This large casino is located directly underneath the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julian’s – this was useful as I was also staying there.

My first casino experience, you need to become a member to enter and play the games – this was free and relatively straightforward, you just needed to bring ID with you for your first visit and sign up for a membership. Membership has several tiers – the starter level for most people will be bronze. You get various offers on your first visit, including half price drinks.

The casino itself comprises a number of large rooms with gaming machines and tables for roulette and various card games. There are a couple of bars and waitresses roam the rooms checking for drinks orders. Very efficient bar staff – they remember your order after only a couple of visits. Standard bar prices also very reasonable.

Gaming machines are my thing, so I stuck with those – there are lots of different ones and you can bet anything from 20C right up to 10Euro or more a spin – I liked Gong Hei, Gong Hei, which is very similar to Eye of Horus or Fishing Frenzy, but with Chinese symbols. Also Lord of the Ocean was very good and a couple of others I forget. Overall this wasn’t my week, in terms of results, but I did enjoy several hours of playing over the course of 6 days and the chance to play some different machines was good.

Something unusual, coming from the UK, is that you could smoke inside in one of the larger casino rooms – it’s been such a long time since smoking was banned indoors here that I’d forgotten what it was like to be in a smoked-filled room. You can avoid that room if it bothers you though. Me, I found it nostalgic.