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Northern Casino Resorts

Rama (Orillia), Ontario · entry 19+

Casino Rama Resort: our review

Last revised · facts verified

Gateway is midway through rebuilding Casino Rama, on Rama First Nation land near Orillia: new-look rooms since 2025, a ground-floor spa, and three fresh restaurants led by Atlas Steak and Fish. The constant is the Entertainment Centre, whose 5,000-plus seats keep pulling GTA drivers up Highway 400.

  • Rooms & views7.5
  • Casino floor8.5
  • Dining8.5
  • Shows & events10.0
  • Pool, spa & fitness8.0
  • Getting there6.0

Go if: GTA escapes built around a concert, or a cottage-country weekend with a casino attached.
Think twice if: You're relying on transit; Orillia is about two hours' drive north of Toronto.

Halfway through a big refresh

Casino Rama dates from July 1996 and stands on Rama First Nation land outside Orillia. Gateway Casinos, which operates it, announced a major refurbishment with OLG and Rama First Nation in November 2024. The plan covers better hotel rooms, an enlarged spa and fitness centre, a reworked gaming floor and fresh restaurants. Six months on, in May 2025, room renovations were moving up the building from the second floor, and a spa had opened on the ground floor.

Rooms: ask before you book

Rama has 289 rooms. Specifications for the renovated rooms haven't been released, so the most useful thing you can do is ask, when reserving, which floors have been completed. The answer is the difference between the old product and the new one.

Spa, pool and gym

The ground-floor spa brings saunas and steam rooms, while swimming is still up on level three. A bigger fitness centre is also part of the works.

Headliners

Few casino stages in Canada are larger than Rama's Entertainment Centre, which seats over 5,000. Late-2026 bookings announced so far include Colin James, the Celtic Tenors, Jesse Cook and the Righteous Brothers, with announced ticket prices starting near $25 and topping out around $89.

Gaming floor

Rama doesn't publish its own machine counts. Wikipedia gives roughly 1,800 slots and 50 tables on a floor of 192,000 sq ft, so read those numbers as estimates. According to CTV, by May 2025 the floor had been refreshed and the slots upgraded. Ontario's minimum age, 19, applies.

New places to eat

Three openings in a little over a year. Chow Lucky Noodle Bar came first, in fall 2024, with wok dishes, bowls and soups. MATCH Eatery and Public House followed in May 2025, just inside the main rotunda. Then in November 2025 came Atlas Steak and Fish at St. Germain's, the Ontario debut of Gateway's steak-and-seafood flagship brand, named for George St. Germain, the late chief of Rama First Nation. There's also a Tim Hortons.

The area

From Toronto it's a two-hour drive north on Highway 400. Nearby you can visit Couchiching Beach Park (sand and gardens), the Leacock Museum National Historic Site, and Hardwood Ski and Bike, a winter and summer destination.

Our take

Rama is Ontario's best concert-and-cottage-country combination. Book once the refurbished floors reach your room, eat at Atlas, and see whoever's headlining, which is the reason most guests make the trip in the first place.

Before you book: common questions

What's being renovated at Casino Rama?

The hotel rooms, the spa and fitness area, the gaming floor and the restaurants, under a refurbishment announced in November 2024. Parts of it opened in 2024 and 2025.

How far is Casino Rama from Toronto?

Around two hours' drive north on Highway 400, near Orillia.

What's the capacity of Casino Rama's Entertainment Centre?

Over 5,000 seats.

Where these facts come from

Fact check: October 23, 2026, against the sources above. Hotels change rates, fees and hours without warning, so confirm anything important directly before you book. If a detail here has gone stale, email us. Next stop: Casino Hotels in Ontario, or our full ranking.