Rideau Carleton Shuts Horse Racing After 60 Years

Rideau Carleton Raceway shuts horse racing after 62 years. Ontario players shift to online bets on BetMGM, bet365. Explore iGaming options now.

Ben Stevenson

Co-founder & Lead Researcher

Apr 13, 2026

Published

Apr 16, 2026

Updated

1 min

Read Time

139

Words

Rideau Carleton Raceway shuts horse racing after 62 years. Ontario players shift to online bets on BetMGM, bet365. Explore iGaming options now.

Source: Canadian Gaming Business — April 07, 2026

Rideau Carleton Raceway in Ottawa ends harness racing. Hard Rock Casino pulls the plug after 62 years. This marks the latest blow to Canada’s shrinking horse racing sector.

Players feel the pinch. Live betting on horses at Ontario tracks dwindles. OLG slots and casino floors remain, but wagering volume drops. National trends show more closures. Quebec’s Hippodrome 3R fights on, but Alberta and others already shuttered. Ontario’s regulated iGaming market absorbs the shift. Bet365, BetMGM and FanDuel fill the gap with horse racing markets online. Offshore sites like Pinnacle keep options open for all provinces.

Horse racing’s decline accelerates casino-only venues. Check iGO-approved operators for reliable horse bets. Call ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 if gambling pressures mount.

This editorial commentary is produced by CanadaCasinos.io. Read the full story at Canadian Gaming Business.

About the author

Ben Stevenson

Co-founder & Lead Researcher

Ben co-founded CanadaCasinos.io with Matt Denney. Alongside the site, he runs his own technical support and research company in the packaging industry. Packaging is work where customers only come back if you read their specs carefully, understand the compliance rules, and handle problems honestly when they come up. He runs CanadaCasinos.io with the same approach. Ben doesn't gamble. He doesn't play slots, bet on sports, or hold casino accounts outside the ones he opens to test operators for this site. He'd rather not be a regular player while running a review site about regular players. On money: CanadaCasinos.io is an affiliate publisher. When a reader signs up to an operator through a link on a review or listing page, the site earns a commission from the operator, at no extra cost to the reader. That commission funds the writing, research, and hosting. It does not buy editorial ratings. Paid placement is allowed on listing pages and is labelled wherever it appears. Full details are on the affiliate disclosure page. Ben owns the site's research methodology and the rule that every factual claim on the site links to a primary source.