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RidgelineBC casinos by road and ferry
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By road and ferry, city to North

British Columbia Casinos Online Guide

From Metro Vancouver's nine casinos to the North, 32 casinos and community gaming centres and one racetrack each get their own page. Follow the ridgeline beyond the city or pick a start town: see what is open now, how late, and on which clock.

Notebook kept and checked by Sloane CarrickChecked October 7, 2026

Sloane Carrick with a pocket compass; tag: BC is on Pacific time (PCT) all year

Your position is used on this device only and is never sent.

Vancouver Island

Six venues; by car from the mainland, a sailing comes first, such as 1 h 35 min from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay.

  • Tsawwassen → Swartz Bay1 h 35 min
  • Tsawwassen → Duke Point2 h 0 min
  • Departure Bay → Horseshoe Bay1 h 42 min
  • Tsawwassen → Departure Bay, direct, one waySelect dates only

Sea-to-Sky

Chances Squamish is the one gaming centre here, open Monday to Thursday 1 PM to 9 PM.

  • Sloane Carrick with an open umbrella

    Chances Squamish

    Community gaming centre

    SquamishDirections

    Sunday 12PM–8PM; Monday–Thursday 1PM–9PM; Friday & Saturday 11AM–1AM

Okanagan and Shuswap

Two casinos in Kelowna, and harness racing at Desert Park.

Desert Park race datesOfficial calendar

Thompson, Cariboo and Kootenays

Venues in Kamloops, Williams Lake, Quesnel, Castlegar and Cranbrook, which keeps Mountain time.

Cranbrook · Mountain time · +1 h

The North

Five venues far apart: Treasure Cove to Chances Dawson Creek is 262.1 km in a straight line.

Open or closed follows each venue's published hours in local time, and distances are straight lines, not roads.

Where the ferries and highways start

Metro Vancouver has nine casinos in this guide. Parq Casino and Hastings Casino are in Vancouver; Great Canadian Casino Vancouver is in Coquitlam. River Rock Casino Resort is in Richmond. The other five carry their towns in their names: Grand Villa Casino Burnaby, Starlight Casino New Westminster, Elements Casino Surrey, Cascades Casino Delta and Cascades Casino Langley. Community gaming centres in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, and the Fraser Valley's casino, are not listed.

Four are open around the clock: Parq, Grand Villa, Starlight and Cascades Langley. Hastings and Cascades Delta shut at 12 AM, except Friday and Saturday, when closing is 2 AM. Great Canadian Casino Vancouver publishes nothing beyond table hours, and River Rock does the same. Each casino has its own page; the Metro Vancouver page lists all nine with their hours.

Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Parq Casino, GoToVan from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0; Hastings Casino, Canmenwalker, CC BY 4.0; River Rock Casino Resort, Arnold C, Attribution; Elements Casino Surrey, Leoboudv, CC BY-SA 4.0; Cascades Casino Langley, Arnold C, Attribution.

Metro Vancouver casinos: the nine city stops

Casino or Chances

The Province's list of gambling locations, last updated November 20, 2025, marks community gaming centres separately from casinos. Beyond Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, it names casinos in Cranbrook, Fort St. John, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, Penticton, Port Alberni, Prince George, Quesnel, Vernon and View Royal. Community gaming centres appear in Campbell River, Castlegar, Courtenay, Dawson Creek, Duncan, Kamloops, Prince Rupert, Salmon Arm, Squamish, Terrace and Williams Lake.

Names do not settle the label. RimRock in Port Alberni appears among the casinos on that list. Chances Casino Kelowna began as a community gaming centre and now has live tables and a poker room; the Province lists it among casinos.

Private service providers run the floors where BCLC, a Crown corporation, offers slot machines, table games and bingo. The Venue Labels page sets out what each label covers.

  • CasinoOn the Province's list of casinos (last updated 2025-11-20).
  • Community gaming centreMarked as a community gaming centre on the Province's list.
  • RacetrackHarness racing only; no casino on site.

Casino or Community Gaming Centre: BC Venue Labels

The Island by Ferry

By car, a trip to the Island casinos from the mainland includes a BC Ferries sailing. Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay takes 1 h 35 min, and Tsawwassen to Duke Point takes 2 h 0 min. Heading back, Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay runs 1 h 42 min. Travellers with a vehicle going from Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay must book and pay in advance.

A one-way direct sailing also runs from Tsawwassen to Departure Bay on select dates. There is no return sailing on this route.

Casino Nanaimo sits 3.3 km from Departure Bay and 3.2 km from Duke Point, in a straight line. Elements Casino Victoria is 26.4 km from Swartz Bay, measured the same way, not by road. The Vancouver Island page has the rest.

  • Tsawwassen → Swartz Bay1 h 35 min
  • Tsawwassen → Duke Point2 h 0 min
  • Departure Bay → Horseshoe Bay1 h 42 min

Vancouver Island casinos and the ferries there

Sloane Carrick holding a ferry boarding pass; tag: Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay: 1 h 35 min

Which Clock

British Columbia made its last clock change on March 8, 2026. On November 1, 2026, the clocks stay where they are. The province now keeps Pacific time (PCT) all year, seven hours behind UTC, the same offset it used for summer daylight time. PCT replaces the PST and PDT labels.

Cranbrook and the East Kootenay stay aligned with Alberta on MDT (UTC-6), one hour ahead of the rest of BC. Casino of the Rockies keeps its hours in local Mountain time. Dawson Creek and Fort St. John stay on Mountain Standard Time, UTC-7, which now matches the rest of BC. Venue hours in this guide are local time, as each venue publishes them. The Clocks page explains the quirk in more detail.

Pacific time

PCT

UTC−7 all year · most of BC

Cranbrook

MDT

UTC−6 all year · one hour ahead

BC time change: casino hours and the clocks

Back on the Track

Live harness racing returned to British Columbia on Sunday, September 27, 2026, with the first meet at Desert Park Raceway in Osoyoos. Race dates are subject to change. Desert Park Raceway is licensed by the Independent Gambling Control Office (IGCO).

That return follows the end of racing at two older tracks. Thoroughbred racing at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver, run since 1889, ended on December 5, 2025, and there is no live racing there in 2026. Fraser Downs in Surrey, home to harness racing since 1976, closed on August 15, 2025.

Race dates at Desert ParkOfficial race calendarset by the track · subject to change

Desert Park Raceway: harness racing in Osoyoos

How late the doors stay open

Elements Casino Victoria runs to 4 AM on Friday and Saturday and to 2 AM on other nights. Treasure Cove Casino keeps one schedule all week, 9 AM to 2 AM. In Kelowna, Playtime Casino Kelowna stays open to 2 AM from Wednesday to Saturday. Chances Casino Kelowna reaches 2 AM from Thursday to Saturday, and both close at 1 AM otherwise.

Several more venues hold their doors open to 2 AM on Friday and Saturday. Casino Nanaimo closes at 1 AM from Sunday to Thursday. Cascades Penticton, Lake City Vernon, Cascades Kamloops and Chances Prince Rupert close at 12 AM on those same nights.

Shorter weeks belong to Chances Squamish and Chances Dawson Creek. Squamish closes at 9 PM Monday to Thursday and 8 PM on Sunday, then stays open to 1 AM on Friday and Saturday. Dawson Creek is closed Monday and Tuesday. This page leaves out holiday hours; the venue's own site carries them.

Who owns the floors

Petroglyph Development Group, wholly owned by Snuneymuxw First Nation, closed its purchase of Casino Nanaimo and Elements Casino Victoria on January 16, 2025. The Nation is its sole shareholder, and all profits go back to the Nation.

Khowutzun Gaming Corporation, wholly owned by Cowichan Tribes, took full ownership and operation of Chances Cowichan on April 1, 2026. Gitxaała Enterprises Corporation, the business arm of Gitxaała Nation, has owned Chances Prince Rupert since February 23, 2025. St. Eugene Mission Holdings, owned by four Ktunaxa communities and the Kenpesq't (Shuswap Indian Band), owns the resort and its casino in Cranbrook. Chances Salmon Arm operates on the land of the Adams Lake Band (Cstelnec), Secwepemc Nation, and thanks the Band for allowing it there.

Elsewhere, Gateway Casinos & Entertainment runs the Cascades casinos in Kamloops and Penticton, Playtime Kelowna and Lake City Vernon. Berezan Hospitality Group runs Chances Salmon Arm and Chances Castlegar. Host local governments and First Nations typically receive 10 percent of a venue's net gaming income.

Playing online from BC

Gambling in B.C. is legal solely when the provincial government operates it. For the government, BCLC manages both casinos and online gambling, and its PlayNow.com is the province's only legal online gambling site. On August 28, 2026, the Independent Gambling Control Office stated that any other online gambling website accepting BC players is operating illegally in BC. Players must be 19 or older, online as well as at the door.

Three spots on this home page hold paid links tagged Ad: the menu, the area beneath the first screen and a place near the end. Each one goes to a privately run online casino. That casino is not PlayNow; the province neither operates it nor grants it a licence. Anyone living in BC who plays on that site gives up every provincial safeguard: neither PlayNow limits nor Game Break covers them, and the IGCO cannot take their complaints. Each click can bring this site a commission, and the partner behind the links may change.

The guide's Online page sets out these rules in more detail.

Questions

Which venue is nearest to Vancouver outside the Lower Mainland?

Chances Squamish, at 48 km from Vancouver in a straight line. Casino Nanaimo is 61 km away, with a ferry crossing in between. These are map distances, not driving distances.

Do BC casino hours change on November 1?

Clocks do not change that day: BC made its last change on March 8, 2026, and stays on Pacific time all year. Venue hours are local time. Casino of the Rockies in Cranbrook keeps Mountain time, one hour ahead of the rest of BC.

Is there horse racing in BC this fall?

Desert Park Raceway in Osoyoos runs harness racing. Race dates are subject to change.

What should I bring to the door?

Carry government-issued photo ID: no one gets into a BC gambling facility without it. Check the venue page too, as some require two pieces of ID. Nobody under 19 is admitted, and staff run IDs against the self-exclusion list.

Is this site a casino?

Independent of any operator, this guide is no casino: nothing can be wagered here, and no accounts exist. Ad marks the paid links on the home page; they point to one online casino partner, and each brings the site a commission. The partner can change.

Where to find help

  • Anyone living in BC who is struggling with gambling, their own or a loved one's, can reach Gambling Support BC for free help, 24/7, at 1-888-795-6111.
  • The call reaches a navigator, who can give help right away, direct the caller to nearby services or arrange a free counsellor.
  • Game Break, the free self-exclusion program, sets a term of 6 months or of 1, 2 or 3 years; it cannot be altered once chosen.

gamblingsupportbc.caGambling help in BC: free, any hour