How To Unlock The Casino in Cities: Skylines

Front side of The Casino unique building (Cities: Skylines)
Casino
Cost to Build ₡450,000
Upkeep ₡4,000/week
Entertainment Value 150
Noise Pollution 100

The Casino is a unique building that is only available with the Cities: Skylines After Dark DLC. To unlock it, you’ll need to have 5,000 square cells of leisure specialization built (which is also only possible with After Dark).

You’ll also need to reach the Big Town milestone, which can be anywhere from 1,800 to 7,500 citizens, depending on the map.

Although the Tourism & Leisure tab of the unique buildings menu is unlocked at the previous milestone (Busy Town), leisure specialization only becomes available at Big Town.

You can build the Casino from the Tourism & Leisure tab of the Unique Buildings menu, for a whopping ₡450,000. / Cities: Skylines
You can build the Casino from the Tourism & Leisure tab of the Unique Buildings menu, for a whopping ₡450,000.

Step 1: Create a District

First, decide where you want your leisure specialization to be. Leisure specialization only applies to commercial buildings, so keep that in mind when choosing where to zone this.

The Paint District tool. / Cities: Skylines
The Paint District tool.

Go to the Districts and Areas menu, select the Paint District tool, and paint over the desired area.

Step 2: Assign the Leisure Commercial Specialization

Once your district is created, go to the Commercial Specializations tab. Select Leisure Specialization, then click on your district to apply it.

The comedy mask icon indicates that any commercial zoning in this district will have leisure buildings. / Cities: Skylines
The comedy mask icon indicates that any commercial zoning in this district will have leisure buildings.

Step 3: Zone Commercial

Lastly, paint low-density commercial zoning within that area.

Any commercial buildings that grow there will have the leisure specialization.

As those zones start developing, the leisure commercial buildings will start counting towards your progress.

You can check your progress by hovering over the Casino silhouette in the level 3 unique buildings tab. / Cities: Skylines
You can check your progress by hovering over the Casino silhouette in the level 3 unique buildings tab.

Tips for Unlocking The Casino

Here are a few tips for managing your leisure specialization zones:

Tip #1: It’s Much Easier in a Larger City

In order to count towards the 5,000, the leisure specialization squares will need to grow buildings on them, not merely be zoned. So there will need to be actual demand for commercial zoning.

This will mean you’ll need a fairly large population size for the 5,000 squares, as you won’t have commercial demand unless there are enough citizens to fill the jobs.

Tip #2: Only Low-Density Buildings Will Grow

Regardless of whether you zone low-density or high-density commercial in your leisure district, only low-density buildings will grow.

Unlike generic commercial buildings, these do not have to be leveled up and will always have the same single level.

They will generate about the same number of workplaces as a level 3 low-density generic commercial zone.

Tip #3: Space Them Out or Keep Away From Residential Areas

Leisure specialized districts spawn businesses like gaming arcades, gyms, salons and clubs.

These generate a lot of noise and traffic, which can have a negative effect on nearby residential areas.

A cluster of leisure buildings, which includes gyms, arcades, and clubs—like the Nightclub Happy Hamster. / Cities: Skylines
A cluster of leisure buildings, which includes gyms, arcades, and clubs—like the Nightclub Happy Hamster.

To avoid citizens complaining about noise, one option is to space them out in small patches across your city.

The other option, if you’d prefer to have one large district with lots of leisure buildings, is to simply keep them a good distance away from your residential zones.

Liz Villegas

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Liz is a writer and photographer with a love for building and strategy games. Her spare time is often split between lifting, reading, drawing, annoying her dog Mr. Porky Butt, and squinting at stat tables on the wiki pages of whatever game she's currently playing.

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