Casinos & Pokies in Queenstown

Queenstown has one licensed casino — SkyCity Queenstown at 16-24 Beach Street — plus 2 DIA-licensed pokie venues in central Queenstown itself. The wider Otago region adds another 23 pokie venues across Wanaka, Alexandra, Cromwell, and the surrounding Central Otago towns. Queenstown’s second casino, the Wharf Casino at Steamer Wharf, closed in March 2020 and surrendered its licence on 28 March 2024. This guide covers SkyCity Queenstown, the local pokie venues, and the responsible-gambling support available across the Otago Lakes area.

How Many Licensed Casinos Are There in Queenstown?

One. Queenstown has a single licensed casino today — SkyCity Queenstown on Beach Street, facing Lake Wakatipu at the lake end of central Queenstown. The city held two until recently: the Wharf Casino at Steamer Wharf closed in March 2020 and its casino licence was surrendered on 28 March 2024.

SkyCity Queenstown opened on 7 December 2000 at 16-24 Beach Street (Level 2, Stratton House), Queenstown 9300, and is operated by SkyCity Entertainment Group (NZX:SKC). It runs blackjack, roulette, baccarat, and around 80 gaming machines across 8 tables. It shares the SkyCity group brand with SkyCity Auckland and SkyCity Hamilton. Full venue detail sits in the venue detail panel below.

The Wharf Casino was a smaller boutique casino at 88 Beach Street, in the historic Steamer Wharf precinct on the Lake Wakatipu waterfront. Originally the Lasseters Wharf Casino and later owned by SkyCity, it closed during the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, never reopened, and formally surrendered its casino licence on 28 March 2024 — the premises are now a waterfront bar. SkyCity Queenstown now holds the city’s only casino operator’s licence under Part 3 of the Gambling Act 2003.

Where Are the Pokie Venues in Queenstown?

Queenstown’s licensed pokie venues cluster in Queenstown CBD (around The Mall and Beach Street), Frankton, Arrowtown, and Wanaka. Queenstown town itself hosts roughly 15 pokie venues. The wider Otago Lakes area (Frankton, Arrowtown, Wanaka, Cromwell, and surrounding towns) brings the regional total to around 45 venues.

• Queenstown CBD: roughly 8 pokie venues, clustered around The Mall, Beach Street, and the Shotover Street pub strip. These sit alongside SkyCity Queenstown and serve both locals and international visitors.
• Frankton: roughly 5 pokie venues near the Queenstown Airport and Five Mile retail precinct.
• Arrowtown: roughly 3 pokie venues in the heritage gold-rush town 20 minutes from central Queenstown.
• Wanaka: roughly 8 pokie venues across Wanaka township and surrounding Hawea and Lake Hawea areas.
• Cromwell and Alexandra: roughly 6 pokie venues combined, covering Central Otago’s Queenstown-adjacent towns.

Outside the Queenstown Lakes district, Otago towns with pokie venues include Dunedin, Mosgiel, Balclutha, and Oamaru. Dunedin and its pokie venues are covered on the Casinos in Dunedin page. The DIA register at dia.govt.nz/Gambling-Class-4 is the authoritative venue list. Counts above reflect the Q1 2026 snapshot.

What Hours Do Pokie Venues in Queenstown Operate?

Pokie venues in Queenstown typically run from late morning (10am to 11am) until midnight or 1am, tracking the parent pub’s liquor licence. Queenstown liquor licences tend to run later than the national pattern, because the resort town hospitality economy is built around a later service window. No pokie venue is legally permitted to run 24 hours.

Most Queenstown pubs close their gaming rooms at midnight or 1am on weekdays, with Friday and Saturday hours occasionally extending one hour later where the parent liquor licence permits. Sunday gaming is available at all pokie venue with a typically later start (11am to noon).

SkyCity Queenstown runs 11am to 1am daily, excluding Christmas Day, Good Friday, and 3am–1pm on Anzac Day. It does not run 24-hour gaming. The hours reflect the resort-town operating pattern and the international-visitor late-night demand profile.

How Do I Find a Pokie Venue Near Me in Queenstown?

The fastest way is the Pokies Near Me finder on this site. It lists every DIA-licensed Otago Lakes venue with current opening hours, live “open now” status, machine count, suburb, and one-tap Google Maps directions on every result. We rebuild the underlying register from the DIA’s quarterly Class 4 list and layer Google Business Profile hours on top, so you can filter to venues open right now — a capability the raw DIA register doesn’t provide.

For Queenstown-specific lookup, sort the venue table above by suburb or machine count, or tap any row to reveal opening hours, phone number, operator, and directions. The Queenstown CBD cluster is within 10 minutes’ walk of SkyCity Queenstown, and the Frankton, Arrowtown, and Wanaka venues require a short drive or shuttle. The scope and mechanics of Class 4 licensing (machine caps, stake limits, community-grants return) sit on the pokie venue page.

If you’re unsure whether a Queenstown venue is DIA-licensed, check the licence display inside the gaming room. Every pokie venue must display its DIA licence number and Gambling Helpline NZ signage (0800 654 655). Unlicensed gambling can be reported to the DIA on 0800 257 887.

What Games Are Available at Queenstown’s Casinos and Pokie Venues?

SkyCity Queenstown runs blackjack, roulette (American and European wheels), baccarat, and gaming machines. Its table-game line-up mirrors the SkyCity group’s standard casino offering at smaller scale than Auckland or Hamilton.

Table games at SkyCity Queenstown sit on a compact gaming floor. It is boutique by New Zealand casino standards, with a gaming floor an order of magnitude smaller than SkyCity Auckland’s 2,100-machine operation. Its pokies machines accept denominations from 1 cent up through higher-limit options, and casino pokies carry no statutory per-spin stake cap.

Pokie venues in Queenstown offer pokies machines only. No table games. Each venue runs between 1 and 18 machines under a $2.50 maximum stake per spin. Machine selection depends on the supplier contract at each venue. Common titles include reel-based pokies and multi-line video pokies certified to DIA technical standards. The full rules and house-edge reference sits on the NZ casino games guide.

What Responsible Gambling Support Is Available in Queenstown?

Gambling Helpline NZ (0800 654 655) is available 24/7 from anywhere in New Zealand, including Queenstown and the wider Otago Lakes area. The service is free, confidential, and funded by the Ministry of Health. The Problem Gambling Foundation delivers Otago-based counselling with counsellors available in Queenstown, Wanaka, and Dunedin.

SkyCity Queenstown runs voluntary self-exclusion and participates in the national multi-venue exclusion scheme. A self-exclusion there is enforceable at all five licensed casinos in New Zealand under the shared scheme. Pokie venue across Queenstown support single-venue self-exclusion under the DIA’s host-responsibility rules, with exclusion periods typically set at six months, twelve months, or two years.

Every licensed venue in Queenstown must display Gambling Helpline NZ signage, provide host-responsibility-trained staff during gaming hours, and prohibit ATMs on the gaming floor. Given Queenstown’s high international-visitor share, both casinos run multi-language host-responsibility material alongside the standard English-language signage. For the full list of Otago Lakes and national support services, exclusion procedures, and crisis lines, see the responsible gambling page.

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