26 February 2024
By Roger Kennedy
roger@TheCork.ie
Entertainment
Poker is a big deal in Ireland. We don’t have specific details about how popular in monetary terms -it’s a grey area- but we can give it some context.
The online casino industry in Ireland is expected to hit around €1.14bn by the end of 2024.
The market could be worth €1.26bn by 2028 which is pretty good going for a population of about 5 million people. And as poker is one of the most popular casino games in Ireland, that puts us into ‘go figure’ territory.
The Irish authorities, in line with other countries, have had to balance being socially responsible with a taxable revenue stream. So how has this affected the gaming landscape in Cork and the wider country?
The easiest way to answer that is to look at the most recent gambling legislation which arrived in 2022. Ireland’s Gambling Regulation Bill created a single regulatorily body for all forms of gambling: mobile, online and in-person.
The bill has been designed to consolidate all forms of gambling in an effort to address the issues online casinos have had on the 1956 act, which has been good for poker. Legally, you can still play live in ‘gambling clubs’ and, these days, online too.
This is where most poker players in Ireland congregate as domestically licensed and offshore licensed online poker rooms are all fair game. But if you’re in Cork, unlike other cities in Ireland, you’re almost spoilt for choice with live venues.
One obvious spot to hit is Macau Casino Cork on St Patrick’s Quay. Another is the Bank Casino at Clarks Bridge, and both have facilities for Poker tournaments.
But the Gold Rush casino has four establishments dotted all over the city. We’ll check them out shortly, but first…
Macau Casino has a 6000 square foot gaming court, enough to accommodate a host of games: American and European Roulette, Blackjack, Punto Bianco and poker.
When it comes to Poker there are two versions. Pot Limit Omaha is slightly different from Texas Hold ‘Em (the other variant) and certainly not for faint-hearted!
But Poker players in Cork are going to be particularly drawn to Macau’s Poker room that’s currently offering cash games every single night. For tournament players and league players, this might be the best spot in Cork, but let’s not forget the Bank Casino.
The Bank Casino claims to host some of Ireland’s top players in their tournaments. It’s a private members club, so you’ll need to reach out to them for details.
We recommend you do so as this could be the best joint in town alongside Macau. If it’s not, it’s worth discovering why!
But when it comes to poker joints in Cork, Gold Rush is the most visible, they are the largest casino franchise in Ireland too. They have four venues in Cork: MacCurtain St, Academy St, Cornmarket St and Washington Street West.
Gold Rush Casino do host poker tournaments and they play both Texas Hold ‘Em and Omaha. However, it would seem that, at first glance, the Gold Rush is more focused on slots and roulette.
It’s a similar story with Victoria Sporting Casino on St Patrick’s Quay. A former casino, then a snooker club and a casino again.
This venue is a dedicated automated casino, so there are no live games. But it does have video poker if you’re desperate for a game and other options aren’t available.
Finally, Liberty Arcade and Casino have been around for almost a hundred years and, for all intents and purposes, it’s an entertainment complex. So, it has places to grab a bite, and have a drink.
Don’t let that put you off, apart from the slots, there are dedicated tables for cards, by which we mean Poker, of course.
Outside of these official casino establishments, there are plenty of bars, clubs and pubs that, to those in the know, are happy to host the odd game or two. Punters, however, are advised to be prudent as playing poker in Cork is, legally, a grey area depending on where you play.
So how does it work? Well, in the last ten years, the laws regulating gambling have become even more complex. But we have a definite place in which to begin and that’s in the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956.
Traditional brick-and-mortar casinos were made exempt from the legislation (note: not in Northern Ireland) which begs the question, why it was introduced in the first place? The short answer was to regulate the huge rise in interest in slot machines, which are still under scrutiny in a manner that poker isn’t.