Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford - Full Review

What the Place Actually Is

I spent a couple of weeks going back and forth to this casino, and the first thing that really lands is the size of it. It is on Level 3 of Westfield Stratford City, above the food court and The Street, inside what is often called Europe’s biggest in-town shopping centre. You get there either through the main Westfield walkways or by using the dedicated lift from Car Park B. The full address is 312 The Loft, Montfichet Road, Olympic Park, London E20 1ET.

The naming is where things get slightly messy. On the ground, the venue now trades as Genting Casino Stratford, but it originally opened around December 2011 as Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City. A lot of directories, review sites and even the Gambling Commission register still show both names for the same building. The old Aspers contact details - [email protected] and +44 (0)20 8536 5630 - are still in use.

There is no membership process at the door. If you are 18 or older you just walk in, which strips away a layer of admin that some other London casinos still cling to. That single detail makes it easier to drop in casually, especially if you are coming from the shops or cinema.

Gaming Floor - What Is Actually There

On the main floor the live tables cover the usual casino backbone: roulette, blackjack and baccarat variations. Around and between them there are electronic terminals and slot-style machines, so you can move between live dealer play and screens without crossing half the building. The layout feels relatively open; unlike some West End venues, it does not have that cramped, corridor effect.

The sports betting corner is not just a lonely machine in the wall. It is set up as a proper betting office inside the casino, with space to stand and watch markets. They run UK and Irish horse racing, greyhounds, virtual races and live sports betting. If you like to put on a race bet, then wander back to a table game, having it a few steps away is genuinely handy. You do not often see this kind of arrangement in a London casino.

The poker room sits off to one side as its own section and has built up a steady reputation among UK poker regulars. Cash games and tournaments have been part of the schedule for years. The timetable did change after May 2021: instead of 24 hours, poker now runs fixed hours from 10:00 until 05:00 every day. If you are aiming for a very late session, that cut-off matters.

Getting There - The Route I Used

I tried the obvious route in on a weekday evening from Stratford station and it was almost too simple. Here is roughly how it went:

1. Come out of Stratford station and follow the signs pointing towards Westfield Stratford City.
2. Go in via the main entrance on The Street level, where the shopping mall starts.
3. Take the escalators or a lift up to Level 3.
4. Follow the internal signs for Genting Casino Stratford until you see the entrance.
5. If you are driving, another way is to head to Car Park B and take the dedicated lift straight to Level 3.
6. Have some valid photo ID ready - they do check age and they do it consistently.
7. Step inside, without needing to sign up to any club or pay a joining fee.
8. Then either walk to the cash desk for chips or turn towards the betting office, depending on what you came for.

In practice the casino sits within roughly 4 to 15 minutes of Stratford station, Stratford International and a stack of bus routes. Those transport links are one of the real-world advantages versus central London casinos, where just getting there and back can chew up an hour or more.

One small tip from my visits: if you have never been before, try going on a quieter weekday rather than a peak Friday night. On calmer days the layout is easier to learn, you are not being shoved along by crowds and staff have more time to explain things if you are unsure about a game.

Opening Hours - Genuinely Complicated

This part caught me out, so I want to spell it out clearly. Genting’s own site claims the casino is open 24 hours a day, every day. Accessibility sites and local casino listings usually quote 10:00 until 05:00 from Monday to Sunday, with a push to 06:00 on Saturdays. Then you have TripAdvisor and similar places showing yet another set of times.

My sense is that these clashes come from separate parts of the venue operating on different schedules, plus changes around the pandemic that never got cleaned up online. One night I arrived expecting full 24-hour access based on Genting’s page and found the poker room was closed. Not the end of the world, but annoying when you have planned around it.

So my practical routine now is simple: if I am thinking about turning up outside standard evening hours, I call +44 (0)20 8536 5630 first and check. The poker room in particular is clearly set at 10:00 to 05:00 each day, which PokerNews also flagged when the May 2021 change went through. Relying on a single random listing is asking for a wasted trip.

Bars inside the casino - including the Terrace Bar that appears in the Westfield dining directory - are integrated into the Level 3 space. You can get food and drinks without needing chips in your hand, which makes it workable even if someone in your group is not keen on gambling.

What I Found in Practice

What really plays in this place’s favour is the scale. Having live tables, electronic gaming, a functioning poker room and a fully fledged sports betting office in one East London spot is not that common. Removing the membership barrier nudges it closer to a normal night out rather than a formal “casino club” visit.

The brand tangle is more of a background irritation than a deal-breaker. Typing “Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford” into a search engine throws up a scatter of Aspers and Genting results, and the old aspersstratford.co.uk site still sits alongside Genting pages. If you have never been before, it is not immediately obvious who actually runs the place. The Gambling Commission database lists both Aspers (Stratford City) Ltd and Genting Casino Stratford Limited at the same location, which basically reflects a licensing handover that has not been clearly explained to normal visitors.

Hours are a different category: that confusion can actually ruin an evening. I now treat checking opening times as part of planning, in the same way as checking last trains. Not optional.

History and the Genting Transition

The venue launched in late 2011 as part of the original Westfield Stratford City push, heavily sold at the time as London’s only “super casino” and pitched as the largest casino space in Britain. It sits right by the Olympic Park, and the timing was aligned with the build-up to the London 2012 Games. The wider Aspers group also runs casinos in Newcastle, Northampton and Milton Keynes, so Stratford was one part of a small chain.

Somewhere after those early years the branding shifted. Genting Casino Stratford Limited is now listed as the operating company on the Gambling Commission register, and Genting’s own material refers to the site as “Genting Casino Stratford (formerly Aspers Casino Westfield).” Westfield Stratford City’s entertainment listings also name Genting as the on-site casino.

Despite all that, some Aspers traces are still visible. The [email protected] email shows up in management replies on TripAdvisor, implying some back-office or legacy contact structure is still in place. Aspers Casinos has a corporate head office at 1 Hans Street, London SW1X 0JD, while 312 The Loft in Stratford is also mentioned in LinkedIn entries as a headquarters for parts of the operation. The dual presence of Aspers and Genting entities at one address is not a safety concern in itself; the venue is fully licensed under the Gambling Act 2005. It just introduces needless fog for anyone trying to work out exactly which company they are interacting with.

Verdict

After several visits, my overall take is that this is a large, easy-to-reach casino with a real mix of gambling formats in East London. Walking in without a membership card, being able to place sports bets on-site and having a long-running poker room all add up to a fairly flexible venue. Linked transport at Stratford makes it one of the more straightforward major casinos to get to in the city.

The downsides are mostly around information, not the floor itself. The move from Aspers to Genting branding has left a confusing footprint online, and the inconsistent opening hours across sites are something you simply have to manage by checking directly.

For casual players, poker regulars and sports bettors based in or near East London, the Stratford Westfield casino remains a practical, well-equipped option. As long as you double-check the hours before you set out and do not get too hung up on the brand labels, the experience generally holds together.