Casino Hotels

The Montréal complex sits on Île Notre-Dame, on a site left over from Expo 67, and the main structure is one of the more architecturally distinctive buildings in this category anywhere — a former national pavilion, tall and angular, with views back across the water to the city. Approaching it feels less like arriving at a resort than arriving at a piece of world's-fair infrastructure that found a second use.

As a hotel it works on the island's own terms. The setting is parkland: Parc Jean-Drapeau surrounds it, the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve runs nearby, and the Old Port is a short drive across the bridge. Dining runs from casual to formal, and there is a cabaret-style hall used for concerts and shows.

The gaming floor is operated under Québec's provincial framework, spread across several levels of the pavilion building, with table games and electronic machines. It is one facility here among the restaurants, the event spaces and the riverside location — present, regulated, age-restricted, and entirely possible to stay without visiting.

The clue is in the name. Fallsview is built up the escarpment above the Horseshoe Falls, and the whole property is organised around that sightline — rooms, restaurants and public floors angled to take the view, with the falls lit at night directly below. Few hotels in this category have a natural feature doing this much of the work for them.

It functions as a full resort. There is a large theatre that books touring names, a spa, a retail concourse, a conference block and a spread of restaurants from buffet to steakhouse. Guests arrive as often for a show or a weekend as for anything else, and the surrounding tourist district connects directly on foot.

The gaming floor is substantial and operates under Ontario's regulatory regime, with tables, machines and a poker offering. Worth noting alongside the spa, the theatre and the view — not instead of them.

River Rock's advantage is logistical before it is anything else: it sits in Richmond beside the Fraser River, minutes from Vancouver International Airport, with a SkyTrain station at the door and a rapid link into downtown Vancouver. For anyone arriving late or leaving early it is one of the most practically placed hotels in the region.

The resort carries a show theatre, a spa, a range of restaurants and a marina on the river. Richmond itself is the real draw for a certain kind of visitor — the night market in season, and one of the densest concentrations of regional Chinese cooking in North America, much of it within a short drive.

Gaming is regulated by British Columbia's provincial body and occupies a large floor with tables and machines. As elsewhere in this category, it is a facility of the property rather than its definition.

Casino Rama sits on the Chippewas of Rama First Nation's land near Orillia, roughly an hour and a half north of Toronto, in cottage country close to Lake Couchiching. It is the most rural property in this category on the site, and the setting shapes the stay: this is a destination people drive to for a weekend rather than a hotel they pass through.

The entertainment centre is the best-known part of the operation, a large-capacity hall that has hosted touring acts for decades. Beyond it there is a spa, a set of restaurants, conference facilities and the lake region immediately outside — boating and trails in summer, snow country in winter.

The property is First Nations-owned and its gaming floor operates under Ontario regulation, with tables and machines across a single large room. The resort is usable purely as a lakeside hotel with a concert hall attached, and a good number of guests treat it exactly that way.