 Adelaide Casino Review — South Australia
Last update: December 28, 2009
Adelaide Casino Review
by
Michael Purse, Dec. 21, 2009
Introduction
Adelaide Casino is a fairly small casino - and the only Casino in South Australia – which opened in 1985. The casino was previously called (prior to 2009) Skycity Adelaide, and is still owned by the Sky City Entertainment Group, which operates most of the casinos in New Zealand.
Sadly, Adelaide Casino has an ever decreasing amount of table games, which are being removed in favour of using the floor space for more pokies (Australian version of slots, usually Video Slots with 20-25 lines and some form of Free Game Feature, traditional reel slots are very rare).
In December 2009, the casino area underwent renovation and additional roulette and blackjack tables were added to the ground floor with low bet limits.
Location
The casino is smack in the middle of Adelaide’s CBD, on North Terrace, one of the four terraces that border the main city blocks. It shares a building with the Adelaide Railway Station, which I understand is quite old and heritage listed. The address is:
Adelaide Casino
North Terrace
ADELAIDE SA 5000
Casino
For table games, Adelaide Casino has blackjack, baccarat, roulette, Caribbean Stud Poker, Three Card Poker, sic bo, big six wheel, craps, Texas hold 'em poker (14 tables), and Casino War. I counted around 100 tables on my last visit.
The entirety of Adelaide Casino is smoke free, as per state law. Other than the smell of alcohol around bars, this makes the air quality significantly better than an average bar. A very small number of outdoor smoking balconies are available on each level of the casino.
Blackjack
The blackjack rules in Adelaide are the standard Australian Blackjack rules. Dealer stands on all 17’s, pays 3-2 on Blackjack, No re-splitting of any pair, double on 9-11, no surrenders, played with 4-8 decks in a continuous shuffling machine, and is played without a hole card. Perfect Pairs is offered as a sidebet paying 30-1 for a ‘perfect’ pair in the same suit, 10-1 in the same colour, and 5-1 for a mixed pair. Blackjack tables are scattered throughout the casino, and there are about 15 of them.
Table limits are generally a $10 minimum up to $500, and $100 up to $5000 on selected tables. As a quick warning, should you receive an ace and an eight and choose to double and receive a 2, (or other similar situation), your standing total will be 11 against the dealer. The dealer will usually inform you of this and in some circumstances the dealer may not be aware of this rule and pay it as if you had a total of 21.
Baccarat
Mini baccarat tables are offered, with the vast majority of tables allowing players to handle/pip the cards. The standard minimum bet is $50, allowing a ‘differential’ of up to $20,000. Ties pay 8-1. $50 tables are generally the No Commission Variant with Banker wins on 6 paid at 1:2, and $100 tables are usually 5% commission on all banker wins. The casino has a separate Baccarat area containing around 10 tables.
Perfect Pairs is offered as a sidebet at the same odds as blackjack, and all tables are fitted with an LCD display of previous hand results and totals. The bet resolution is always taken as the cards result as per the draw table and not the display in the case of a discrepancy.
Roulette
All roulette tables at Adelaide Casino are single-0 tables with limits starting at $2.50, and generally $10 on outside bets. There are approximately 12 roulette tables. Illuminate “number tree” displays are fitted to each table. The bet resolution is always taken as the wheel’s result and not the number display in the case of a discrepancy.
Craps
Australia doesn’t have the same culture as the United States for craps. In Adelaide they have a single table which is open on Friday and Saturday nights from about 8pm to 3am. Minimum bet on the line is $5, with maximum 2x odds.
Hops pay 15-1 and 30-1, and 12 on the Field pays 2-1. The Adelaide Casino craps table has the worst payout table in Australia, compared to Sydney which offers 16-1 and 32-1 on hops, at the cost of having a $10 minimum line bet.
Caribbean Stud
Usually I wouldn’t note anything for Caribbean Stud, except in Adelaide it’s played with a $2.50 Jackpot Bet across four tables which starts at a seed of $250,000 and pays $250 for a Flush, $375 for a full house, $1250 for four of a kind, 10% for a straight flush and 100% for a royal flush. Minimum bets start at $5. These tables also have horrible shuffling machines that jam frequently.
Texas Hold 'Em
Adelaide has 14 tables, generally open from 6pm-4am each day, offering 2/4 and 4/8 Limit games as well as 1/2 NL, 2/3 NL, and 5/5 NL. Once a month they offer a 10/20 NL game. The poker pit is usually full on most days, and waits of 30 minutes to 2 hours are not uncommon.
Rewards Program
Adelaide Casino offers an Action Card, which generally entitles you to 10% off at Restaurants in the complex, and about 0.5% of all play on Pokies back as comp points which can be used at restaurants and bars, or exchanged for cash. They don’t disclose the table gaming comp rate, unfortunately. Higher tier cards pay 0.55% and 0.6% respectively.
VIP Gaming Programs are offered by the casino Grange Room. Tables in the Grange Room have limits generally starting at $100. Invitation to the Grange Room usually requires you to be an international player agreeing to purchase $10,000 of chips in advance, or being a VIP Room member of any other Casino which can be verified. Maximum bets are generally up to $50,000 with pre-arranged limits available upon application through a VIP Gaming Host.
The comp rate for VIP Members varies depending on whether you are a domestic or international player, and can vary between 0.6% and 0.8%, generally paid as 0.1% meal and accommodation comps, and 0.5-0.7% cashback.
Hotel
Strangely Adelaide Casino does not offer accommodation at all, but there are hotels directly next door and across the street, which I understand they have agreements with for VIP Gaming Clients.
Restaurants and Bars
Adelaide Casino has three eateries and several bars. I personally have not visited the buffet, however the meals at the Bistro were very good for their price, with most meals ranging from $5-10, and consisting of general Australian fare that you’d find at a pub.
Their flagship restaurant North, is above average but so is the price, with mains running about the $40 mark, you can find better meals along Rundle Street for half the price. Bar prices tend to be very expensive throughout the casino, but drinks service is generally complementary on all but lowest limit tables, and generally drinks cost the token amount of $1 otherwise through drink staff.
Other Notes
Unfortunately, the cashiers at Adelaide Casino are “McDonalds Style” with individual queues for each cashier window. The player club line and Poker line is “Wendys Style” with one line for multiple windows.
There is ample parking near the casino in Council operated car parks. The day rate usually runs at about the $18 mark. Casino Valet parking is usually available free of charge if you play the table games and ask for a Valet voucher for your next visit.
Pokies payout vouchers are usually issued if your win is over $300. My understanding is that these have no expiry. Generally, there’s no documentation that needs to be filled out for any cash out amount however you need to provide Photo Identification for amounts in excess of $10,000 for AUSTRAC Money Laundering tracking.
Australian residents pay no taxation on gambling winnings. Taxation is levied on casino profits only (usually at a rate in excess of 60%). I would suggest checking out your home country taxation requirements.
Go to casinos of Australia.
Go to casinos of Macau.
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