Sydney’s Two Casinos and How to Choose Between Them

Updated September 2026

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Sydney runs exactly two licensed land-based casinos: The Star Sydney in Pyrmont and Crown Sydney in Barangaroo. They sit less than three kilometres apart along the harbour, but the experience on offer at each is fundamentally different. The Star is the broader entertainment complex — Australia’s second-largest casino by gaming floor, a 40-table poker room, three theatres, and a gaming floor that runs around the clock. Crown is a six-star luxury tower with table games only, no poker machines, and a members-only floor that closes at 4am on most nights.

This page lays out what each venue actually offers, what it costs to get in, and which one fits which kind of visit.

Data current as of 3 September 2026, verified against the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) licence register and the venues’ own published conditions of entry.

Why Sydney Has Two Casinos — and Which One Fits Your Visit

The New South Wales government has licensed two casino venues in Sydney, and only two. Both operate under the Casino Control Act (NSW). Both are supervised, in different ways, by the NICC. Beyond that, the venues diverge sharply — in scale, in the games on offer, in who can walk in unannounced, and in the kind of night a visitor walks away with.

The right pick depends on what you’re after. A poker tournament, a pokie session, or a 2am game? The Star. A harbour-view stay, a tasting menu, and an evening of baccarat? Crown. A mixed group with both interests? Split the visit, or pick the one whose centrepiece matches the reason you came.

The Star Sydney at a Glance

The Star is the longer-established of the two venues and the broader gaming floor by a distance. It is the second-largest casino in Australia after Melbourne’s Crown, with around 1,490 electronic gaming machines sitting at the maximum permitted under its licence and more than 140 table games across blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, sic bo, pai gow, three card poker, pontoon, Caribbean Stud and Casino War.

The Star’s hotel is the Forbes five-star Darling, with 351 rooms and more than 20 dining options across the complex. The entertainment footprint is unusually large for an Australian casino: the 2,000-seat Sydney Lyric Theatre, the 360-seat Foundry Theatre, and — until January 2025 — the 3,000-seat Event Centre, which Star Entertainment sold to Foundation Theatres for $60 million to shore up its balance sheet.

The 40-table poker room is Sydney’s only casino poker venue. Cash games run daily from 10am to 4am, with No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha from $2/$3 stakes and rake capped at $20 for those games. The Star hosted the World Poker Tour Australia festival across September and October 2025, with 32 trophy events and an estimated $10 million in prize money.

Regulatory context matters here. The Star has been under an independent special manager appointed by the NICC since 2022, and that supervision remains in place. FY25 venue revenue was $685 million, down 21.9% on the prior year, and Star Entertainment Group posted a group-wide statutory net loss of $471.5 million for the same period.

Crown Sydney at a Glance

Crown Sydney is the newer venue and the smaller casino, built into a 75-storey tower that rises more than 270 metres above Barangaroo and counts as Australia’s sixth-tallest building. The hotel — Crown Towers Sydney — runs to more than 340 rooms and suites and is positioned as the city’s only six-star luxury property.

The defining structural difference from The Star is on the gaming floor. Crown Sydney operates table games only — no poker machines, anywhere on the premises. NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed in June 2025 that the government does not intend to allow Crown to operate slot machines, citing a ten-year precedent and the original licence conditions. If pokies are part of what a casino visit means to you, Crown is not the venue.

What Crown offers instead is a tightly curated experience. The gaming floor is members-only and centres on two VIP rooms — the Crystal Room and the Mahogany Room — with twelve private Sky Salons on levels 28 and 29 for the highest-stakes play. All play is carded: every member and guest uses their membership card or a temporary guest card at every table.

Outside the gaming floor, Crown’s signature facilities are its 45-metre heated infinity pool on Level 5 overlooking Sydney Harbour, its spa with exclusive La Prairie and Subtle Energies partnerships, and its restaurant line-up led by Oncore by Clare Smyth — the chef’s only Australian restaurant.

Crown opened its first gaming floors in early August 2022, sixteen months after the tower itself was completed. The venue is owned by Blackstone, which manages more than $1 trillion in assets globally.

Where They Sit in Sydney

The two venues sit on opposite sides of the harbour’s western edge, roughly a ten-minute drive apart.

The Star anchors Pyrmont’s entertainment district at 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009. The Star City Light Rail station sits adjacent to the complex, and Darling Harbour wraps around it. From the CBD it’s a short light-rail ride or a fifteen-minute walk from Town Hall station.

Crown rises at 1 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo NSW 2000. Wynyard station is the nearest rail link, a few minutes’ walk through the Barangaroo precinct. The Barangaroo ferry wharf is close by for harbour arrivals, and the venue sits within walking distance of the western end of the CBD via the Walsh Bay promenade.

What Each Venue Is — at a Glance

The Star is a casino-led entertainment complex. The gaming floor is the centre of gravity, and everything else — theatres, restaurants, hotel — orbits around it. The venue is larger by gaming count, runs 24/7, and carries a broader entertainment programme.

Crown is a hotel-led luxury tower. The casino is one component of a high-end resort, sized down by design — no pokies, no poker room, a members-only gaming floor with shorter hours — and the rest of the property leans into the harbour setting, the dining, and the wellness facilities.

Both are licensed venues under NSW law. Both carry NICC oversight, in different forms. Neither operates online.

Beyond the Gaming Floor: What Each Sydney Casino Actually Offers

A casino visit in Sydney is rarely only about the tables. The Star and Crown are full resort properties with accommodation, dining, nightlife, and wellness facilities that often matter more to a visitor than which side of the harbour the blackjack felt like.

Accommodation: Staying at the Casino

The Star’s hotel is the Darling, a Forbes five-star property with 351 rooms. It sits within the broader Pyrmont complex, steps from the gaming floor and the theatres, and is the venue that suits visitors who want a casino-centric stay where the floor is the main event.

Crown Towers Sydney is the headline hotel — a six-star luxury property running to more than 340 rooms and suites across the venue’s 75 storeys. The positioning is different: the hotel is the destination, the casino one of its features. Harbour-view rooms sit at the upper end of the tower, and the infinity pool on Level 5 is unique in Sydney. The hotel suits visitors who want a luxury Sydney stay with a casino as one option among several.

Dining: From Buffet to Fine Dining

Dining is where Crown Sydney pulls clearly ahead in range-at-the-top, and where The Star wins on breadth.

Crown’s flagship is Oncore by Clare Smyth, the chef’s only Australian restaurant. Smyth described the move plainly: “Australia has some of the world’s most extraordinary produce and food culture. The energy here is incredibly dynamic.” The rest of the venue’s fine-dining line-up — Woodcut, A’Mare, Teahouse — covers Italian seafood, modern Australian, and high tea in a setting where harbour views do most of the work.

The Star’s strength is the count: more than 20 dining venues, ranging from the Harvest Buffet through mid-range restaurants to high-end options. A visitor who wants flexibility across a multi-day stay, or who is travelling with people whose budgets and tastes vary, will find more options under one roof at Pyrmont.

Crown suits a single dinner you plan around. The Star suits a longer stay where everyone picks their own venue each night.

Bars and Nightlife

Crown’s bars sit inside the tower, several of them harbour-facing, and the venue reads as a destination in its own right after dark — a place to dress up, drink well, and stay within one building. The atmosphere is quieter and more curated than The Star’s.

The Star’s setting — embedded in the Pyrmont entertainment district beside Darling Harbour — gives it a louder, busier after-dark scene. The complex itself hosts bars and lounges, but the surrounding district carries the late-night energy if that’s what a visit calls for.

Neither venue suits a visitor looking for a casino-floor-only night out. Both suit a visitor who wants the gaming to be part of a broader evening.

Entertainment and Shows

The Star carries Sydney’s strongest casino entertainment programme by a wide margin. The Sydney Lyric Theatre seats 2,000; the Foundry Theatre seats 360; and the Event Centre — until its January 2025 sale to Foundation Theatres for $60 million — seated 3,000. Major touring productions, comedy shows, and live music have all routed through the complex over the years, and the WPT Australia poker festival in late 2025 added a tournament crowd on top of the existing theatrical programme.

Crown’s entertainment offering runs more to in-venue bars, nightlife, and the dining experience itself. The tower’s draw is the property, not a booked programme of headline shows.

Wellness and Leisure: Pools, Spas and Gyms

This is Crown’s clearest point of difference. The 45-metre heated infinity pool on Level 5 overlooks Sydney Harbour from a glass balustrade, and Crown is Sydney’s only hotel with an infinity pool. Crown Spa runs exclusive partnerships with La Prairie and Subtle Energies, and the Level 6 fitness centre combines a 24-hour TechnoGym Artis gym with a tennis court.

The Star’s wellness facilities are less prominent. The venue does not market itself on its pool or spa in the way Crown does, and visitors who book a stay for the leisure facilities alone will find more at Crown.

If a non-gaming day is part of the plan — a morning by the pool, a spa treatment, a workout with a harbour view — Crown is the venue for it.

Parking and Getting There

The Star is easier to reach on public transport. The Star City Light Rail station is adjacent to the complex, and Darling Harbour’s bus and ferry links are close at hand. Pyrmont’s parking options are workable but busier at peak times.

Crown sits within the Barangaroo precinct, with Wynyard station a short walk through the development. The Barangaroo ferry wharf is nearby, and parking within the precinct is available though pricing varies with event and time of day. For visitors coming from the north shore or the eastern suburbs, the ferry arrival is genuinely one of the better ways to make an entrance.

Neither venue publishes its parking rates in a way that makes a comparison easy from outside, and rates change with demand.

The Casino Floor: Layout and Atmosphere

The Star’s gaming floor splits across two levels. The main floor on Level 1 is general admission — anyone 18 or older with valid photo ID can walk in. The Sovereign Room on Level 3 is members-only and carries a stricter dress code and a higher table-minimum feel, with table bets ranging from $25 to $75,000. Above that sits the Inner Sanctum, where table bets run from $100 to $500,000. The 40-table poker room is on Level 2.

Crown’s gaming floor is members-only throughout. Two VIP rooms — the Crystal Room and the Mahogany Room — carry the main gaming operation, with twelve private Sky Salons on levels 28 and 29 reserved for the highest-stakes play. Every game is carded: members and guests alike play through their membership card or a temporary guest card, and the venue enforces 12-hour daily and 48-hour weekly play-period limits. The atmosphere is quieter and more private than The Star’s, with a dress code that explicitly bans thongs, work uniforms, activewear, and swimwear.

The contrast is structural. The Star’s floor reads as a large, busy, varied gaming venue. Crown’s reads as an enclosed members’ club with harbour views.

Table Games, Pokies, and Poker: What Sydney’s Casino Floors Really Hold

The two casinos carry genuinely different gaming line-ups, and the difference goes beyond count.

Table Games: Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat and More

The Star spreads more than 140 table games across the main floor and the Sovereign Room. The full list runs from blackjack, roulette, and baccarat through craps, sic bo, pai gow, three card poker, pontoon, Caribbean Stud, and Casino War. Stakes run from low-minimum tables on the main floor to the $25–$75,000 range in the Sovereign Room and $100–$500,000 in the Inner Sanctum.

Crown is table-games-only. The specific table count at Crown is not publicly itemised in the same way The Star’s is, and the precise game mix isn’t laid out across both VIP floors in a form the venue publishes. What Crown does publish is the format: members-only, all games carded, all sessions subject to the 12/48-hour play-period limits.

If variety and stake range matter, The Star wins. If a quieter, more contained table-games experience in a luxury setting is the goal, Crown’s smaller floor serves it.

Pokies and Electronic Gaming Machines

This is the structural line between the two venues.

The Star runs around 1,490 electronic gaming machines — poker machines in the local vocabulary — and that figure sits at the maximum the venue’s licence permits. The Star operates less than 2% of the poker machines in NSW; the rest sit in the state’s pubs and clubs. Both venues now operate under mandatory carded play, and The Star has implemented cashless pokies as part of its NICC-supervised reform programme.

Crown has no poker machines. The prohibition sits in the venue’s original licence conditions and was reconfirmed by NSW Premier Chris Minns in June 2025, citing a ten-year precedent. The government does not intend to change that position.

A visitor who expects a casino to mean pokies has one venue to choose in Sydney: The Star.

Poker: Cash Games and Tournaments at The Star

The Star’s 40-table poker room on Level 2 is Sydney’s only casino poker venue — Crown has no poker room, and online poker is illegal under the Interactive Gambling Act.

Cash games run daily from 10am to 4am. No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha are the two formats, both dealt eight-handed, from $2/$3 stakes upward. Rake is 10% of the pot, capped at $20 for the $2/$3 games.

Tournament poker runs through the World Poker Tour Australia partnership. The 2025 festival ran from 18 September to 1 October with 32 trophy events and an estimated $10 million in total prize money. The WPT Australia Championship carried a $5,500 buy-in across three Day 1 flights. Across the festival, buy-ins ranged from $150 on the lower end up to $20,000 for the Super High Roller on 24–25 September 2025.

The poker room address is Level 2, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009. The Star City Light Rail station is the public-transport arrival point.

Why “Online Casino Sydney” Is a Dead End (and Where You Can Legally Play)

A reader searching for a casino in Sydney sometimes lands here looking for an online option. There is no legal online casino anywhere in Australia. The product is prohibited, and the prohibition is enforced.

The Online Casino Ban: What the Law Actually Says

The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth) makes it an offence to provide online casino games, online pokies, or in-play sports betting to a person in Australia. No licence for online casino exists federally or in any state or territory.

What is permitted: pre-event wagering on racing and sport through licensed Australian operators, lotteries, and keno. The Northern Territory Racing and Wethering Commission is the de facto national licensor for online wagering, with state and territory point-of-consumption taxes typically running 10–15% of net wagering revenue.

Enforcement sits with the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Since November 2019, ACMA has directed Australian ISPs to block 1,564 illegal gambling and affiliate websites, and more than 225 illegal services have withdrawn from the Australian market since 2017. Credit cards and cryptocurrency have been banned as payment methods for online wagering since 11 June 2024.

The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 passed Parliament on 19 August 2026. From 1 January 2027, the new measures take effect: a cap of three wagering advertisements per hour between 6am and 8:30pm, a live-sport blackout from fifteen minutes before kick-off to five minutes after, a radio blackout during school hours, a prohibition on broadcasting sporting odds outright, a requirement that online wagering ads reach only logged-in age-verified users, no advertising inside sports venues or on uniforms, and a bar on athletes, celebrities, and influencers promoting wagering brands. Banks and payment providers also gain authority to block transactions to illegal operators from the same date.

Online Pokies: Why They Are Off the Table

Online pokies sit at the centre of the prohibition, alongside every other online casino game. No Australian-licensed site offers them. No state or territory regulator grants a licence for them. Offshore sites offering them to Australian residents are operating illegally under the IGA.

The individual player is not prosecuted. The IGA targets the provider. But the practical reality for a player on an offshore site is harsh: no Australian consumer protection, no BetStop coverage, no recourse if the operator refuses a withdrawal, and the risk that ACMA directs ISPs to block the site at any time — potentially with a balance still on it.

BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register, covers approximately 150 licensed Australian wagering providers and offers a one-step exclusion from all of them. As of 30 September 2025, 49,382 people had registered with BetStop, with 31,838 active exclusions. From 1 January 2027, direct marketing of wagering inducements is prohibited for three months after a person deregisters from the register.

The legal alternative for a player who wants to play pokies in Sydney is the gaming floor at The Star. The legal alternative for online wagering is a licensed Australian bookmaker — and only for pre-event bets on racing and sport.

When the Doors Open — and What You Need to Walk Through Them

The two venues run on different schedules and have different rules about who walks in.

Opening Hours at a Glance

Crown Sydney’s gaming floor opens at 10am and closes at 4am Sunday through Thursday, with extended hours to 6am on Friday and Saturday. The venue enforces 12/48-hour play-period limits on all carded play.

The Star Sydney’s gaming floor runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The venue’s specific hourly cap under its NICC supervision is not publicly itemised in the same form as Crown’s; what the venue publishes is the carded-play and cashless-pokies framework, with take-a-break and deposit-limit tools available to members.

A late-night visit means The Star. A 3am session means The Star. A dawn visit means Crown, before its 4am close.

What Is Open Now: Current Operational Status

In 2026, both venues are operating under their NSW casino licences, but their positions differ.

The Star has been under an independent special manager appointed by the NICC since 2022. The supervision remains in place. FY25 venue revenue was $685 million, down 21.9% on the prior year, with an EBITDA loss of $47.7 million. Star Entertainment Group’s group-wide statutory net loss for FY25 was $471.5 million, and the January 2025 sale of the Event Centre Complex to Foundation Theatres for $60 million was a deliberate balance-sheet move under that pressure.

Crown opened its first gaming floors in early August 2022 after a provisional licence was granted by the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority. The venue has operated under post-Bergin Inquiry reforms, including mandatory carded play, the play-period limits, and the prohibition on poker machines confirmed by the Premier in June 2025. The venue’s full-licence date has not been confirmed publicly in the same way the provisional date was.

The visitor-facing reality is that both venues are open, both have gaming floors, and both carry a high regulatory bar. The Star’s NICC supervision is the most visible ongoing oversight on any Australian casino.

Entry Rules: Dress Code, Age, ID and Play Limits

The Star’s main gaming floor on Level 1 is general admission: anyone 18 or older with valid photo ID can walk in. The Sovereign Room on Level 3 is members-only, and signing up for The Star Club is free with a passport or driver’s licence.

Crown is members-only across the entire gaming floor. Free membership is available through the Crown Rewards Desk on Level 2 or via the Crown Resorts App, with valid ID required at sign-up. Temporary guest cards are issued to non-members for single-visit play.

Smart-casual attire is required at both venues. Crown’s published conditions explicitly prohibit thongs, work uniforms, activewear, and swimwear. The Star enforces stricter standards in its VIP areas but allows a slightly broader range on the main floor.

Both venues run mandatory carded play. Every session — every spin, every hand — is tracked to a membership or guest card. The Star has implemented cashless pokies under its NICC-supervised reform programme. Crown enforces 12/48-hour play-period limits on all carded play.

What Visitors and Regulators Say About Sydney’s Casinos

A casino review in Sydney is shaped by what reviewers see and what regulators say. The two often point in different directions.

What Guests Say: Review Themes

The review platforms that cover both venues — Gourmet Traveller, TimeOut Sydney, Executive Traveller, Tatler Asia, The Hotel Guru — split their praise predictably. Crown Sydney draws positive notes for the luxury of the hotel, the harbour views, the quality of the dining at Oncore and the other fine-dining venues, and the infinity pool as a non-gaming draw. The criticisms that recur are about the venue’s size and atmosphere — some visitors find the casino floor smaller and quieter than expected, and the members-only structure can read as exclusionary to a casual walk-in.

The Star Sydney draws praise for gaming variety, the entertainment programme across the three theatre spaces, the breadth of dining options, and the value-for-money feel relative to Crown. Criticisms concentrate on the venue’s age and the regulatory and financial pressure under which it has been operating.

The two venues’ review profiles match what they are. Crown is reviewed as a luxury hotel with a casino attached. The Star is reviewed as a casino complex with a hotel and entertainment programme attached.

Rewards and Customer Programmes

Both venues run free loyalty programmes. Neither carries public itemised tier benefits in the way an online casino might, but the sign-up mechanics are straightforward.

The Star Club is free and requires a valid photo ID — passport or driver’s licence — at sign-up. Members access the Sovereign Room on Level 3, and the club’s tier structure offers progressive benefits across the venue’s dining, entertainment, and hotel offerings.

Crown Rewards is free and accessible at the Crown Rewards Desk or via the Crown Resorts App. Valid ID is required. Members track their play through the mandatory carded-play system, and the rewards programme runs across the hotel, dining, and gaming.

A regular visitor to either venue will sign up. A casual visitor who plays once will still get a card, since both venues require one.

The Licence Behind Every Bet: How Sydney’s Casinos Are Regulated

NSW casino regulation was rebuilt between 2020 and 2022, and the framework that sits behind both venues today is the result.

Who Licenses Sydney’s Casinos

The Casino Control Act (NSW) governs casino licensing in the state. The Act was amended on 5 September 2022 to establish the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) and remove casino supervision from the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA). The NICC is now the dedicated casino regulator, with Liquor & Gaming NSW administering licensing, supervision, and control of NSW casinos under NICC delegation.

The Star Sydney’s original licence was granted in 1994, with a 12-year exclusivity extension granted in late 2007 running through to 2041. Crown Sydney was granted a provisional licence by ILGA in August 2022, before the NICC assumed casino supervision.

The shift to the NICC reflected the findings of successive regulatory inquiries into both venues — most prominently the Bergin Inquiry into Crown Resorts, which found Crown unsuitable to hold a casino licence in NSW at the time and triggered the reform programme that culminated in Blackstone’s acquisition and Crown’s eventual licensing path.

The Regulatory Overhaul: NICC, Carded Play and Cashless Pokies

The practical changes a visitor notices from the regulatory overhaul are concentrated in three areas.

Mandatory carded play is in place at both venues. At Crown, every member and guest plays through their membership or temporary guest card at all times. At The Star, the carded-play framework is part of the NICC-supervised reform programme, alongside cashless pokies. Every session is tracked, every transaction is logged, and the venues know who is playing and for how long.

Crown’s play-period limits — 12 hours daily and 48 hours weekly — are the most visible consumer-protection measure. Once a player hits the cap, they cannot continue carded play until the next window opens.

The Star’s specific hourly cap under NICC supervision is not publicly itemised in the same way as Crown’s. The venue operates take-a-break and deposit-limit tools for members and runs the mandatory carded-play and cashless-pokies framework as its headline consumer-protection measures.

Who Owns Sydney’s Casinos — and Why It Matters

Crown Resorts is owned by Blackstone, which manages more than $1 trillion in assets globally. The acquisition followed the Bergin Inquiry findings and Crown’s reform programme. The ownership position has been stable since.

Star Entertainment Group is a different story. The group posted FY25 group revenue of $1,362.3 million, down 18.8% on the prior corresponding period, and a statutory net loss of $471.5 million. The January 2025 sale of the Event Centre Complex for $60 million was an asset sale to manage that pressure. Bally’s has publicly expressed interest in The Star’s properties, with the company’s chairman summarising the position bluntly: “These assets were built for a time that has now passed.”

What this means for a visitor is straightforward. Crown’s ownership is stable and well-capitalised; the venue is operating under its licence with a clear reform programme behind it. The Star is operating under direct regulatory supervision with active financial pressure and asset sales in progress. The day-to-day experience at both venues is intact, but The Star’s underlying position is the more pressured of the two.

Responsible Gambling: Help Resources and the Reality Check

Gambling harm is widespread in Australia, and the help infrastructure is real. Anyone reading this page who is concerned about their own play — or someone else’s — should know what’s available before deciding whether to visit a casino.

• National Gambling Helpline: 1800 858 858. Free, confidential, staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with online chat through Gambling Help Online at gamblinghelponline.org.au.
• BetStop — the National Self-Exclusion Register. One registration excludes a person from approximately 150 licensed Australian wagering providers. Minimum exclusion period of three months, up to a lifetime exclusion. As of 30 September 2025, 49,382 people had registered, with 31,838 active exclusions. From 1 January 2027, direct marketing of wagering inducements is prohibited for three months after a person deregisters.
• Gambling Help Online. Free online counselling with live chat and email support through gamblinghelponline.org.au.
• Financial counselling. Available through the Department of Social Services for people affected by gambling harm.

The numbers behind these services explain why they exist. ANU’s 2025 national gambling survey found risky gambling rose from 13.7% in 2024 to 19.4% in 2025 — almost one in five Australian adults. Roy Morgan’s 2025 research estimates 622,000 Australian adults (2.9%) have serious gambling problems, up 111,000 from a year earlier, with nearly 3.5 million Australians (16.2%) classified as problem or at-risk gamblers. Dr Gabriel Tillman, lead author of the ANU study, put it in plain terms: “If we look at harm, 15 per cent of people experienced gambling harm in the past 12 months and that is up from 11 per cent in 2019.”

Both venues carry their own consumer-protection tools: carded play, take-a-break options, deposit limits, and at Crown, the 12/48-hour play-period limits. The casino floor tracks who is playing and for how long. The help exists; the choice to use it is the player’s.

How We Evaluated Sydney’s Casinos

This comparison draws on the venues’ own published conditions of entry, the NSW Independent Casino Commission’s licence framework, ASX disclosures from Star Entertainment Group, ACMA enforcement data, and independent review platforms including Gourmet Traveller, TimeOut Sydney, Executive Traveller, Tatler Asia, and The Hotel Guru. Poker-room specifics come from The Star’s own poker page and from coverage of the WPT Australia festival.

The two operators — The Star Sydney and Crown Sydney — are the only venues checked, because they are the only NSW-licensed casino venues in Sydney. The comparison does not cover online casinos, which are illegal in Australia under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 and carry no licence anywhere in the country. Any online casino brand reaching Australian players is operating illegally.

What this comparison does not do: it does not weight or score the two venues. The choice depends on what a visit is for, and the factors that matter differ between visitors. The page lays out what each venue offers and lets the reader weigh the trade-offs.

Which Sydney Casino Is Right for Your Visit?

Both venues carry strict NICC-level regulation, mandatory carded play, a responsible-gambling framework, and the same age and ID requirements. Beyond that, they point at different visitors.

The Star Sydney suits a visit built around the gaming floor. Poker is a major draw — Sydney’s only casino poker room runs 40 tables, cash games from 10am to 4am daily, and the WPT Australia festival as an annual anchor. Pokies are available at the maximum-licensed count. The entertainment programme across three theatre spaces is the strongest of any Australian casino. The floor runs 24/7. The dining range is broader by count, with more than 20 venues. The price points stretch from low-stakes tables on the main floor up to $500,000 in the Inner Sanctum. The Star suits a visitor who wants a full casino-and-entertainment night out, or a longer stay where gaming is the centre of the trip.

Crown Sydney suits a visit built around the hotel and the experience. The infinity pool, the six-star Crown Towers, and the Oncore dining flagship carry the venue when the gaming floor is not the main draw. The casino itself is members-only, table-games-only, and quieter than The Star’s — a different kind of night out, suited to a visitor who wants luxury and a curated experience rather than a wide-open gaming floor. The shorter opening hours (closing at 4am most nights, 6am on Friday and Saturday) match a different rhythm. Crown suits a special-occasion stay, a fine-dining booking, or a visit where the harbour views and the pool are the reason for the trip.

The deciding factor is what the visit is for. A poker tournament, a pokie session, or a late-night gaming run means The Star. A luxury stay, a tasting menu, and a quieter table-games evening means Crown. A mixed group of visitors with different priorities will find more under one roof at The Star, but Crown’s narrower focus may suit a smaller, more aligned party better.

One thing to carry through the decision: both venues operate under the same NSW regulatory framework, both require carded play, and both carry responsible-gambling tools. The differences are in what each venue puts on the table, not in the legal standing behind it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many casinos are actually in Sydney?

Two. The Star Sydney in Pyrmont and Crown Sydney in Barangaroo are the only NSW-licensed land-based casinos. Both operate under the Casino Control Act (NSW) and are supervised by the NSW Independent Casino Commission. Any other venue marketing itself as a Sydney casino is doing so without an NSW casino licence.

Does Crown Sydney really have no poker machines?

Correct. Crown Sydney operates table games only. The prohibition sits in the venue’s original licence conditions, and NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed in June 2025 that the government does not intend to allow Crown to operate slot machines, citing a ten-year precedent. If poker machines are part of what a Sydney casino visit means to you, The Star is the venue.

Is online casino legal anywhere in Australia?

No. The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth) prohibits online casino games, online pokies, and in-play sports betting for people in Australia. No licence for online casino exists federally or in any state or territory. What is licensed: pre-event wagering on racing and sport through Australian-licensed operators, lotteries, and keno. Offshore sites offering online casino games to Australian residents are operating illegally under the IGA and carry no Australian consumer protection.

Can I enter a Sydney casino without a membership?

At The Star, yes — the main gaming floor on Level 1 is general admission, and anyone 18 or older with valid photo ID can enter. The Sovereign Room on Level 3 is members-only. At Crown, the entire gaming floor is members-only, but free membership is available at the Crown Rewards Desk or the Crown Resorts App, and temporary guest cards are issued to non-members for single-visit play. The process takes a few minutes with valid ID.

What ID do I need to get into a Sydney casino?

A valid photo ID — a driver’s licence or passport is the standard. Both venues require it at the door and again at membership sign-up. The minimum age is 18 across all NSW gaming areas. There is no other documentation required for entry; the ID serves both age verification and membership registration where applicable.

What does it cost to enter a poker tournament at The Star?

The Star’s 40-table poker room runs daily cash games from 10am to 4am, with No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha from $2/$3 stakes. Tournament buy-ins during the WPT Australia festival ranged from $150 at the lower end to $20,000 for the Super High Roller, with the WPT Australia Championship at $5,500 across three Day 1 flights. Outside the WPT festival, The Star’s own tournament schedule carries its own buy-in structure, available through The Star Poker page.

Membership: Do You Need It to Play?

It depends on the venue.

Crown Sydney is members-only. Free membership is available at the Crown Rewards Desk or the Crown Resorts App, and a valid photo ID is required at sign-up. Temporary guest cards are issued for non-members who want to play without signing up for the full programme.

The Star Sydney’s main gaming floor on Level 1 is general admission. The Star Club is free, requires valid photo ID, and is needed for access to the Sovereign Room on Level 3 and for the venue’s loyalty benefits. A casual visitor can walk in, play on the main floor, and leave without signing up — though signing up is the only way to access the higher-stakes Sovereign Room and Inner Sanctum.

Created by the ”Best Casino Sydney” editorial team.