Woodbine Closes Turf Lounge

Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) has announced that it is closing its Turf Lounge operation in downtown Toronto, effective Saturday, September 5, 2015.

Turf Lounge, located at 330 Bay Street, opened in 2003 with the objective of offering horse racing and off track betting in the financial district in an upscale atmosphere while providing a fine dining experience.

“Turf Lounge was a concept that a great number of people worked hard to develop and sustain,” said Sean Pinsonneault, WEG’s Chief Operating Officer. “We sincerely thank all of those individuals for their efforts and support over the last 12 years.”

Scroll to continue with content

The decision to close the restaurant was made after a careful deliberation of strategic priorities at WEG.

“Consistent with our evolving strategy and recent announcements, the focus is to continue building our world-class horse racing and entertainment business,” said Pinsonneault. “We are leveraging our tremendous assets and, with our aggressive expansion of the Champions network throughout the province and the strong customer appeal of our live racing products, wagering trends are exceeding our expectations.”

WEG is working with its loyal racing customers and will be offering an enhanced wagering experience at the Shoeless Joe’s Sports Grill, a Champions location at 276 King Street, just a short walk west from Turf Lounge. There will be expanded floor space dedicated to racing, and more terminals, televisions and racetracks available to watch and wager.

In addition, there are several other Champions Off-Track Betting locations in the downtown core, as well as the newly redesigned HPIbet internet and mobile offerings, ready to serve our passionate racing fans. WEG will be working with them to ensure that they are comfortable exploring the other available options to continue playing their favourite tracks.