Here’s What You Need to Know About the New Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa
Posted on: July 3, 2025, 09:05h.
Last updated on: July 3, 2025, 10:27h.
- New gaming space features 1,500 slot machines and 40 table games
- New hotel and casino in Ottawa opens its doors on Thursday
- Questions remain about Hard Rock digital iGaming license for Ontario
The CA$350 million Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa opens its doors on Thursday, marking a bold new direction for the gaming industry in Canada’s capital.
Doors to the facility open at 1 pm EST.
It’s been eight years since the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLGC) selected Hard Rock as the operator of the property after a procurement process.
Under the Casino Operating and Services Agreement, Hard Rock Casino Ottawa took over the day-to-day operations of OLG Slots at Rideau Carleton Raceway in 2017 as preparations got underway for the new property on the site.
1,500 Slot Machines
Going forward, renovations will begin on the original building, which will be integrated into the new casino at the end of 2025, with additional gaming areas and restaurants.
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa features a full-service hotel, with 150 guest rooms, including 22 luxury suites. The property has more than 150K square feet of entertainment and gaming space, 1,500 slot machines, 40 table games, a high-limit gaming area, and 10 restaurants and bars, including the Hard Rock Café and Council Oak Steaks & Seafood.
What About Hard Rock’s Digital License?
The Quebec firm Scéno Plus, known for designing The Colosseum at Caesars Palace for Celine Dion to Dolby Live in Las Vegas as well as Montreal’s Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, designed the new, 1,900-seat Hard Rock LIVE Ottawa theatre, which opens Thursday with a performance by Canadian composer and pianist David Foster and his wife, American singer Katharine McPhee.
A few months back, we reported that Hard Rock was applying for an iGaming license in the province, based on what an industry source told us. Another senior industry source told Casino.org this morning that it’s their understanding that the push for an iGaming license will begin after the opening of the new land-based casino.
No Sign of License Application
A quick scan of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s license application database on Thursday morning shows no sign of a Hard Rock application for an internet gaming operator license.
Hard Rock’s digital rollout is tied to what happens with the sale of PointsBet in Australia, currently bogged down in a battle royale between Betr Entertainment and MIXI, with the PointsBet board recommending the sale to MIXI while Betr, as majority shareholder in PointsBet, saying the other day it could challenge the takeover shareholder vote in court.
Part of the Betr takeover bid includes selling off PointsBet Canada to Hard Rock.
New 1,900 Seat Theatre
Does Hard Rock go ahead with the iGaming license application if MIXI takes over, with the Japanese company keeping PointsBet Canada in the family if the PointsBet sale goes through?
Buying a customer database makes no sense unless there’s a license application that’s already underway,” an industry source told us in April. “No idea what this means for the current PointsBet Canada team, because ‘Canada’ is just Ontario for now. I know Hard Rock Digital has an office here, but I haven’t heard anything about them launching.”
Casino.org reached out to a media relations representative from Hard Rock Digital for comment but we haven’t heard back yet.
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