Pickering Casino Resort registration

Setting Up Your Great Canadian Rewards Account

At Pickering Casino Resort, almost everything starts with Great Canadian Rewards. The loyalty account is the main thing you can set up online before you ever step into the building. Great Canadian Entertainment built that registration flow so Ontario guests - including Pickering - can get identity checks done in advance and skip a chunk of paperwork at the desk when they show up.

Here is how the online sign-up realistically goes:

1. Open greatcanadian.com and look for the Rewards area in the main menu.
2. Hit the join or sign-up button to bring up the form.
3. Type in your full legal name, date of birth, email address, then create a password.
4. From the Ontario locations list pick Pickering Casino Resort as your home property.
5. Move through the identity verification section, which relies on Interac document verification as the KYC step.
6. When the Interac flow asks, upload or confirm your government-issued photo ID.
7. Send the form, then wait for the confirmation message to land in your inbox.
8. On your first trip to the resort, take the same ID and show it at the Rewards desk.

Skipping the Interac piece is not really an option. If you do not complete it, your Great Canadian Rewards profile sits in a limited mode and staff cannot fully activate it at the property. It feels like extra work at home, but from what I saw it is still better than standing in a long line and trying to sort it out on the spot.

One small tip from my side: whenever a loyalty registration involves uploading ID or any document, I try to use a desktop browser instead of my phone. Those upload widgets usually behave more stable there, and you are less likely to lose the whole form because a tab refreshed or a connection dropped.

Poker Room - Phone First, Walk-In Second

The dedicated poker room sits on the third floor and operates all day, every day. Registration there does not tie into the Great Canadian Rewards website. No online form, no app; it is handled either over the phone or by walking up to the desk.

When I tested it, this is how getting into a cash game or tournament worked:

1. Call the poker room on 289-539-0552, extension 8762, at a time that suits you.
2. Speak with the floor staff and ask them to put your name on the waitlist for your chosen game and stake level.
3. Before you call about tournaments, check greatcanadian.com/promotions/weekly-poker-tournaments/ so you are looking at the current weekly schedule.
4. Use the same phone extension to pre-register for a tournament, with your name, contact info and payment method ready.
5. Payment for your tournament seat is taken at the moment you register.
6. Aim to arrive at least 15 minutes before the official start time to lock in your seat.
7. Bring valid government-issued photo ID. Guests under 30, or arriving from outside Ontario, may be asked to produce a second ID as well.

If you prefer just showing up, the poker room desk does accept walk-ins whenever there is space. For events with capped fields, phoning in ahead of time is honestly safer. The phone-based system feels old compared with some other Ontario rooms that let you tap a couple of buttons in an app, but when I called, staff on that extension answered reasonably fast, and since the room runs 24/7 you are not stuck with narrow calling windows.

Hotel Reservation Details

Booking a stay at the hotel is its own track, separate from Great Canadian Rewards and from poker registration. Official check-in time is 4:00 p.m., and check-out is at 11:00 a.m.

Here are the basics I actually needed when I booked:

That CAD 300 per stay is a security deposit, not a separate charge, but it still matters because the hold temporarily reduces the amount you can use on that card. It is worth thinking about this at the moment you book rather than only when you arrive.

You can start your reservation on the official Great Canadian website or by emailing the sales team at [email protected]. The resort also appears on big third-party platforms like Booking.com and Expedia. I noticed that when you use those, the exact deposit rules and price points do not always line up with booking direct, so I ended up comparing both before deciding.

Age and ID - Same Rule Across All Three Paths

Regardless of whether you are registering for rewards, calling the poker room, or reserving a room, the same legal framework applies. To enter the casino floor or take part in any gaming activity in Ontario, you must be at least 19 years old. Doing the online pre-registration does not change that requirement in any way.

You are expected to show valid government-issued photo ID at the entrance. If you are under 30, or visiting from outside Ontario, staff may ask you for a secondary government-issued document on top of your main ID. In practice, acceptable primary documents are usually a passport, a provincial driver’s licence, or a federal identity card. Expired IDs will be turned away; door staff verify you again on site, independent of whatever digital verification you passed through earlier.