UK Casinos and Card Rooms

Below is a general guide for four of the biggest land based casinos in the UK. Each link will take you to a page offering details on regular poker tournaments and cash games you can play live. If you want to play online, check out our main page for information on the best sites to play poker online from the UK.

Grosvenor Casinos  are located live and online with the brick and mortar establishments offering live entertainment, fine dining, cash games, poker tournaments, poker championships and more. All of the casinos require membership and for players to be over 18 years of age to enter. Members can request a private dealer or self-deal if the game requires and you can rent the dealer’s to cater to a poker event. This page offers information on five different Grosvenor Casinos located within the UK and provides details to regular poker tournaments and cash games along with contact information.

Gala Casinos offers a full line of gaming including slot machines, table games and daily poker competitions across most of the locations in the UK. Our Gala Casino page provides tournament schedules, gaming information and contact information for all of the UK locations. The Gala Casino brand is part of the Gala Coral and Eurobet Group and has close to 30 locations in the UK.

Mint Casinos is owned by Genting UK and offers 20 locations across the United Kingdom. The Mint Casino brand is a full in house casino offering poker games, slot machines and table games. All of the Mint Casinos require membership before admittance. Membership is free and can be received by completing the application online or while visiting the casino. The Mint Casino poker games are dealer and self-dealt depending on the event. All tournaments which are self-dealt are listed on the casino website. Our review page lists five Mint Casinos offering regular games for players including buy-ins, tournament specs and contact information.

Napoleon’s Casinos are located throughout the UK and offer a full line of gaming including poker tournaments and cash games along with dining rooms, and sports rooms for sporting events. The casino requires a membership however players may enter the casino but cannot cash anything out above $1000. Private games are available along with dealers for hire. Our Napolean’s Casino page lists details on regular events for five different casinos including time of start, buy-ins, re-buys, prize pools and cash games.

Circus Casinos is another Genting UK casino with more than 12 locations across the UK. This brand provides full dining and casual dining along with some locations offering sports bars. Regular tournaments are held on almost a daily basis, with freezeouts, re-buys and satellites. Leagues for tournaments run each calendar month and most locations offer nightly cash games including dealer’s choice. This page provides details on five Circus Casino locations including contact information, address, and game details.

Maxims Casinos is the third brand owned by Genting UK, with nine locations spread across the United Kingdom. All Maxims Casino locations are open late, generally until 5 or 6am and offer live entertainment, a restaurant/grill as well as a bar. The casinos are certified by GamCare and offer live gaming in addition to slot machines, video poker, and table games. Membership is not required.

Gambling in the United Kingdom

Most forms of gambling in the United Kingdom is regulated by the Gambling Commission under the Gambling Act of 2005 and on behalf of the DCMS, otherwise known as the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The Gambling Act 2005 was written to update a pre-existing and outdated previous Act in addition to adding new requisites whereby gaming operators would protect children from underage gambling, and safe guards would be in place for problem gamblers. One of the biggest difference between the UK Gambling Act and the United States UIGEA is that it was written to apply to all forms of gambling, including the internet. The Act was enforced across all of the United Kingdom and it allows local authorities to play a role in policing. The three main principles of the Gambling Act 2005 include;

(a) preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime,

(b) ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way, and

(c) protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

The Act went into effect on September 1st, 2007 although the Gambling Commission was created in 2005 which replaced Gaming Board for Great Britain.

The Gambling Commission regulates casinos, bingo halls, and any other form of betting except for bet spreading and the lottery. Sports betting in the UK is regulated through the Financial Services Authority while the lottery is regulated through the National Lottery Commission.

Once a casino receives their license to operate through the Gambling Commission they must comply to all regulations outlined in the 2005 Gambling Act, in addition to submitting to random testing of games which will ensure fair gaming. The Gambling Commission has the power to void games if the game is unfair or if there was cheating involved and all casinos must provide information on where players can seek help if they have a problem. In addition to the Gambling Commission, local authorities were given power to license gambling establishments within their jurisdiction and perform audits. The power for local authorities applies to England and Wales only. Local authorizes are not used in Scotland to police the Act, but instead a licensing board was created to oversee audits, security and fair gaming. Finally, a tribunal (Gambling Appeals Tribunal) was created to allow operators to appeal decisions made by the Gambling Commission.

All casinos located within the UK must be licensed by the Gambling Commission in order to operate a legal gaming establishment. In addition to this, the casino must comply with all regulations outlined in the Gambling Act 2005, which also includes regulations for advertising.