Carlton Casino Club Ireland - Venue Overview

What Carlton Casino Club Actually Is

Carlton Casino Club is a private, members-only gaming venue on Upper O’Connell Street in Dublin 1. It is not an online casino and not a hotel casino floor. The club sits on the upper levels of the same building that has Dr Quirkeys amusement arcade at street level. You use the arcade frontage as your landmark, then head upstairs for the casino.

The club opened on 20 October 2018 at 55/56 Upper O’Connell Street, Dublin 1, D01 WF43. It trades as Carlton Casino Club Limited, registered at that address. The wider brand is Carlton Entertainment Group, mentioned on carltonentertainmentgroup.ie. In company filings the SIC category is “Fair and Amusement Park Activities” - slightly odd for a casino-style venue, but that is what appears in the records.

The site itself has some heritage. The Carlton Cinema operated here from roughly 1915 to 1936. The club takes the name and the address, so there is a nod to the past, but it is a modern operation rather than a continuation of the original cinema business.

Hours - Official Schedule vs Online Listings

On its own materials, Carlton Casino Club lists clear opening times: Thursday to Monday, from 9 pm until 5 am. That means it runs five nights a week and is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Third-party platforms tell a different story. TripAdvisor has hours like 8 am to 4 am on certain days. Wanderlog shows two separate sessions, 12 to 6 am and 6 pm to 6 am. Gambl.com has time information that appears misformatted. None of these match what the operator states. For planning, the working assumption should be Thursday to Monday, 9 pm-5 am, and treat the rest as noise.

A practical point: for a members-only club, turning up nearer opening time than towards the end of the night usually makes sign-up smoother. Staff are quieter, the process is less hurried, and you avoid trying to register when everyone is tired and thinking about closing.

Getting In: Membership

There is no casual walk-in play. Access to the gaming floor is restricted to members, and you must sort membership before you can actually sit at a table.

There are two straightforward routes.

First, arrange it in advance. Email [email protected] with your name and contact details before your trip. They handle the registration admin their side so you arrive with most of the work already done.

Second, handle it face to face. Go to 55/56 Upper O’Connell Street during opening hours, take a passport or driving licence, and register on-site. That is the whole process as far as public information shows. No membership fee structure is mentioned anywhere official, and no charge is clearly confirmed either way.

The club has flagged that an online membership system is in development via its gravity.ie platform. Based on currently available data it is not yet active, so the email and in-person paths remain the only working options.

Age checks are non-negotiable at the door. The minimum age is 18 and there are no listed exceptions.

Games and Areas

The venue focuses on table games plus poker. There is no formal game list on the club’s own pages, but when you combine casino directories and PokerAtlas, a consistent outline appears: roulette and blackjack on the main floor, with standard casino variants, alongside a dedicated poker area where tournaments are referenced separately.

In addition to the main space, there is a Salon Prive. This is a reserved VIP gaming area, geared towards private groups or higher-stakes play. It is set apart from the main floor as its own room, not simply a rope and a sign. To arrange access you contact [email protected] or call +353 1 515 4704.

Dr Quirkeys at street level operates on its own terms. People walk in off O’Connell Street and play arcade machines without needing any club membership.

How Membership Actually Works

The membership process is fairly linear, but knowing the order helps avoid delays at the door.

1. Decide how you want to register - by email beforehand or in person.
2. If you choose email, send your full name and contact details to [email protected].
3. If you prefer in person, go to 55/56 Upper O’Connell Street during the Thursday-Monday 9 pm-5 am window.
4. Bring photo identification - typically a passport or a driving licence.
5. Complete the registration form or digital sign-up as staff direct.
6. Make sure your membership is marked as active before heading to the gaming floor.
7. On later visits, have whatever membership credentials the club issued ready to show at entry.
8. For Salon Prive, make a separate arrangement by emailing [email protected] or calling +353 1 515 4704.

The plan is to plug membership into an online system in time. Until that comes online, the combination of email and on-site sign-up is what the club actually uses.

Contacts and Where to Find Them

The X profile, active since June 2019, lists the club at 55 O’Connell Street in Dublin, which lines up with the wider address. On LinkedIn there are two profiles - “Carlton Casino Club” and “Carlton Casino” - but both point back to the Upper O’Connell Street location. Across sources there is no sign of live chat or instant messaging support.

Getting There

Upper O’Connell Street is right in central Dublin. The closest Luas stop is O’Connell Street / GPO on the Red Line, effectively within a short walk of the entrance. Because the casino sits above Dr Quirkeys, the easiest approach is to look for the arcade signage at ground level and then head for the access to the upper floors.

Different sources quote two slightly different Eircode postcodes: D01 WF43 is used in company filings, TripAdvisor and LinkedIn, while Wanderlog shows D01 AW60. They map to the same physical building. For taxi drivers and navigation apps, “55/56 Upper O’Connell Street, Dublin 1” is the most consistent phrase to use.

Regulatory Notes

Public-facing material from Carlton Casino Club does not list a licence number, name a licensing body, or state an explicit regulatory category. In Ireland, private members’ gaming clubs operate under a different legal framework to fully licensed commercial casinos, so the absence of a visible licence in marketing or directory entries does not automatically indicate non-compliance. It does, however, mean there is a lack of detail for anyone checking regulatory status from the outside.

No clear responsible gambling message, published self-exclusion procedure, or AML statement appears in accessible sources linked directly to the club. These policies can still exist internally or on documentation not placed online, but they are not surfaced for general viewing. For players who treat regulatory clarity and safer gambling transparency as deciding factors, it is something to keep in mind when weighing up a visit.