Casino Gaming at 30 Bay Street
Gateway Casinos Sault Ste. Marie has been operating at 30 Bay Street since 1999. The address is 30 Bay St., Sault Ste. Marie, ON, P6A 7A6 - right in the city, reachable on foot or by car, with free on-site parking so you are not circling the block before you even step inside.
The casino opens every day at 9:00 a.m. From Sunday to Thursday it runs through until 2:00 a.m., and on Fridays and Saturdays play continues to 3:00 a.m. Live table games keep their own timetable, which does not always match the main floor. If you are heading in mainly for blackjack or a poker variant, it is worth checking those hours ahead of time.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Address | 30 Bay St., Sault Ste. Marie, ON, P6A 7A6 |
| Phone | 705-759-0100 |
| Hours (Sun-Thu) | 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. |
| Hours (Fri-Sat) | 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 a.m. |
| Minimum Age | 19 years old |
| Parking | Free on-site |
The minimum age on the casino floor is 19, in line with provincial law for casinos and online casino or sports betting in Ontario. Lottery tickets and in-store sports betting stay at 18, and that split between 18 and 19 does surprise a few visitors, especially guests driving over the bridge from Michigan.
Cash access is straightforward. ATMs sit inside the building, and there is on-site currency exchange, which is practical given how close Sault Ste. Marie is to the U.S. border. For direct questions, the property phone number is 705-759-0100.
Table Games on the Floor
The live table pit at Gateway Sault Ste. Marie focuses on four confirmed table games. Dealers are trained on each title and operate under the posted table-game hours, giving players a mix of classic and specialty card formats.
Current table-game lineup:
- Blackjack
- Three Card Poker 6 Card Bonus
- DJ Wild Stud Poker
- Ultimate Texas Hold’em
Blackjack is the straightforward option: players compare their hand against the dealer, trying to reach 21 or as close as possible without going over. Three Card Poker 6 Card Bonus keeps the three-card base game, then adds a separate wager where payouts are based on the best five-card hand made from both the player and dealer cards combined. Rounds move at a brisk pace, so chips can turn over quickly.
DJ Wild Stud Poker uses a 53-card deck that includes a joker, and that joker plays as a wild card. Ultimate Texas Hold’em borrows the community-card setup that regular Hold’em players already know, but in this format every seat is playing against the house instead of against each other. In both DJ Wild and Ultimate Texas Hold’em, players must put down an Ante bet before the first cards are dealt.
Getting Around the Property
For someone walking into a casino for the first time, the layout can feel slightly off balance. At 30 Bay Street, the floor naturally breaks into two main areas: one section filled with slots and electronic machines, the other focused on live table games. Once that simple split is clear, moving around the property is more intuitive.
On the slots side, play usually follows a short rhythm: insert cash or a printed ticket into the bill acceptor, choose denomination, and start spinning with a button press or the touchscreen. When you are ready to call it a session, press the ticket-out option, take the printed voucher and bring it to a cashier cage or a redemption kiosk.
Live tables run on a different set of habits. Pick a game, watch for the end of a hand, then take a free seat. Place your bills on the felt so the dealer and cameras see the transaction; the dealer will swap them for chips. At Ontario casinos the money is never passed hand-to-hand directly to the dealer, it always touches the layout first, and staff will insist on that routine.
A basic but important reminder: bring government-issued photo ID, especially on a first visit. Door staff routinely check identification and do not make exceptions based on appearance. If they ask, you either present ID or you do not get in.
History and the Regulatory Structure Behind It
Gateway Casinos Sault Ste. Marie opened its doors in May 1999 and has stayed at the same Bay Street location ever since. For a regional casino, that is a fairly long continuous run.
Behind the floor itself sits a layered framework. Two provincial organizations shape most of it, with Gateway handling daily operations. The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, usually shortened to OLG, is the Crown agency that manages gaming conduct and revenue programs in Ontario. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, or AGCO, works separately as the regulator, dealing with licensing, inspections and compliance. Gateway Casinos operates the property at 30 Bay Street on the ground. None of these groups replace each other; they function side by side.
| Entity | Role |
|---|---|
| Gateway Casinos | Casino operator at 30 Bay Street |
| OLG | Ontario Crown agency; gaming conduct and management |
| AGCO | Provincial regulator; licensing and compliance |
| City of Sault Ste. Marie | Host municipality; receives gaming revenue share |
Since the late 1990s, the City of Sault Ste. Marie has collected over $37 million in total host gaming revenue from the Bay Street casino. In the 2024-25 fiscal period alone, municipal figures show $1,780,887 from slots and live table games. Those funds come through Ontario’s host-municipality formula, which ties a portion of casino performance directly back to the city where the property sits.
OLG itself has been part of Sault Ste. Marie life even longer than the casino. Its head office for corporate operations has been based at 70 Foster Drive, Suite 800 since the early 1990s, at a location totally separate from the casino. From that base OLG oversees lottery, casino, online gaming and charitable gaming for the province.
