Close Quarters / How this works
How Close Quarters measures distance
Checked October 8, 2026By the Map Room
Each of the nine casinos gets one map point, and a radius slider joins points within reach into groups. The numbers are straight lines between points, so they say nothing about roads, driving or transit time.
Where the points come from
Every casino on the map has one point, taken from OpenStreetMap. The point is either the building outline or the casino node. Each casino page links its own point, so a reader can check where the guide put it.
Distances between points are computed with the haversine formula on a sphere of radius 6,371.0088 km. The result is a straight line from one point to another, as the crow flies. Every distance on the site, from the central trio outward, comes from that one calculation.
None of it is a road distance. Crows pay no attention to interchanges, one-way streets or Deerfoot Trail, and neither does this map. A figure says nothing about how long a drive or a transit ride takes.
How the groups form
Two casinos fall into the same group when they stand within the chosen radius of each other, in a straight line. A chain counts too: if A is close enough to B, and B to C, all three share one group. The slider on the home page runs from 0.5 km to 70 km and starts at 3 km. The browser remembers the last radius chosen.
At 3 km, Cowboys Casino, Elbow River Casino and ACE Casino Blackfoot form one group, which the site calls the central trio. Each of the other six stands alone. At 8 km the map shows four groups. Cowboys, Elbow River, ACE Blackfoot, PURE Calgary and Grey Eagle make the first. ACE Casino Airport and Century Downs make the north pair, while Deerfoot Inn & Casino and Stoney Nakoda each stand alone.
From 8.5 km the north pair joins the central group. Then Deerfoot Inn & Casino joins at 9.0 km, and eight casinos share one group. Stoney Nakoda, off Highway 40 towards Kananaskis, joins only at 61.6 km in a straight line.
How hours are kept
Opening hours come from each casino's own pages. The guide keeps them as weekly time ranges in Calgary time, the America/Edmonton time zone. The open-now marks are worked out in the reader's own browser.
Holiday hours are not covered, and they should be checked on the venue's own site. Where a casino's own pages give two different versions of its hours, the guide leaves that figure out rather than pick one. ACE Casino Airport is the case in point. Its pages give Sunday hours in two different ways, so the site shows neither.
Venue facts on this site were checked on October 8, 2026. The guide is signed collectively as the Map Room, with no personal byline. Its sources are each casino's own pages, the AGLC casino directory and news reports, and every check is dated. A map coordinate rarely moves; an opening time can.
What the map cannot tell you
The guide knows nothing about road layouts, traffic or parking queues. Two points can sit close together in a straight line and still be separated by a route that loops well away from both. The map will not mention it. It also knows nothing about how busy any casino is, at any hour.
No casino here is ranked, scored or called better than another. Close Quarters is an independent guide, not a casino. It takes no bets, has no accounts and no cashier, and is not affiliated with any venue or operator.
Questions
Why straight lines and not driving distances?
A straight line between two map points is a fixed figure that anyone can check from the linked points. The guide knows nothing about road layouts or traffic, so it gives no driving or transit times. Routes and travel times are left to the reader's own route planner.
How often are venue facts checked?
Every check is dated. The venue facts on this site were checked on October 8, 2026, against each casino's own pages, the AGLC casino directory and news reports.
Why do some hours say not published?
When a casino does not publish a figure, the guide does not guess one. Elbow River Casino, for example, publishes no separate table-game hours. Where a casino's own pages give two versions, as ACE Casino Airport does for Sundays, the figure is left out as well.