Casinos

Art Galleries

Casinos

Museums 

Government Attractions 

The Residences 

Other Attractions

Byways and Waterways

OLG Slots at Rideau Carleton Raceway
4837 Albion Road
Ottawa, Ontario KIX 1A3
Tel: (613) 822-8668 or (888) 942-6224
Web site: www.olg.ca/olg-slots/rideau.jsp

The Entertainment Capital Of Ottawa!

Enjoy a Winning Experience at our slots. It is home to 1250 slot machines within a 40,000 square foot, travel-theme gaming area, as well our site offers Live Harness Racing.

Play your favorite interactive and reel slot machines in denominations ranging from 1¢ to $5. Our gaming floor now features 1¢ and 2¢ slot machines and Quarter Million$ - a progressive with a base jackpot of $250,000. We offer reel games such as Double Diamond, Silver &Gold, Phantom of the Opera, Blazing 7s, 10X Pay, 12X Pay, and Big Times Pay. Some of our interactive games include Black Jack, Pickem’ Poker, Keno, Popcorn, Wheel of Fortune, Price is Right, Jade Monkey, Cleopatra, The Munster’s, plus many more.

Join the Winner's Circle and enjoy the benefits of cash rewards, complimentary food events, slot tournaments and promotional prizes. Members may also be eligible for special events such as invitations to VIP players' parties and slot tournaments.

---

Hull Casino gets 3.3M visitors, $140M in first year

West Quebec residents most frequent gamblers

Not all the figures were rosy when the casino released statistics yesterday on its first year, despite much-higher-than-expected attendance of 3.3 million. The casino had anticipated 1.8 million visitors. 

West Quebec residents, as a group, were the biggest losers in the casino. They made up 46 per cent of the casino's customers. Collectively, they had gambling losses of about $65 million. That's about $350 for each adult resident of West Quebec. 

Those losses almost nullified the $40 million in wages paid to casino staff and $28 million in tourism revenue spent in hotels, shops and restaurants by visitors drawn to Hull by the casino. 

However, some of the gambling losses by West Quebec residents will eventually return to the community in services provided by the Quebec government, which runs the casino. 

And, another plus for West Quebec, the casino spent $16 million in the region in its first year in goods and services, and $6 million in taxes. 

Only about 40 per cent of the casino's customers came from Ottawa-Carleton. That was a surprise to some Quebec casino officials, in view of the fact Ottawa-Carleton has about 75 per cent of the national capital region's population. 

Casino manager Claude Quinn said he did not know why local Ontario residents, on average, visited the casino less often than residents of West Quebec. The casino is less than a 10-minute drive from downtown Ottawa. 

Another disappointment for casino officials was that the average customer lost less than expected. Casino officials had expected the average visitor to lose about $62. In fact, the average loss was about $42.50. 

The projected average loss of $62 was based on experience at the Montreal Casino, where the average visitor loses about $70. 

It's not that people in this area are better gamblers, said Vincent Trudel, operations chief of Quebec's casinos. Mr. Trudel said he believes the attractiveness of the building draws many visitors who do not gamble. This has the effect of lowering the average gambling loss, he said. 

The Hull Casino's 3.3 million visitors had combined gambling losses of about $140 million. That is the casino's gross profit, before wages and other expenses, which are expected to result in a net profit for the first year of about $35 million. 

Ottawa-Carleton residents lost about $56 million. Visitors from outside the national capital region (including other parts of Quebec and Ontario) made up about 14 per cent of the casino's customers. They lost about $19 million. 

The fact Ontario residents are in a minority could mean the Hull Casino will keep the majority of its customers when the Ontario government permits two small casinos in Ottawa-Carleton. Ontario officials hope the casinos will open by the end of this year. 

Politicians and tourism officials in West Quebec say the Hull Casino has had a positive impact on the economy of the Outaouais. 

Hull Mayor Yves Ducharme said the casino has "created equilibrium" between Ottawa and Hull as tourist venues. Responding to claims by some Hull restaurant owners that the casino has hurt their business, Mr. Ducharme said there are now 1,700 more seats in restaurants in the city than there were three years ago. 

Spending by tourists in West Quebec is up by about 10 per cent since the casino opened, according to Gilles Picard, head of the Outaouais Tourist Association. 

In Ottawa, tourist officials say Ottawa-Carleton had about 3.6 per cent more visitors last year. They believed as many as five per cent of those visitors were attracted primarily by the Hull Casino.