Casino Rama: What makes this property the most Instagrammable casino in Canada?

Not all casinos have been designed with aesthetics in mind, but in the age of social media, this might be more important than you think.Casino Rama was recently named the most Instagrammable casino in Canada after it was found to have the most hashtags on the social media platform.At the time of writing, Casino Rama has 26,587 posts with a hashtag related to the resort, whether it’s the straight-up #casinorama or something more specific, such as #casinoramaresort.The research was collected by Lucky Days, an online gambling site, which also listed the hashtags it used to collate the data.Casino Rama took first place but Niagara Fallsview Casino wasn’t too far behind with 23,413 posts, nor was Casino de Montréal with 21,329.Fourth place takes a big dip in numbers, with Caesars Windsor Casino totaling 10,890, all the way down to tenth place – Casino de Mont-Tremblant bringing up the rear with 414 posts.

So, what makes a casino ‘the most Instagrammable’?

Lucky Days CMO Rich Lee said: “Casino resorts are still trendy today thanks to the unique blend of entertainment they can provide.“Visiting a casino gives visitors a real thrill, the likes of which they haven’t experienced before.“The iconic flashing lights and carefully created atmosphere heighten the excitement of the visit.”Looking at the architecture of Casino Rama, it certainly has a unique composition of buildings that were inspired by the stories of the Seven Grandfathers told by band elders of the Mnjikaning First Nation – the owners and operators of the casino.Not only that, but the inside uses round wooden structures to retell the legacy that fishing has on the First Nation.The team at WZMH Architects also built the lobby with high ceilings, large chandeliers and impressive fireplaces to ‘recall the grand halls of traditional country lodges’.This design even went on to win awards, including the 2002 Wood Works Design Award in the Commercial Category.However, this kind of dedication to the architecture is no doubt expensive – with no real way to anticipate how the effort will translate into business revenue.Lee continued: “Social media has a big influence on where people want to visit, so seeing photos of the excitement these casinos have to offer can prove a trigger for some to finally book that special holiday.“Many casinos on this list are in Ontario, and it would be interesting to see whether the increased social media presence on Instagram has increased tourism to the area.”With the average cost to build a medium-sized casino running anywhere between $10m to $20m, it’s no surprise that many owners may want to keep things simple to lower the cost of construction.The results from Lucky Days have posed a unique question though – is it worth it to spend a little more to make a property look good?By becoming the most Instagrammable casino in Canada, Casino Rama has gained a lot of passive marketing through social media by simply being desirable to post online.This creates a great way to expose friends and family to the resort, boosting its reputation by word of mouth.Once a property starts to gain traction this way, it is easy to maintain its popularity by running promotions and even decorating the interior seasonally to create those time-limited posts!However, the building does need to have that baseline aesthetic to even take advantage of this opportunity.Even though Casino Rama was built all the way back in 2002, the commitment to solid architecture has paid off in the future in ways that no one could have expected.Of course, there are already plenty of businesses, such as cafes and even museums, which function with the intention of customers creating content and posting it online to Instagram, X and even TikTok.So, it will be interesting to see whether the gambling industry can cater to this opportunity at all, and if so, just how it manages to pull it off.