Independent Guide · Updated July 2026 18+ · Please Play Responsibly

London and the South East, after dark

Top Casino Venues
in London and the South East 2026

Four rooms, taken one evening at a time — what waits behind each door, and how the night around it runs.

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Before you go

How the capital’s floors read at night

London wears its casinos lightly. The rooms in this guide sit inside buildings the city already knows — a Leicester Square landmark, a stretch of Edgware Road, the upper deck of a shopping centre beside the Olympic Park — and they open into the same evening as the restaurants and late bars around them. What follows is a walk through four of them: the shape of each floor, the way the doors work, and the streets you step back out into.

None of it is dressed up here. Where an operator publishes what it runs — the tables, the terminals, the poker deck, the kitchens — that is what you will read, and where it publishes nothing, we say nothing. Hours in the capital run long, and several of these rooms never really close, but schedules shift and a table advertised on a Tuesday may not be dealt on a Wednesday. Ring ahead if a particular game is the reason you are travelling.

The order we arrived at

London floors, ranked

Every room is scored across four things — the gaming, the venue itself, the dining and the atmosphere — and then ordered by the total.

The Hippodrome Casino — Cranbourn Street, London №1

The Hippodrome Casino

📍 Cranbourn Street, London

4.8 ★★★★★
  • Three Gaming Floors
  • Open 24 Hours
  • Heliot Steak House
  • Leicester Square
Gaming 4.9
Venue 4.8
Dining 4.7
Atmosphere 4.9

Gaming Four floors of gaming hold three separately themed casinos, with roulette, blackjack and baccarat dealt live, more than a hundred electronic roulette, blackjack and baccarat terminals, twenty slot machines, and the capital’s largest dedicated poker deck.

Getting In It stands on Cranbourn Street at the edge of Leicester Square, within easy reach of Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus Underground stations. Entry is free with no membership, though photo ID is checked at the door and dress is smart-casual. There are no rooms upstairs — The Londoner, the Radisson Blu on the square and W London are all a short walk.

Dining Heliot Steak House and Chop Chop, a contemporary Chinese kitchen, carry the food. Drinking runs from Gods Rooftop Bar down through the Penny Bar, Permission Lounge and Archive & Myth, with Paddy’s Sportsbook for anyone following a match.

Atmosphere Loud, theatrical and busy at almost any hour, it feels less like a private club than a piece of the West End that happens to deal cards. Step out and you are in the middle of the square’s crowds.

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Grosvenor Casino The Victoria, London — 150-162 Edgware Road, London №2

Grosvenor Casino The Victoria, London

📍 150-162 Edgware Road, London

4.7 ★★★★★
  • Landmark Poker Room
  • Cash Games & Tournaments
  • Slots & Electronic Roulette
  • Marble Arch
Gaming 4.9
Venue 4.4
Dining 4.5
Atmosphere 4.7

Gaming The main floor sits on the first storey with the full run of classic table games, a bar and an outdoor terrace. Above it, the second-floor poker room — among the best known in the country — runs cash games around the clock.

Getting In Edgware Road, a few minutes from Marble Arch and Paddington, with the Underground on the doorstep and no easy parking. Bring photo identification and dress smart-casual. There are no bedrooms here; the Hilton London Metropole is a four-minute walk up the same road, with Libere London Edgware Road and Point A Paddington close by.

Dining The restaurant serves from six with a mixed menu of grills alongside Arabic and Thai dishes, and there are bars on the gaming floor and out on the terrace. The Club Room can be taken privately.

Atmosphere Serious about its cards and unpretentious about everything else. The terrace gives it air that most central rooms lack, and Edgware Road’s late kitchens keep the street awake long after other parts of town have gone quiet.

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Empire Casino, London — 5-6 Leicester Square, London №3

Empire Casino, London

📍 5-6 Leicester Square, London

4.6 ★★★★★
  • Leicester Square Landmark
  • Tables & Machines
  • Late Bars
  • West End
Gaming 4.7
Venue 4.6
Dining 4.5
Atmosphere 4.7

Gaming Blackjack, American roulette and punto banco on the tables, slots and electronic games alongside, and a London Poker Room with a long reputation running cash games and tournament action right through the night.

Getting In Right on Leicester Square itself, minutes from the Underground and easiest on foot or by cab late on. Photo ID is checked and smart-casual dress is the norm. No rooms of its own: The Londoner and the Radisson Blu stand on the square, W London just off it on Wardour Street.

Dining 7th Cat Chinese Kitchen is the restaurant. King’s Sports Bar shows sport around the clock, while the Dovetail Bar and the Icon Balcony Bar give you somewhere to sit above the square without leaving the building.

Atmosphere Grand and slightly old-school, with the square’s noise pressing against the windows. It suits a longer evening — a meal, a few hands, a drink on the balcony while the crowds thin below.

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Genting Casino Stratford — The Loft, London №4

Genting Casino Stratford

📍 The Loft, London

4.5 ★★★★★
  • Westfield Stratford City
  • Poker Room
  • Sports Screens
  • Olympic Park
Gaming 4.7
Venue 4.4
Dining 4.4
Atmosphere 4.5

Gaming A hundred and fifty slot machines plus BOOM Slots, live roulette, blackjack, three card poker, baccarat and perfect pairs, electronic terminals and Heads Up Hold’em, a low-stakes zone with £1 live roulette, the biggest poker room in the country and a sports betting shop open 10am to 10pm.

Getting In The Loft at Westfield Stratford City, above the shopping centre and a short walk from Stratford station and the Olympic Park, with the centre’s car parks below. ID is checked on entry and dress is relaxed but tidy. No rooms upstairs; Premier Inn London Stratford is barely a minute away, with Moxy and Holiday Inn Express nearby.

Dining Tanzibar handles food and a wide drinks list, and the Terrace Bar on the top floor runs DJ nights and live music — closer to a night out than a casino restaurant, which suits the building it sits in.

Atmosphere Modern, roomy and far less formal than the West End rooms, with a crowd that has often come from the shops, a film or a match. It stays busy late because east London has nowhere else quite like it.

Plan a Visit Events at this Venue

Addresses and telephone numbers were checked against operator listings when this guide was compiled. Opening hours and table schedules change without notice, so confirm directly with the venue before you travel.

Nights out

Poker series and evening bills

30Jul ♠ Poker Victoria Poker Weekender Grosvenor Casino The Victoria, London, London 3Aug ♠ Poker Thursday Deepstack Genting Casino Stratford, London 6Aug ✦ Event West End Cabaret Night The Hippodrome Casino, London

Full Calendar

Reading the differences

What separates one room from the next

Scale is the first thing that separates them. The Hippodrome stacks its gaming across several floors behind a grand corner frontage on Cranbourn Street, while the Empire keeps tables and machines inside a Leicester Square address people already know by sight. The Victoria’s draw is a poker room known well beyond the Edgware Road, and Stratford trades on breadth, with a low-stakes zone sitting a few steps from the higher tables.

Restaurant inside a licensed casino venue
Signature Dining
Live entertainment room at a casino venue
Live Entertainment
Casino card room set for a poker tournament
Tournament Poker

Dining is where the differences sharpen. Heliot Steak House and Chop Chop give the Hippodrome a proper restaurant offer alongside the tables; the Empire answers with 7th Cat Chinese Kitchen and a sports bar that stays open around the clock. The Victoria serves from six, and Stratford leans on Tanzibar and a top-floor terrace.

Pick the room that suits the evening you already had in mind, and let the gaming be part of it rather than all of it.

Planning an evening in the West End?

Tell us the night you have in mind and we will point you at the room that fits it.

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