14 April 2025
By Roger Kennedy
roger@TheCork.ie

Entertainment

Is Cork in Need of a Proper Casino to Make It a Truly Modern City Destination?

As Ireland’s second city, Cork is a modern city that has become a bustling tourist destination, and there’s no getting around that fact. Despite having a population of less than a quarter of a million, the city and the wider county regularly welcome nearly two million visitors annually. With those figures, it might be tempting to think that Cork has it made.

However, if you take a look outside of Ireland, it’s noticeable that Cork – and even Dublin – is not the true modern city that those on the island might think it is. Obviously, it’s still waiting on movement as far as the Luas is concerned, and there’s not a direct rail link between the city and Limerick, but it comes down to even more than that.

For years, Irish tourism island-wide has rested on the fact that our pubs are world famous and that tourists want to experience that when they come looking for nightlife. That might be the case, too, but it overlooks the fact that our cities are falling behind when it comes to the nightlife offerings on the continent and in the UK, in particular, when it comes to casinos. So should Cork be looking to get a proper casino venue?

Ireland is a Country That Loves Casinos – In-Person and Offline

The idea of a Vegas-style casino for Cork might sound like it’s coming out of nowhere, but there’s precedent for it. The industry is huge in Ireland, and it’s clear that there’s a big gap in the Irish market for real casino gaming. In the capital, the closure of Dr Quirkey’s has seen a couple of casino-style venues pop up in an attempt to replace the defunct venues, but there’s still no supercasino venues.

And it’s not for a lack of interest, either. We can look at the success and popularity of online casinos to see that there is a market for Irish casinos. For example, if you look at Karamba IE online casino, there are hundreds of slot games on offer for players in Ireland, as well as live-dealer table games that replicate the real-life experience.

This shows that the audience is certainly there. The diversity and sheer number of games on offer are a testament to the popularity of this form of gaming. Because of that, it makes a clear business case for investment in a high-quality venue to host it. Yes, there are casinos in Ireland, but they largely fall flat when compared to the supercasino venues in other European countries.

Nightlife is Suffering in Ireland: A Multifaceted Problem

Anyone who has lived in Ireland for more than ten years can tell you that nightlife is failing in Ireland. The nightclubs that once hosted thousands of revellers have gone from the city centres, and a combination of licensing hours, unaffordability, and public transport issues is making the nighttime economy struggle. It’s turning people off from spending evenings in our towns and cities.

One of the biggest problems has been a lack of variety in venues, too. The nightclub scene is reported by the Examiner as being close to collapse, meaning that we face a reality where the only nighttime venues are pubs. The country’s pubs are great, but they can’t be everything to everyone. They would, in a perfect world, be one part of the whole puzzle.

To that end, a casino venue that offers adult gaming in a classy establishment would go some way to providing variety. At the moment, anyone looking to enjoy a night out is faced with a choice between a Guinness pub, a Heineken bar, and a cocktail late bar. It’s not exactly what most young people have in mind when planning a big night on the town. 

A Casino Wouldn’t Be a Gamble: It Would Open the Night

A casino could be the shot in the arm for Cork nightlife that we need. The city’s pubs, clubs, and LGBTQ+-friendly bars are great, but there’s a vanishingly small sense of variety about the venues on offer. Anything different from what we have now would be an improvement.

Couple that fact with the reality that the people of Ireland are enthusiastic about casino gaming, and it seems like a banker that a gaming venue would be a success. If it were to happen, we could see a revitalised nightime economy in Cork.