The two casinos on Calgary's north edge

ACE Casino Airport sits off Deerfoot Trail and Airport Trail, next to the Clique Hotel. It has no hotel of its own and points guests to Hotel Clique Calgary Airport and Applause Hotel by Clique, steps away. Century Downs is in Balzac, next to the CrossIron Mills shopping mall, 5 km north of Calgary International Airport. The two stand 7.8 km apart in a straight line, a figure that knows nothing about roads.

At a radius of 8 km they make a group of their own. Five casinos, PURE Casino Calgary and Grey Eagle among them, make up another. Deerfoot Inn & Casino and Stoney Nakoda each stand alone. The pair does not link to the rest until a radius of 8.5 km, the straight-line distance from ACE Casino Airport to PURE Casino Calgary. From 9.0 km Deerfoot joins as well, and eight casinos share one group.

ACE Casino Airport covers the live side. Table games run daily 12 PM to 3 AM, and the poker room is open 24/7. That room has 12 tables for No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha and live tournaments. It has its own entrance at the north-west end of the building. Beside 670 slot machines there is the Pulse Arena, a private electronic table lounge.

Century Downs has no live table games and no poker room. Its floor holds over 650 slot machines and VLTs combined, plus fully automated electronic roulette. The rest is horses: live racing on over 60 days across spring, summer and fall, in Standardbred, Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse. An off-track betting lounge sits alongside.

Food follows the same split. ACE Casino Airport has The Kitchen, a nightly buffet, the ACE Sports Bar with a 40-foot TV wall, and a Center Bar. Century Downs has The Derby Restaurant, Celly's Sports Bar and Lounge, The Oaks Lounge and The Starting Gate Food Trailer.

ACE Casino Airport's own pages give Sunday hours in two different ways, so the guide leaves Sunday out. Monday to Thursday it opens 9 AM to 5 AM, and Friday and Saturday run 24 hours. Holiday hours should be checked on the venue's own site.