Sat, Apr 13, 4:43am by Charlotte Lee
Last Updated Tue, Oct 8, 12:36am
Adelaide Casino in South Australia is built on the edge of the city centre of Adelaide. The casino and entertainment centre, run by the Skycity group, removed the Skycity moniker and changed the name of the complex to Adelaide Casino in 2009 in part to better identify the property with the surrounding city.
The casino section of the complex is built in the Adelaide Railway Station, a historic location that helps visitors to the area locate the gambling venue and other entertainment features of the property. Because South Australia’s population is fairly small, and the territory’s casino industry is not all that large, Adelaide Casino is the area’s one licensed major gambling venue. Adelaide is the territorial capital. The government of South Australia plans to leave Adelaide Casino as the only site in the state with a table gaming license. For the time being, this property holds a monopoly big-scale gambling entertainment in the area.
South Australia takes up a big chunk of the southern portion of the country, and is the only Australian territory to border all the other Australian federal states on the mainland. Size-wise, SA is one of the biggest federal territories in the country, though South Australia is not large in terms of population. As of the last census, only 1.6 million Australians call the territory home. With only 8% of Australia’s population living in the territory, it’s no surprise that Adelaide is the only casino site in operation.
Over 100 casino table games (giving the casino one of the biggest collections of classic games in all of the nation) and just over 1,000 electronic gambling machines make this casino site big compared to other betting halls in Australia. Because Adelaide Casino is such a large property, combined as it is with a hotel and entertainment centre, the fact that the casino-resort is a top-ten employer in the territory should come as no surprise.
Located on North Terrace, a section of the city recently widened to allow easy access by tram line, the Adelaide entertainment centre is an easy trip by car, via multiple forms of public transit, and when riding the tram lines connecting the complex to the surrounding city of Adelaide.
The casino floor set aside for table games, Marble Hall, has recently been renovated to include areas for a wine bar, a tapas restaurant, and a large chandelier made by hand and set with thousands of crystals. This part of the casino is located immediately inside the door and is home to more than 100 tables dedicated to traditional and unique table-based casino titles. The large gaming floor at Adelaide is home to two versions of baccarat (a standard size and a miniature version), multiple variants of blackjack (including Pontoon), big wheel, casino-style poker (including Caribbean Stud and Casino War),and three variations of table-based roulette (Euro, American, and French rules). A collection of electronic versions of table games is available as well, such as Rapid Roulette and Rapid Baccarat.
Further on inside the casino proper is a large series of banks of pokies, video poker machines, and electronic skill games. Many of the gaming machines are set up for linked jackpots. Fans of pokies and other gambling machines can choose from over 1,000 different titles, some located centrally with other machines, others dotted across the floor in special banks of games, sometimes broken up by manufacturer. For example, fans of Australian designer Aristocrat will find a large grouping of their titles set apart from the other pokies and video poker games for easy access.
Adelaide Casino, unlike many of the nation’s larger gambling venues, operates a poker room. This sort of head-to-head poker play is uncommon in Australia – Adelaide Casino’s ring games and poker tournaments occur on a daily basis. Check the website for a schedule of tourney times and available ring game offerings. On an annual basis, the casino hosts the Adelaide Poker Tournament where some of the country’s best poker players compete for a prize pool in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. While some Australian gaming venues are content to offer just one style of poker, Adelaide Casino’s poker are hosts three variants each day – Texas Hold ‘Em, Omaha, and Crazy Pineapple. Buy-ins to cash games and tourneys vary from AUD $40 to $2,000 depending on what time of day you enter the poker room and the specific table you choose to play at.
Three restaurants are available twenty-four hours a day – the signature restaurant North and its contemporary menu featuring seasonal produce and South Australian wines, the Casino Buffet offering a variety of world cuisines with easy access from the gambling floor, and Café Junction providing Aussie-style meals on-the-go and other items prepared quickly to order. Five bars, each with their own identity, include the Chandelier Bar focusing on the best of Australia’s wine industry (located under the large chandelier in the Marble Room), Loco, the signature bar on the property where Adelaide citizens and international visitors to the casino mingle, and Express Bar with convenient service for casino customers.
The Adelaide Casino is the only centre for casino gambling and poker play currently open in Adelaide or the surrounding territory. South Australia’s small population, including a territorial political party organized around attempting to shut down casino gambling in SA, is partly responsible for the fact that this casino is the only large-scale gaming operating in the state. Adelaide Casino, built right on the tip of capital’s central business district and easy to access by tram or by car, is an easy find for tourists and other visitors to South Australia’s capital city.
