency's position is that a lottery or casino prize is not taxable as income or as a capital gain, short of gambling as a business. The Internal Revenue Service's position is that gambling winnings are fully taxable and that citizens are taxed on worldwide income. Both are true at once for an American in Windsor. Nobody hands you a form, and you still owe; our tax guide covers the records to keep.
Age is the one rule that favors the visitor. An 18-year-old can play in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, three years before any Nevada casino would allow it, and Montréal is the nearest of those to the northeastern states. Everywhere else it is 19.
To get home by land you need a passport, a passport card, an enhanced driver's license or a trusted-traveler card such as NEXUS. Payouts are in Canadian dollars. Our Canada directory lists most of the casinos counted here but not all; the gaps are mostly small rooms in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and our border casinos post covers the ones a day trip can reach.
Topics
- canada
- ontario
- toronto
- british-columbia
- alberta
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