Ontario’s regulated iGaming market logged $63 billion in wagers from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, and iGaming Ontario notes the figures are unaudited and exclude promotional wagers such as bonuses. That’s a useful reality check for travel planning because it suggests plenty of Canadians already see gambling as occasional entertainment, so a casino city break can be designed around everything else you actually came to do.
You’ll get more enjoyment, and usually a better next morning, when the casino is a planned stop rather than the default plan once you run out of ideas.
In this guide, we’ll offer a simple pacing rule, six destinations where non-casino fun is easy to line up, and one hotel-room online option for the nights you’d rather stay in.
Make the casino a cameo
Decide in advance that casino time is a cameo. Give it a time slot, treat it like a ticketed show, and then move on. If you want a clean way to stay grounded, look at how iGaming Ontario defines its core metrics. In its FY 2023–24 market performance report, iGaming Ontario says total gaming revenue represents total cash wagers (including rake, tournament fees, and other fees) across operators, minus player winnings derived from cash wagers, and it does not account for operators’ costs or other liabilities. In other words, this is entertainment spend measured at scale, not a clever travel strategy.
So we plan like grown-ups who want a great trip. Keep your casino window short enough that it stays fun, then build the rest of the day around things that feel good even when you’re tired: a standout meal, one activity like slots, and one small reset that helps you sleep well. You’re not taking anything away from the trip; you’re protecting the parts you’ll remember.
Six casino cities, zero pressure
Here’s the trick that keeps the whole article honest: we’re not building an itinerary around casinos. We’re picking places where you can have a casino option, while the city itself already provides the structure.
Las Vegas is the obvious example of variety at scale. Las Vegas hosted about 41.7 million visitors in 2024, according to Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority figures reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which is a good proxy for just how many non-casino options exist on any given night.
Singapore is the neatest example of a casino city that still reads like a classic city break. Singapore Tourism Board reported international visitor arrivals rose 21% in 2024 to 16.5 million, and it framed 2024 tourism spend as record-setting territory. That’s a destination telling you, openly, that food, sightseeing, entertainment, and neighbourhood experiences are the point.
For a closer-to-home option, Niagara Falls works because you don’t need to overthink it. Niagara Falls Tourism states the city welcomes approximately 12 million visitors yearly, within a region that welcomes about 14 million visitors yearly, which is exactly what you want when your goal is simple, happy travel with plenty of built-in momentum.
Use the same build everywhere: three non-casino anchors first, casino cameo second.
- Las Vegas: Food you’ll talk about afterwards; a show or live entertainment block; an easy daytime reset (pool time, spa time, or a low-effort walk); then a short casino visit if you still feel like it.
- Singapore: Hawker-centre dining; one major cultural or architectural stop; an evening neighbourhood stroll; then a casino cameo that doesn’t dictate the whole trip.
- Niagara Falls (Ontario): A classic viewpoint visit; one paid attraction you actually want (choose one, not five); a winery or food stop nearby; then an optional casino window that doesn’t eat the evening.
- Atlantic City: A boardwalk-style walk; a seafood or comfort-food meal; a small local museum or live music set; then casino time as the bonus, not the backbone.
- Macau: A heritage walk and local food focus; one viewpoint or photo-friendly area; a slower afternoon break; then a brief casino visit, planned like an outing.
- Monte Carlo (Monaco): Harbour wandering; people-watching with a coffee; one museum or gallery stop; then a short casino visit as a finish, not a full night.
When you plan the anchors first, you also avoid the most common travel regret in casino cities, which is accidentally spending your best energy indoors.
The hotel-room option: keep gambling contained
Some nights you’re simply done. You’ve walked enough, eaten enough, and you’d rather not change outfits again just to sit under bright lights.
This is where regulated online play can fit a positive, low-effort trip design. Ontario has unusually transparent public reporting here: iGaming Ontario publishes aggregate market performance reporting, including definitions and coverage dates, and it clearly flags when figures are unaudited and exclude promotional wagers.
For an even clearer consumer lens, AGCO and iGaming Ontario commissioned Ipsos to measure market channelization in Ontario’s regulated iGaming sector. Ipsos reports its 2025 results came from an online survey fielded January 30 to February 19, 2025, with 2,003 Ontarians aged 19+ interviewed (a 1,000-person general population sample plus a 1,003-person boost sample of people who gambled online in the past three months), weighted to census parameters. Ipsos states the margin of error is ±2.2 percentage points for the full sample (19 times out of 20), and ±2.6 percentage points among past-three-month online gamblers.
Ipsos found 83.7% of respondents who gambled online in Ontario over the past three months reported wagering on a regulated website, while 16.3% reported wagering only on unregulated websites. That doesn’t tell you what to do on holiday, but it does tell you this behaviour is already mainstream enough that a hotel-room option can be part of a responsible, contained plan, especially when you’re travelling for the destination and want gambling to stay small.
The trip you’ll actually remember
A no-hangover casino city break is really a design choice: anchor the day in food, culture, and one proper reset, then let gambling be a short add-on that never competes for your best energy.
The good news is that destinations themselves are leaning into the full experience. Singapore’s 2024 visitor arrivals hit 16.5 million, and its tourism board spotlighted broad-based spend categories as part of that success, which aligns perfectly with a travel-first approach.
So pick one city, choose your three anchors, and decide your cameo window ahead of time.
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