Tsleil-Waututh Nation Moves to Buy Vancouver's Hastings Casino

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation's pending acquisition of Hastings Casino in Vancouver would put one of British Columbia's best-known urban gaming floors into First Nations hands for the first time, and it would do so on land that sits squarely within the Nation's traditional territory around Burrard Inlet. The deal, struck with Great Canadian Entertainment, is a notable marker in a broader shift that has seen First Nations move from operating gaming on reserve to acquiring established commercial casinos in major cities.

The two parties announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding in June 2025, then signed a definitive agreement in November 2025 for the Tsleil-Waututh Nation to purchase the casino portion of the business and the casino-related real property interests at Hastings Racecourse & Casino. As of mid-2026 the transaction has not closed; it remains subject to customary conditions and approvals, including from gaming regulators and from the City of Vancouver, which owns the underlying land at Hastings Park.

A first entry into gaming

For the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the purchase would represent a first step into the gaming sector. That distinguishes it from neighbouring nations that have spent years building operating expertise; it also means the Nation is acquiring a going concern rather than constructing a property from the ground up. Hastings Casino has operated in east Vancouver for decades and offers more than 400 slot machines alongside food and beverage service, giving the Nation an established customer base and cash flow from day one rather than the long ramp-up that accompanies a new build.

The site's history adds weight to the symbolism. Hastings Racecourse ended live thoroughbred racing after more than 130 years, with operators citing sustained financial strain, leaving the casino as the commercial anchor of the property. For the Tsleil-Waututh Nation to take ownership of a gaming business on its own unceded territory reframes a site long associated with an industry in decline as an asset under Indigenous control.

How British Columbia's model shapes the deal

Gaming in British Columbia runs through the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, which conducts and manages commercial gaming while private companies operate facilities under service-provider agreements. That structure means an Indigenous buyer steps into a defined regulatory lane rather than negotiating a tribal-state compact of the kind that governs gaming south of the border. Understanding how money flows in that system matters; our overview of Canadian revenue-sharing frameworks lays out how provincial arrangements differ from the U.S. compact model.

The Hastings transaction does not stand alone. It follows a string of First Nations acquisitions across the province and the country, from the Snuneymuxw First Nation's expansion into commercial operations to a wider wave of deals we tracked in our look at B.C. First Nations casino acquisitions. Taken together, these transactions point to a deliberate strategy: rather than wait for greenfield approvals, nations are buying their way into mature, revenue-generating venues.

The Tsleil-Waututh purchase reframes a century-old racing site, now without live racing, as a gaming asset under Indigenous ownership on the Nation's own territory.

The contrast with the United States is instructive. South of the border, a tribe seeking to add gaming must navigate the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, negotiate a compact with the state, and in many cases secure a land-into-trust determination before a single machine can switch on. In British Columbia, the regulatory question is narrower: can the buyer satisfy the province's licensing and integrity requirements as a service provider operating under the British Columbia Lottery Corporation. That difference does not make the Canadian path frictionless, but it does mean the Tsleil-Waututh Nation is contending with commercial and municipal approvals rather than the layered federal-state machinery that governs tribal gaming in the U.S.

It also changes the economics. Because British Columbia conducts and manages gaming centrally and remits a defined share to operators and host communities, the Nation's return will be shaped by that formula rather than by a negotiated revenue-sharing percentage of the kind written into American compacts. The upside is predictability; the constraint is that the ceiling on direct gaming revenue is set provincially rather than at the bargaining table. For a first-time operator acquiring an established floor, that trade-off, steady and defined returns in exchange for a capped share, is arguably well suited to a measured market entry.

What remains before closing

Several approvals still stand between the agreement and a completed handover. Provincial gaming regulators must vet the buyer, and the City of Vancouver's role as landowner gives the municipality a direct say in the property's future, particularly as separate redevelopment discussions have circled Hastings Park. The Nation has signalled it intends to continue pursuing the casino licence through those processes, and the parties have framed the timeline around standard closing conditions rather than any single contested approval.

If the deal closes, the economic case is straightforward. Ownership converts what had been lease and service revenue for outside operators into a direct income stream the Nation can direct toward community priorities, much as gaming revenue has underwritten housing, education and infrastructure for nations elsewhere. It also builds operating capacity that can be redeployed, whether into expanding the existing floor or pursuing further acquisitions. For readers tracking where Indigenous ownership is spreading across North America, our casino directory maps operators and properties by region.

For now, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation's move is best understood as a measured, well-structured entry into an industry its neighbours have already reshaped, distinctive less for its size than for its location on the Nation's own waters and the precedent it sets for First Nations acquiring urban gaming assets outright.