What Players Should Know Before Showing Up
Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs is located at 1382 County Road 28 in Fraserville, Ontario. It is a compact racetrack-linked gaming spot that runs daily from 10:00 a.m. to midnight. The property belongs to the Shorelines Casinos family, operated by Great Canadian Entertainment through the Ontario Gaming East Limited Partnership. On the gaming floor there are roughly 150 slot machines.
One detail often catches visitors off guard when they walk in: this site is slot-only. There are no confirmed live table games on the floor. That specifically means no verified blackjack tables at Kawartha Downs itself. If your only reason for driving out is to sit at a blackjack table, it makes sense to change course before you leave home.
The broader Shorelines network does spread blackjack out across other casinos, just not here. Table games such as blackjack, Spanish 21, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, three-card poker, and roulette are offered at sister properties. The closest choice for live blackjack is Shorelines Casino Peterborough at 3800 Fisher Drive, about 45 kilometres from Fraserville. That venue lists around 22 table games and roughly 500 slot machines.
| Shorelines Property | Location | Table Games | Slots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs | Fraserville, ON | Not verified | ~150 |
| Shorelines Casino Peterborough | Peterborough, ON | Yes - blackjack, Spanish 21, more | 500 |
| Shorelines Casino Belleville | Belleville, ON | Yes | Not specified |
| Shorelines Casino Thousand Islands | Gananoque, ON | Yes | Not specified |
If you want to be absolutely sure whether anything has shifted on the Kawartha Downs floor since the last public details, the quickest move is to call 705-939-2400. Team members on site can confirm what is running right now before you spend time and fuel on the trip.
Getting to a Blackjack Table at Shorelines Casino Peterborough
For players in the Kawarthas region who are set on live blackjack, Shorelines Casino Peterborough is the realistic answer. Getting there and into a game is simple, but a little preparation helps.
Before you head out, check table game operating hours. Slot floors and table pits do not always follow identical schedules, and it is easy to assume they do. A short phone call or a quick look at the Great Canadian Entertainment website usually prevents a wasted drive.
At the entrance, you will be asked for valid government-issued photo ID. In Ontario, the legal minimum age for all casino gaming is 19, and that rule has no exceptions.
Once you are through the doors, the table games section is set apart from the bank of slots. Blackjack at Peterborough normally includes standard blackjack tables along with Spanish 21. Take a moment before you sit down to read the posted minimum and maximum bets. Limits move around based on the table, the day, and how busy the room is.
A typical visit tends to fall into a simple pattern:
- Check table games hours on the phone or online before travelling
- Bring government-issued photo ID for age verification at the door
- Walk past the main slot area and into the table games section
- Look at the minimum and maximum limits at the blackjack table you prefer
- Exchange your cash for chips, either directly with the dealer or at the cashier cage
- Hand over your Players Club card if you have one, so play is tracked for rewards
- When you finish, cash your chips out at the cage - payouts are in Canadian dollars
The Kawartha Downs slot venue, by contrast, has no documented cashier cage for tables and no identified table game floor in publicly available information. It is worth keeping that in mind if you are comparing what each site can actually offer for table play.
The Shorelines Brand and How Kawartha Downs Fits In
Great Canadian Gaming introduced the Shorelines brand after it secured the Ontario Gaming East bundle through OGELP. The plan was to focus on regional access: several smaller, local properties spaced across eastern Ontario instead of building a single large destination casino.
Shorelines Casino Belleville was one of the launch properties that carried the new banner first. Kawartha Downs joined the Shorelines group on December 19, 2018, when the slot area reopened under the updated name and branding. Earlier, the location operated under older provincial racetrack-slot frameworks that were common at many Ontario tracks.
Today the slot venue is attached to Kawartha Downs and Speedway, a harness racing track that offers live racing on Saturdays between May and October. That combination of racing and gaming under one roof makes the property a bit different from a straightforward casino floor. Once the racing season winds down, the experience is essentially the slot machines plus the on-site Players Lounge.
The short timeline below picks out some of the more visible dates in the recent history of the property.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 11 (year unspecified) | Shorelines Casino Belleville opens, brand launches in Ontario |
| December 19, 2018 | Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs reopens under Shorelines brand |
| March 7, 2020 | Operations suspended due to COVID-19 public health measures |
| September 28, 2020 | Venue reopens under Ontario Stage 3 framework with capacity limits |
| Pre-2026 | OLG signals closure of Fraserville slot operations by March 31, 2026 |
| 2026 (revised) | OLG reverses closure plan; Kawartha Downs secures agreement to stay open |
The near-closure period created a genuine question mark locally for a time. OLG had stated that the Optional Slots at Racetracks Program lease would close on March 31, 2026 and that it was not planning on an extension. Cavan Monaghan Township was informed it would receive one more year of Municipal Contribution Agreement funding to help manage that change. Later, that position shifted. Kawartha Downs announced that it had reached an agreement with OLG to remain open beyond the earlier shutdown date, which was welcome news for the community that had built up around the racetrack and slot facility.
