Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto Officially Opens its Doors
What Does This Mean for Woodbine Entertainment and Horse Racing?
MILTON, June 21, 2023– After many years of hard work, planning, and determination, the expanded casino resort opened its doors at Woodbine Racetrack on Tuesday.
The Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto – as it is now known - is the newest and largest casino resort in Canada and one of the largest in North America. The expansive casino floor includes 328,000 square feet of gaming space featuring an extensive range of options, including 4,800 slot machines, 145 live table games, VIP rooms, and sports betting kiosks.
The resort also includes a 400-room, 11-floor hotel that is trackside and overlooks our world-renowned E.P. Taylor Turf Course. The hotel is expected to open in the coming months, which will be followed by the opening of a 5,000-seat performance venue this fall.
What does this mean for Woodbine Entertainment and horse racing?
Expanding the casino has been part of Woodbine’s vision to develop the entire property at Woodbine Racetrack - with horse racing at the centre of it all - to sustain and grow our industry in Ontario for decades to come. This will be accomplished through generating increased revenues which will also eventually allow us to not require government funding.
The opening of the casino is a major step forward in realizing this vision, but there is more to come. This includes our ongoing efforts to privately fund a GO Station on the southeast corner of the property which will fully unlock the value of our lands and the associated opportunities that come with that.
With the new casino resort opening, and eventually mass-transit on the property, there will be upwards of 12 million annual visitors. This bodes well for horse racing as it will expose the sport to more potential customers and fans than ever before.
The Woodbine Community Plan and the integration of horse racing into online sports books are two major transformational initiatives that have the future looking very bright for Ontario horse racing, specifically at Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Mohawk Park. More updates will be provided as they become available.
