Dragon Link in Australia: where the machines are, state by state

Venues that name Dragon Link

A venue makes this list only when its own website names Dragon Link. That rule keeps the list short — most clubs in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia don't name individual games online — but every row can be checked with one click from the sources at the bottom of the page.

The Star Gold Coast used to run a whole Dragon Link Zone: all eight titles, every denomination from 1c to $2, and a Grand starting at $50,000 on the main floor. The page was live in April 2026 and has since been taken down, so the casino stays off the board until its website shows the zone again.

What venues set the Grand at

Dragon Link comes in linked versions, where a bank of machines feeds one Grand, and in standalone ones. Either way the jackpot's start-up is a setting chosen from the options the regulator has approved, which is why the same game shows different Grand amounts in different rooms. The pages above give a rare look at the settings:

• Club Burleigh: starts at $10,000 and reaches a maximum of $23,500, shared by 20 machines.
• Transcontinental Hotel: a $20,000 start-up.
• Eagle Tavern: $20,000 to $33,500, across 13 machines.
• Lasseters: two separate Dragon Link meters on the casino's page — "Dragon Link XS 2" showed $62,026.30 and "Dragon Link Q $20K" $22,550.20 on 29 September 2026. The page doesn't say how often those figures refresh.

Casinos run bigger links. The Star Sydney's July 2026 table lists Dragon Link jackpots in three gaming areas, and the $1,132,012.64 win came on a link its table calls "Dragon Link SAS SR 1M". Those are the exception, not the room most people play in. How the Grand, Major, Minor and Mini work on the machine itself is on the jackpots page.

State by state

Two numbers change the most from state to state: the biggest bet you can make on one spin, and the lowest return a machine may pay over time. Both come from the national gaming standard's appendix for each state, which is the rulebook every Dragon Link cabinet is tested against.

New South Wales

The Star Sydney is the only NSW venue whose own page names Dragon Link. The state has around 87,000 poker machines across some 2,100 clubs and hotels, and the club and pub websites we searched — RSLs, leagues and bowling clubs from Sydney to Newcastle and Wollongong — list their facilities rather than their games. The maximum bet is $10 a spin and the minimum return is 85%. Crown Sydney has no pokies at all.

Victoria

No Victorian venue names Dragon Link on its website, and Crown Melbourne doesn't publish game pages. The regulator's approvals tell the rest of the story: Dragon Link games were approved in December 2024 and again on 20 August 2026, the step a game takes before it reaches Victorian floors. In pubs and clubs the maximum bet is $5, a machine takes no more than $100 at a time, and types approved from 1 December 2025 can't spin faster than once every three seconds. The minimum return is 85% in pubs and clubs and 87% at Crown, and gaming rooms outside the casino close from 4 am to 10 am.

Queensland

Queensland is where venues talk about Dragon Link the most: seven clubs and hotels on the board, from the Gold Coast to Townsville. In clubs and hotels a machine must return between 85% and 92% over its lifetime, and the maximum bet is $5. Casinos have an 85% minimum and no maximum bet set in the standard.

South Australia

We read more than ten South Australian hotel and club gaming pages and none names Dragon Link — most don't name any game. The minimum return is 87.5%, the maximum bet is $5, and a venue licence allows up to 40 machines.

Western Australia

Poker machines with spinning reels are banned in WA. The only electronic gaming machines are at Crown Perth, where every game must return at least 90% and each player needs a Crown Rewards card with limits set on it. Dragon Link isn't among the games listed in Crown Perth's rules, updated on 12 May 2026.

Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory

Tasmania: 87% minimum return, $5 maximum bet; no venue page names Dragon Link. ACT: 87% minimum return and a $10 maximum bet. The ACT approved the first four titles for its clubs as "Dragon Link" back in March 2018, but no Canberra club names it online today. Northern Territory: four venues on the board, including both casinos. Clubs and hotels have an 85% minimum return and a $5 maximum bet; the casinos have no maximum bet.

The best denomination to play

The honest answer is that nobody has published one. Venues that name denominations give them for the whole room — 1c to $1 at Mindil Beach and at Nightcliff Sports Club — and the archived Star Gold Coast page listed 1c to $2 for Dragon Link. Neither Aristocrat nor any venue publishes the return for each denomination.

What a denomination does change is the value of one credit, and with it the cost of each spin. What your bet changes on Dragon Link — including how the jackpots are paid — is covered on the strategy page, and the symbols and prizes on the pay table page. The rule that doesn't change is the state minimum return: it applies at every denomination.

Rules that travel with you

Every venue is 18+, and every state runs self-exclusion from its gaming rooms. BetStop, the national register, covers online and phone betting only — it doesn't bar you from a club's pokies. If you want a break from the machines themselves, ask the venue or call Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858; there's more on our gambling help page.

My verdict

If you want to see Dragon Link with the prizes spelt out, Queensland's clubs and hotels are the most open about it: Club Burleigh and Eagle Tavern tell you how many machines share the Grand and where it starts. Anywhere else, the machines are more likely than the websites to tell you what's there — the jackpot panel on top of each cabinet shows the four prizes before you put in a dollar.