The Star Sydney (formerly Star City Casino and prior to that, Sydney Harbour Casino) in Pyrmont,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, is the second largest

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

after

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

's Crown Casino. Overlooking

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour and neighborhood adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central busines ...

, The Star, owned by

Star Entertainment Group The Star Entertainment Group Limited is an Australian gambling and entertainment company. The company was formerly known as Echo Entertainment. Star is Australia's biggest listed casino group. Following a money laundering scandal and 3 years of ...

features two gaming floors, one bar, 3

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

s, 351

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

rooms and 130 serviced and privately owned apartments. It also includes the 2,000 seat Sydney Lyric theatre, 360 seat Foundry Theatre and 3,000-sea
Event Centre
the latter designed by Montreal-based theatre design firm Scéno Plus. Its gaming operations are overseen and controlled by the New South Wales Casino Control Authority and is licensed to be the only legal casino in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. In late 2007, it was granted a 12-year extension of its exclusivity and licence. In December 1994, a consortium of Leighton Properties and Showboat was announced by the NSW Casino Control Authority as the successful applicant for New South Wales' first casino licence. A temporary casino was opened by

Acting Prime Minister An acting prime minister is a member of a cabinet (often in Westminster system countries) who is serving in the role of prime minister, whilst the individual who normally holds the position is unable to do so. The role is often performed by the ...

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. Since 2022 he has served as chairman of the Australian War Memorial. Previously, he was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the ...

on 13 September 1995 on the site of former wharves 12/13. The permanent casino, designed by Sydney architect,

Philip Cox Philip Sutton Cox is an Australian architect. He is the founding partner of Cox Architecture, one of the largest architectural practices in Australia. His work has won him multiple awards, the first being in 1963, one year after graduat ...

, in joint partnership with American architect, Hillier, opened on 27 November 1997, was one of the largest building projects ever carried out in Australia. The complex is now owned by The

. On 29 January 2025, as part of possible sales of non-core assets of the cash-strapped owner The Star, The Star announced it would sell the Event Centre Complex and unspecified spaces within the Complex to Foundation Theatres in order to raise $60 million. The Star is currently under government supervision which will remain in place until September 2025.

Gaming

The casino features two gaming floors — the main gaming floor on level one for general entry and the ''Sovereign Room'' on level three. The ''Sovereign Room'' table bet ranges from $25 to $75,000 and also contains the ''Inner Sanctum'', with table bet ranges of $100 to $500,000. The two areas are only available to

high roller A high roller, also referred to as a whale or cheetah, is a gambler who consistently wagers large amounts of money. High rollers often receive lavish " comps" from casinos to entice them onto the gambling floors, such as free private jet transfe ...

s and international guests following an application for membership and review by The Star's management. The ''Inner Sanctum'' pits are frequently used for junket players. Star City returned to junket play in 2005 after taking a number of large losses in 2002. Recent rebuilding works have added extra gaming areas for the main gaming floor with the addition of the Oasis Lounge and the 36 Degrees Bar although these new areas have not increased the number of tables or machines available in total. The main gaming floor is divided into three major parts — Table Games, Electronic Gaming, and

Poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

. The number of poker tables has been steadily increased and now stands at 40 tables. The Star Event Centre

The Sovereign Room has been upgraded and now includes four additional private gaming rooms and extra dining and lounge amenities. These extensions have an estimated cost of $7,000,000. Another recent upgrade is the addition of a new "ultra exclusive" area directly above the Sovereign Room called the Chairmans Lounge. This is accessed by invitation only, and there are currently fewer than 500 Diamond Card Members that are entitled to use the Chairmans Lounge. Star City has recently opened the sports bar as well.

Table games

The Star provides many traditional casino games, including Mini

Baccarat Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game. It is now mainly played at casinos, but formerly popular at house-parties and private gaming rooms. The game's origins are a mixture of precursors from China, Japan, and Korea, which then gained popularit ...

Blackjack Blackjack (formerly black jack or ''vingt-un'') is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as " twenty-one ...

, Caribbean Stud,

Craps Craps is a dice game in which players gambling, bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, " ...

, Pai Gow, Poker, Pontoon,

Roulette Roulette (named after the French language, French word meaning "little wheel") is a casino game which was likely developed from the Italy, Italian game Biribi. In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various grouping ...

, Rapid (semi-electronic) Roulette,

Sic Bo Sic bo (Chinese language, Chinese: 骰寶), also known as tai sai (大細), dai siu (大小), big and small or hi-lo, is an unequal gambling, game of chance of ancient China, Chinese origin played with three dice. Grand hazard and chuck-a-luck are ...

and Three card poker Two-Up was available at Star City but was removed at the end of October 2003 as the game was not considered to be economically viable. The pit typically required three dealers and two games supervisors, consequently management felt that returns were not as high as they could be and with Tabcorp insisting on large reductions in overheads and increased profit, this iconic game was closed. In December 2005, a new game ''Double-Chance'' was trialed but was discontinued soon after; Players, referring to the game's high house advantage, dubbed the game 'No-Chance'. At the end of 2006, Star City introduced a new game, three card baccarat, following minor reorganization of its main gaming floor in preparation for the smoking ban in July 2007 and planned extensions to its gaming floors. This game was also removed from the floor shortly after due to lack of interest from players.

Electronic gaming

The Star provides a selection of electronic gaming machines, including

slot machine A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

s, bingo, rapid roulette and video poker machines. ''Rapid Big Wheel'' was introduced in early 2006 to replace the often slow-paced table game version, which has now been reintroduced, and the Rapid Big Wheel removed in August 2007. The Star has just over 1490 electronic gaming machines but is limited to a maximum 1500.

Security

As in most casinos, the gaming floors of the venue are constantly monitored by a security camera system. Cameras mounted on the roof and in the table signs are used to ensure that all actions are logged. The footage can be used to settle player disputes, identify cheating, and be used in the Australian court system for

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

. $500 chips were removed from the casino after fraudulent chips were found. Some chips did make their way into the bank due to limited security features on the chips.

Restaurants and bars

The Star has a large variety of restaurants including five star fine dining. Not all the restaurants are managed by The Star with a number of outlets being privately managed. The Star's Harvest Buffet is known for its all you can eat buffet with seafood buffet over the weekend. The Star operates eight bars within the complex with a further two outlets designated as bars and another two external independent outlets able to serve alcohol. Bars within the gaming area are not accessible to minors (persons under 18). Some bars have live entertainment, mostly on weekends. The Lagoon Bar and Glo Bar closed in 2009 as part of the refurbishment project.

Marquee

A new nightclub, known as the Marquee, opened on 31 March 2012.

Redevelopment

In 2009, Tabcorp, the then-owners of Star City, announced an A$475 million refurbishment and expansion program called ''Project Star'' which involved the re-orientation of the casino towards Sydney Harbour, including a new "iconic" entrance as well as a drop-off zone on the harbour side of the casino site. Work began in late 2009 and was completed late 2012. Despite initial cost estimates, according to Echo Entertainment Group CEO, Larry Mullin the final cost was estimated to be around A$961 million. On 16 September 2011, the casino reopened under the name "The Star".

Popular culture

The venue has featured awards nights including playing host to the annual film and television

AACTA Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the cinema of Australia, film and ...

. The first 12 episodes of the 2005–2006 Australian television series ''

Joker Poker ''Joker Poker'' was a late night Australian poker program on Network Ten which aired in 2005 and 2006. The 2005 edition was hosted by Adam Spencer, with the second and final edition hosted by Mike Goldman. Both were co-hosted by New Zealand p ...

'' was filmed in a private gaming room at the casino. The game was dealt by experienced The Star croupiers; however the show was not a success. Also filmed there were several episodes of '' Beauty and the Geek Australia''. The now defunct ''

Ralph Ralph (pronounced or ) is a male name of English origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Old High German ''Radulf'', cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms are: * Ra ...

'' magazine shot its swimsuit model of the year competition at Turbines Health Club (pool and gym for the hotel and apartments). During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Australian comedians Alex Apollonov of I Did a Thing and Aleksa Vulović partnered with The Chaser to create a comedic investigation where they attempted to enter The Star casino while displaying as many COVID-19 symptoms as possible to see whether they would be allowed inside during the pandemic. In one attempt, Aleksa tried entering the casino while dressed in hospital surgical garbs, dragging an IV drip stand on wheels, with a high forehead temperature. Despite telling the casino staff that he had come straight from a nearby hospital, he was allowed to enter the casino where he spent his time using the gaming machines while wearing a white shirt saying "I have covid" in bold black letters. "When I rocked up with my hospital gown and drip, the first thing they asked me was whether I had a Star Casino gold membership card." Alex Apollonov followed Aleksa into the casino with a forehead temperature of 48 degrees (achieved using heat packs), which the staff detected with a temperature gun and was still allowed entry to the casino. "My head was still really hot after I got inside," said Apollonov. "I must have drunk 3 or 4 of their complimentary water bottles. They're obviously very used to catering for sick customers." When asked about possible legal repercussions over their comedic stunt, Vulović replied: "There's no point suing us, we already lost all our savings on big wheel during our filming breaks."

References

External links

*
NSW Casino Control Authority
{{DEFAULTSORT:Star, The Boxing venues in Australia Buildings and structures in Sydney Casinos in Sydney Casinos completed in 1997 Hotel buildings completed in 1997 Hotels in Sydney Tourist attractions in Sydney 1995 establishments in Australia Philip Cox buildings Pyrmont, New South Wales Star Entertainment Group Casino hotels in New South Wales