Sault Ste. Marie is two cities with one name. The Michigan side and the Ontario side face each other across the St. Marys River, joined by the International Bridge, and each one has its own casino. Kewadin Casino sits on Shunk Road on the US side. Gateway Casinos Sault Ste. Marie sits on Bay Street in Canada, a short walk from where the bridge comes down. The drive between them is roughly 3 miles. Short on a map. Not always short in real life, since a border and two kinds of money sit in the middle.
Plenty of locals skip the bridge line on weeknights. Some save their casino trips for weekends and play a few hands at home in between, and a live crypto casino such as BetFury streams real dealers at real tables, with bets placed in digital coins instead of US or Canadian dollars. That setup has its own rules and its own risks (coin prices can swing hard in a single day). But for someone who just wants a quick round of blackjack on a Tuesday night, it takes passports and exchange rates out of the picture.
The two land casinos are a different story. They’re close neighbors, yet they’re built for very different trips.
Kewadin Sault vs Gateway Sault Ste. Marie: The Key Differences
On paper, the two casinos split along a few clear lines. Kewadin, at 2186 Shunk Road, is owned by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and dates back to November 1986. Gateway, at 30 Bay Street, opened in May 1999 and has been run by Gateway Casinos under a contract with OLG since 2017.
The house rules aren’t the same either. Kewadin lets guests gamble at 18 but serves alcohol only to those 21 and older, and every bet is in US dollars. Gateway sets both limits at 19 and works in Canadian dollars.
Then there’s size. Kewadin has a hotel of about 300 rooms, a convention center, a poker room, and a bingo hall. Gateway has no hotel, just a restaurant and a bar next to a compact gaming floor. Casino listings have put Gateway at around 400 slots, while Kewadin’s Sault floor is bigger and serves as the flagship of the five Kewadin properties in the Upper Peninsula. Exact machine counts shift from year to year, so they’re worth checking right before a visit.
Kewadin Sault Ste. Marie: A Tribal Resort on the Michigan Side
Kewadin is owned and run by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. With more than 42,000 members, it’s the largest tribe in Michigan. Its first gaming room opened in November 1986 with just 80 workers and a few blackjack tables. Today the tribe runs five Kewadin casinos across the eastern Upper Peninsula, and the money helps pay for housing, health care, and jobs for its members.
Built for an Overnight Stay
Kewadin is the casino people book a room for. The Sault property pairs its gaming floor with a hotel of roughly 300 rooms and a 25,000-square-foot convention center, so it draws bus tours and wedding parties along with regular players. And it’s getting a facelift. In 2026 the tribe announced a multi-million-dollar upgrade of the hotel and said the casino would stay open while the work goes on. Guests during construction might run into a closed hallway or some daytime noise. That seems like a fair trade for a newer building later.
Gateway Casinos Sault Ste. Marie: A Compact Floor by the Bridge
The Ontario casino opened on Bay Street in May 1999. At the time, it was only the third casino in Ontario and the first one in the province built from the ground up for gaming. For years it carried the OLG name. Then in May 2017, Gateway Casinos (a company based in British Columbia) took over daily operations under a long-term deal with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
The city gets a share. On May 23, 2024, OLG handed the mayor a ceremonial cheque for more than $35 million, the total paid to Sault Ste. Marie since 1999.
The gaming space covers about 35,000 square feet, and there’s no hotel attached. Visitors sleep at downtown hotels or just drive home, which matches how most people use it. A few hours of slots, a meal, done.
Slots, Table Games, and Poker Side by Side
Slots
Both floors are mostly slots, which is normal for casinos this size. Kewadin has more machines and more kinds of them, including video poker and keno. Gateway’s smaller floor can be walked end to end in about ten minutes. Is a bigger slot floor always better? Not really. A player with one or two favorite games will probably find them faster on a tight floor than in a maze of rows.
Table Games
Kewadin’s pit has listed blackjack, craps, and roulette, the classic mix. Gateway’s tables lean on blackjack and roulette, plus poker-style games such as Ultimate Texas Hold’em. Table hours at both can shrink on slow weekdays and shift with the seasons. A quick phone call before the drive is a good habit, especially in winter, when lake-effect snow can shut down plans fast.
Poker and Bingo
Kewadin has run a small poker room and a bingo hall. Gateway has no bingo. So bingo fans don’t have much to think about.
Crossing the International Bridge: Documents, Age Limits, and Money
Every trip between these casinos is an international crossing, with a toll and a customs booth along the way. That’s the real gap between them, much more than the miles.
What to Bring
A driver’s license alone won’t do it. Travelers need a document accepted at a land border, such as:
- a passport book
- a US passport card or a NEXUS card, both made for land and sea crossings
- an enhanced driver’s license, where a state or province still offers one
Wait times jump around a lot. Anyone who’s crossed on a summer Saturday has likely watched the line back up onto the ramp, while a weekday morning can take only a few minutes.
The Age Rules Flip on Each Side
Age limits are the oddest part of this comparison. Kewadin lowered its gaming age to 18 on March 30, 2022, and Ontario’s limit is 19. But Michigan’s drinking age is 21, while Ontario’s is 19.
So take an 18-year-old from the Ontario side. She can’t play at Gateway, three miles from her house. She can cross the bridge and sit down at a Kewadin slot, but she can’t order a beer there. A 20-year-old from Michigan gets the mirror image: he can gamble at home without a drink, or cross into Canada and have both. Kewadin checks ID at each entrance and keeps a log of guests under 21, so nobody should count on slipping past.
Dollars, Exchange Rates, and Taxes
Kewadin pays in US dollars, and Gateway pays in Canadian dollars. A Canadian who wins $2,000 in Michigan brings home US cash, and that day’s exchange rate decides what it’s worth back home. Taxes get trickier. The US can hold back 30% of certain larger wins paid to non-residents, and Canadians may be able to get some of it back by filing a US return. Canada generally doesn’t tax casual gambling wins. Anyone who hits a big jackpot across the river should probably talk to a tax pro before spending it.
Food, Rooms, and Things to Do Nearby
Kewadin is the all-day option, with dining on site, the hotel upstairs, and concerts or comedy in its event space. Gateway keeps it simple. A restaurant and a bar sit right next to the gaming floor, and most visits end there.
One small side note. The best free show in town isn’t inside either casino. It’s the 1,000-foot lake freighters easing through the Soo Locks on the Michigan side, and a lot of casino weekends seem to include an hour on the viewing platform watching one slide past, close enough to read the name on the hull.
Which Sault Casino Fits Which Trip
Think of two diners on the same street. One is a sit-down place with a long menu and rooms upstairs. The other is a quick counter where regulars already know their order. Kewadin is the sit-down place, and Gateway is the counter. Neither one is wrong; they just answer different appetites.
- Kewadin makes sense for an overnight stay, a bigger slot floor, bingo night, or players who are 18.
- Gateway suits a short visit, Canadian-dollar play, and Ontario locals who don’t want to deal with the border at all.
- Players under 21 who want a drink with their cards are better off staying in Ontario.
- Visitors who want to try both can easily do it in one day, as long as they pack a passport and check table hours first.
So which one comes out ahead? For a lot of people who live near the river, it’s both. Just on different nights.
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