Best Alternative Names For Casinos In Australia

Gaming Facility, No Casino

The Queen’s Wharf Brisbane Integrated Resort Development has been in the works for years.

It all started in 2012 when the government announced its intention to redevelop the area. The next two years consisted of entertaining proposals and bids, considering the options for the project.

The Destination Brisbane Consortium was chosen as the hopeful developer, and the Queensland government ultimately reached a contractual agreement with it in November of 2015.

As the project took shape and morphed into the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane project during excavation in 2018 and initial construction in 2019, one thing became clear. The government did not want the public to be wary of a casino as a part of the project.

Of course, the Treasury Building will be transformed into a massive gaming facility, but it will be a small part of the entire development. The website for the project is careful to say that the gaming floor will be “less than five percent of the overall development and is comparable to other integrated resort developments in Australia and globally.”

So, it won’t be a “casino.”

Since gaming facility doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, we have some ideas for unique names for the facility-formerly-known-as-a-casino in the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane integrated resort.

Synonyms For Gambling

The first goal should be to replace the word “gamble.” Merriam-Webster lists a number of synonyms for the word: adventure, chance, crapshoot, enterprise, flier, flutter, speculation, throw, venture. Another set of synonyms includes: bet, go, lay, play, put, stake, wager.

Some of those – crapshoot, bet, stake, wager – are obviously not good replacements. But others can certainly be worked into catchy phrases:

• Venture Capital
• Enterprise Zone
• Adventure Parlor
• Play Pit
• Chance Club
• Bet Barn

There are also simple replacements for casino, such as salon, studio, or club.

Synonyms For Betting

Returning to the reliable Merriam-Webster online resource, there are quite a few synonyms for the word “bet”: stake, wager, choice, pick, selection. Words related to bet include collateral, handle, jackpot, kitty, pool, and pot.

Using kitty might give the wrong impression about the nature of the establishment, but there are other ways to work with some of the other words:

• Stake Diner
• Pool Lounge
• Choice Club

Variations on Slots

Slots is a slang term, but the word slot has entirely different meaning in the dictionary. It is technically a “situation or activity for which a person or thing is best suited.” Its synonyms are: grooves, niches, places.

By putting two of those words with gaming, it provides a more pleasant-sounding term.

• Gaming Groove
• Gaming Niche

Variations on Games

Gaming is most associated with video games, something that people differentiate greatly from gambling. By taking the basic word “game” and picking out some synonyms for that, there were some interesting results: competition, contest, matchup, sweepstakes, fun, jest, play, and sport.

Since the machines and games like blackjack and poker are technically games played for entertainment, there are some possibilities for the gambling industry to reclaim the word “game” and thereby claim “gaming.”

• Gaming Lounge
• Competition Cabaret
• Mature Playground
• Entertainment Club
• Game Activity Zone

Reframing Pokies

Pokies has taken on the same connotation as gambling and slot machines. But there are other ways to designate pokies as well. Here are just a few examples:

• Entertainment Machines
• Amusement Machines
• Gaming Mechanisms
• Coin Contraptions
• Fun Engines
• Amusement Apparatus

Unlikely Changes

It seems as if a marketing expert could help the gambling industry reform its image.

Could all of this apply to Australian online casinos as well? Would players be drawn to an internet entertainment club? Would they deposit into an account on an adventure parlor?

At the beginning of a new year – even a new decade – perhaps the gambling industry could use a makeover.

As far as the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane development is concerned, there is plenty of time to make changes. Notable construction begins only in 2020 and the entire integrated resort is not due to open its doors until 2022.