Choose between the air-conditioned dining room or the palm-fringed outdoor space and order up a taste of tropical Asia: maybe Vietnamese pho, Malaysian laksa, chilli-salt chicken wings or a dish to share. After dinner, enjoy a cocktail, a whole fresh coconut or an icy, fruity slushie. Shops D1 and D2, 19 Kitchener Drive, Darwin; (08) 8941 7625.
Skycity is the only government-licensed casino property in all of Darwin and by far the biggest in all of the Northern Territory. Gambling at the site is broken up into three different betting venues, each with their own room. The first is a collection of thirty-six table games, while the second (and largest) room is home to around 1,400 pokies and other machines. The third room is the biggest one dedicated to keno play in all of Australia, with 50 games running at any given time. The Skycity property is also home to a hotel with 107 rooms, along with four unique restaurants and five different bars, one of which is set aside for gambling customers only.
The casino’s collection of 1,496 gaming machines is broken up into three categories – 758 pokies are spread throughout the machine gaming room, along with forty different video poker games accepting wagers anywhere from AUD $0.10 up to AUD $1. The balance of the machine games are skill-based titles, some of which are hybrids of poker machines and table games, others are unique options built by the likes of Aristocrat and WMS Gaming.
As for the table and casino poker gaming options, a total of thirty-six run around the clock thanks to the casino being open for twenty-four hours a day except for Christmas, Easter, and Anzac Day. As many as eight different roulette tables are open at any given time, in both single zero and double zero variations. The selection of roulette games includes tables that take wagers as low as AUD $2.00 all the way up to high roller versions that set the minimum bet amount at AUD $50. The low stakes roulette games at Skycity use a double zero wheel (and its larger house advantage) to compensate for the smaller wagers. Players looking for single zero Euro or French games will have to place bets of at least AUD $5 per hand.