By Alex Drummond, Editor-in-Chief · August 10, 2026 · Fact-checked by Maya Chen
The Poker Room at Pickering Casino Resort is temporarily closed as the Unifor Local 1090 strike against Great Canadian Entertainment enters its eleventh day. Great Canadian's own guest operations page, last updated on Friday, August 7, lists the Poker Room among the amenities that are temporarily closed or unavailable at Pickering. This is the first Ontario live poker room to be shuttered as a direct consequence of the strike that we first covered on July 31 when nearly 900 workers walked off the job at Casino Ajax and Pickering Casino Resort.
Great Canadian's operational update goes further: the Great Canadian Slot Classic Tournament preliminary heats, which are the qualification path into the tournament's Quarter Finals and eventual final rounds, will not be held at Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto, Pickering Casino Resort, Great Blue Heron Casino & Hotel, or Casino Ajax. That is four of the operator's principal Ontario properties. Players who wish to qualify for the Slot Classic Quarter Finals can still earn a place by playing with a Great Canadian Rewards card between August 1 and August 30 and accumulating 1,500 Tournament Tokens, an alternative path that requires no live in-person heat participation.
What Remains Open, and Where
The four Great Canadian properties in the Greater Toronto Area are affected in different ways. Details as posted by Great Canadian on Friday:
| Property | Overall status | Poker Room | Slot Classic heats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto (Woodbine) | Open 24/7; hotel, casino, restaurants operating as usual; some entrances temporarily affected | Operating | Cancelled |
| Pickering Casino Resort | Open 24/7 with reduced amenities; table games open 12 PM to 4 AM only | Temporarily closed | Cancelled |
| Casino Ajax | Open 24/7; The Getaway restaurant reduced to 12 PM to 8 PM | No poker room | Cancelled |
| Great Blue Heron Casino & Hotel | Open 24/7 | No poker room | Cancelled |
Source: Great Canadian Entertainment GTA Property Access and Operations Updates, last updated August 7, 2026.
Only two of Great Canadian's Greater Toronto Area properties operate live poker rooms in normal times: Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto (which is the province's flagship room and the venue for the WSOP Circuit Toronto when that returns later in 2026) and Pickering Casino Resort. Toronto continues to operate normally. Pickering is the closed one.
The Ajax property does not house a dedicated poker room. Great Blue Heron Casino & Hotel in Port Perry offers table games including some poker cash-game options in normal times, though these are not currently offered at meaningful volume; the property has no cancellation confirmation for its cash-game tables.
The Room That Is Closed: What Ontario Players Are Missing
The Pickering Casino Resort Poker Room typically runs No-Limit Hold'em cash games at stakes ranging from $2/$5 to $5/$10, plus occasional higher-stakes sessions. On typical weekends the room hosts eight to fourteen active tables. Playground Poker Kahnawake in Quebec is the closest large-format alternative for a full-service tournament experience, though a five-hour drive. Rama Casino in Rama, Ontario, remains open with regular cash-game action but is a two-hour drive north from the affected Durham communities.
Ontario players who normally play at Pickering have three practical alternatives during the closure. First, the province's regulated online poker rooms remain fully open and unaffected: GGPoker Ontario, PokerStars on FanDuel, BetMGM Poker, 888poker, PartyPoker, and Bwin are all operating normally. Second, the Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto Poker Room is open and offers the same live cash-game structure at higher volumes. Third, Rama Casino in Rama, Ontario, offers a mid-scale poker room roughly two hours by road from Durham. Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls and Casino Niagara also operate poker rooms and are open for regular business.
Strike Context: Wage Parity With Woodbine
The Unifor Local 1090 strike began at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, July 31 after members voted down a tentative agreement that offered a 14 per cent wage increase over four years. Local 1090 president Greg Weaver stated that the vote to reject was approximately two-thirds against. The union's stated objective is wage parity with the Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto (Woodbine) property, where workers earn between C$2 and C$4 per hour more for equivalent roles. Talks between the parties have not publicly resumed as of Monday morning. Weaver has stated that the strike will continue "for as long as it takes" until wage parity is reached.
The dispute affects approximately 900 workers across two properties, and while the two casinos remain open, staffed by non-Unifor personnel and non-striking positions, both are running with reduced amenity coverage. The Pickering closure of the Poker Room is a specific consequence of the labour situation: the Poker Room requires trained dealers and floor staff who fall within the striking bargaining unit, and Great Canadian has not moved additional dealers into the room from other properties.
Broader industry context is worth noting. Ontario's regulated online poker market posted a record C$91-million quarterly gross gaming revenue in Q4 fiscal 2025-26, a 12 per cent year-on-year increase, according to iGaming Ontario's most recent public disclosure. Ontario's regulated online market has continued growing during the strike, capturing at least some of the demand that would have flowed through the closed Pickering room. The closure is a modest but real transfer of live-room demand to the online product.
WSOP Circuit Toronto Watch
Ontario's live poker calendar retains one significant marker for the second half of 2026: the anticipated but as-yet-unannounced return of WSOP Circuit Toronto to Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto. That series has historically been the Ontario venue for WSOP Circuit ring events. It was absent from the first-half 2026 Circuit schedule that WSOP released in December 2025, and remains absent from the second-half schedule as of publication.
Our previous analysis on the WSOP Circuit Toronto return noted that the individual responsible for the Toronto Circuit stop departed Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto in early 2026, and no replacement has been publicly named. The current strike, which does not affect Great Canadian Toronto's overall operations, does not change the Toronto Circuit calendar directly, though the labour situation across the operator's Ontario network is likely to have delayed any late-summer or fall Toronto Circuit announcement. Great Canadian has publicly declined to specify timing.
Practical Guidance for Ontario Poker Players
Ontario players with plans that involved Pickering Casino Resort Poker Room during the strike should:
- Route to Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto if a live poker session is the priority. Toronto's poker room is operating normally, with the same cash-game structures and slightly higher volumes than Pickering typically hosts.
- Play the regulated online product on GGPoker Ontario, PokerStars on FanDuel, or another Ontario-licensed operator. The WSOP Online 2026 series begins Saturday August 16 with 33 bracelets available and satellite ladders starting at C$1 on GGPoker Ontario.
- Consider the WSOP Super Circuit Canada at Playground Poker Kahnawake, Quebec, opening August 24 (see our Super Circuit preview). GGPoker Ontario's C$3 ladder to a C$5,000 Main Event seat is running now for Ontario players.
- Book Rama Casino or Fallsview if driving is on the table. Rama runs standard NLH and NLHE tournament schedules that are unaffected by the Great Canadian labour dispute.
Great Canadian's guest operations page requests visitors arriving at Casino Ajax or Pickering Casino Resort to arrive by Uber, Lyft or taxi, and to be dropped off before the picket line. Complimentary shuttle services to Pickering Casino Resort are temporarily unavailable. Guests can still park in the multi-level parking garage but may experience delays at entry.
What Happens Next
The Unifor bargaining committee has not disclosed when talks with Great Canadian may resume. The 2022 strike at these same two properties, which ran an eight-day span in late July and early August of that year, ended when the operator returned to the table with a stronger wage package after peak-summer traffic pressure built. The 2026 strike is at day 11 and shows no immediate sign of a similar break. Great Canadian's contract terms with iGaming Ontario for casino-adjacent online product distribution are not affected by the strike; the online-market growth referenced above should continue independently.
Coverage on this site will continue on the strike, the Pickering Poker Room's reopening timing, and the WSOP Circuit Toronto second-half 2026 announcement when made. Any material change in the Great Canadian operations picture will be reported at 9 a.m. or 5 p.m. Eastern.
Ontarians experiencing gambling harm can reach ConnexOntario's free, confidential 24-hour helpline at 1-866-531-2600. Ontario's centralized self-exclusion programme allows players to opt out of all 44 licensed operators via a single registration.