Ontario puts its money on massive new casino at Niagara Falls

By SUSAN GLASER
Newhouse News Service

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NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario — I'm sitting in the lobby of the extravagant Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort, and I can't quite get over the irony:

It took this gleaming goliath to gambling to revive interest in one of the world's true natural wonders.

And revive it has.

Within a half-mile of this stunning structure have sprouted nearly a dozen other high-rise hotels — a Hilton, a Sheraton, a Marriott and more, all built within the past dozen years, in anticipation of the crowds that would come once the casino doors opened.

June marked the debut of this crown jewel of the region's renaissance — owned by the Ontario government and run by a consortium headed by the Hyatt hotel chain — with dozens of shops, restaurants and miles of marble flooring.

The casino, at 200,000 square feet, is larger than any venue in Las Vegas. The Fallsview would fit in nicely along that desert strip.

More information Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort: 888-888-1089 or www.discoverniagara.com/fallsviewcasino/

Here, however, it's a destination unto itself (not to mention a whole lot more comfortable, thanks to the cooling effect of the massive waterfall).

The city's first casino, Casino Niagara, in the old Maple Leaf Village amusement park complex, was designed as a temporary gaming site until the resort was built.

A year ago, however, the government decided the city could make money at both, so shuttles now run nonstop between the two spots, about a mile apart.

Aside from a shared bus service, however, there's little comparison between the two.

The Fallsview resort is designed to evoke the grand scale of Europe's Belle Epoque period at the turn of the 19th century. Cascading levels of fountains lead to an exterior glass archway that funnels into the grand glass atrium, a bright space filled with onlookers and a giant water sculpture.

Other resort amenities include a full-scale spa and indoor pool, and the 1,500-seat Avalon Ballroom, which is welcoming performers such as Melissa Manchester, Kenny Rogers and Alanis Morissette.

The resort, with its 30-story hotel, sits on a 23-acre site atop Murray Hill and offers spectacular views of both the Canadian and the American falls.

All but a handful of its 368 rooms offer good views of one or both falls.

The resort's massive casino space is separated into nine "neighborhoods," demarcated by changes in the intricate coffered ceiling. I must confess that I didn't notice these distinctions as I roamed the place, home to 3,000 slot machines and 150 gaming tables. It's a huge space, though easily traversed and with plenty of room to move among the machines, the barmaids, the tables and the gamblers.

At one end of the expanse is the Salon Privé — roughly translated as the room for rich folks — and it's open to all, even us gawkers who want to see what kind of people can afford to bet $100 on a single hand.

For the more economically minded, table minimums elsewhere in the casino start at $5 (roughly $3.70 U.S.).

At another end of the gambling floor is the resort's Grand Buffet, which offers a huge variety of food throughout the day.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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