Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs Canada Review

What the Venue Actually Offers

Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs is located at 1382 County Road 28 in Fraserville, Ontario, about 17 kilometres south of Peterborough. The slots floor is built into the larger Kawartha Downs and Speedway complex, which also runs standardbred harness racing and simulcast wagering on the same property. It is worth making this clear from the start: you will not find table games, a poker room, or a sportsbook here. If you want that full mix, Shorelines Casino Peterborough is the closer and more suitable alternative.

Third-party listings generally quote around 450 electronic gaming machines on site, starting from one-cent denominations. The venue itself does not publish an official count, so treat that figure as a solid ballpark, not a hard promise. What is confirmed is the schedule: the slots floor runs every day, throughout the year, from 10:00 a.m. until midnight. Older references still calling it a 24/7 operation simply have not been updated.

Food-wise, the on-site option is the Player’s Lounge and Cafe. It is a straightforward spot attached to the gaming floor, covering basic meals and snacks rather than a full restaurant lineup. There is no online casino under the Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs name; this is strictly a physical venue.

How Playing Here Actually Works

Our team has been through a number of similar Ontario slots facilities, and Kawartha Downs follows the familiar pattern you see across OLG-regulated locations.

You drive in to Fraserville, pull into the parking area for the complex, then follow the signs toward the Shorelines Slots entrance. Bring government-issued photo identification with you. Ontario law sets the minimum age at 19, and staff do check. You can put cash straight into the machines or handle it at the payout counter first. With one-cent denominations available, managing your spend and stretching out a session is very doable.

At the machine, you set your bet per spin and start playing. Most cabinets have an auto-play function, so you can let it run instead of hitting the button every time. When you cash out, the machine prints a TITO ticket, which you either take to a cashier or to a self-service redemption kiosk. Floor staff are around to step in if a ticket jams, a screen freezes, or you are just not sure what to press next. Calling ahead at 705-939-2400 before you head out is also an option if you prefer to clarify things in advance.

PlaySmart responsible gambling materials are available on the floor, in line with OLG rules for every regulated venue in the province. That covers things like information brochures and access to tools for setting limits.

One small but practical point: weekends and live race days change the feel of the place quite a bit. Parking fills up faster than people expect for a venue of this size, and moving around the complex takes longer. If you are planning to play during those busier windows, showing up a bit earlier tends to make the visit smoother.

Racing and Simulcast Wagering - A Separate Thing

Harness racing and simulcast betting at Kawartha Downs are run as their own operation, even though they share the same property with the Shorelines Slots floor. Same address, different regulatory setup. You can combine both in one outing, and that mix of slots plus live racing is one of the more distinctive angles this site has compared to other Shorelines-branded locations.

Simulcast betting lets you wager on races streamed in from tracks across North America. The live racing calendar is seasonal, not year-round, so checking kawarthadowns.com first is usually smart if live racing is your main reason for driving out.

The simulcast area sits apart from the slots space. You walk into that section, watch the race cards and odds on the screens, then place bets at either a staffed window or a self-serve terminal. Available bet types typically include win, place, show, exacta, trifecta, along with others that depend on the program that day. After you place a wager, you receive a printed ticket, watch the race on the simulcast feed, and cash the ticket at the window if it hits.

From our reviews of similar racetrack-casino hybrids in Ontario, the overlap between racing bettors and slot players is smaller than it looks from the outside. Some visitors absolutely use both sides of the complex. Others treat it as either a dedicated race day venue or a low-key local slots room, and never mix the two.

Ownership, Regulation, and a Near-Closure in 2025

Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs operates under a Casino Operating and Services Agreement that ties the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) to Ontario Gaming East Limited Partnership. Great Canadian Entertainment - previously known as Great Canadian Gaming Corporation - owns 90.5% of that partnership and is responsible for everyday operations at the property.

Before that shift, the site ran as OLG Slots at Kawartha Downs when OLG handled the operations directly. In 2015, Great Canadian took over OLG’s East Gaming Bundle, which included Kawartha Downs, OLG Casino Thousand Islands, and a proposed casino in Belleville. The current Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs branding followed in early 2016.

In October 2025, OLG stated it would not renew its lease with Great Canadian at Kawartha Downs, aiming to wind down operations by March 31, 2026. The reaction was immediate: local government, racing groups, and staff all raised concerns about jobs, racing, and the broader impact on the community. By December 2025, OLG had stepped back from the closure plan. A GlobeNewswire note confirmed that positions at the site were preserved and that Great Canadian was working with OLG and the property owner on a longer-term agreement.

Under the existing arrangement, the Township of Cavan Monaghan receives non-tax gaming revenue payments from OLG every quarter. A 2024 update cited a fourth-quarter payment of $72,868 to the township, not a huge figure but steady and predictable.