Adelaide’s SkyCity casino recruiting for more than 140 new jobs amid ‘multi-year transformation’

Adelaide’s SkyCity casino is recruiting for 140 jobs as it undergoes a “multi-year transformation”. Is it a good place to work? Ask Kym – he’s been there since day one.

Kym Yeo has worked as a security guard at SkyCity since it opened 40 years ago as Adelaide Casino. Picture: Keryn Stevens.

SkyCity is recruiting for more than 140 roles as it undergoes a program it says will transform its people, customers and community.

The landmark North Tce site is recruiting people for jobs across areas including food and beverage, gaming, security and marketing.

However, it also is seeking around 50 people to embed a transformation in complex areas including dealing with financial crime, gambling harm minimisation, remediation and project management.

SkyCity Adelaide managing director Avril Baynes said the recruitment drive “is key to SkyCity’s vision as the state’s pre-eminent entertainment provider”.

“SkyCity is embarking on a multi-year transformation that will redefine our operations in the South Australian community by enhancing compliance and elevating customer experience,” she said.

“This is a superb opportunity to work for a leading employer in the world-class Riverbank precinct, at what is an electrifying time for tourism in our state.”

SkyCity’s Eos hotel has become an iconic part of the Riverbank skyline.

SkyCity is one of the state’s largest single site employers with a workforce of more than 1300 people.

The recruitment drive marks a new chapter as the casino celebrates its 40th anniversary after opening to much fanfare in December 1985 as the city’s first and only casino.

More than 3000 people packed the invitation-only opening which doubled as a victory party for then-premier John Bannon, who had won a second term at the polls five days earlier.

Flanked by chief justice Len King and police commissioner David Hunt, Mr Bannon stood in the ring with the kip and tossed the pennies to begin the first legal game of two-up.

The guest list included businessman Sir James Hardy, jockey John Letts, cricketer David Hookes, opposition leader John Olsen, deputy premier Don Hopgood and Labor stalwart Mick Young.

There was nowhere better for a glamorous night on the town in the mid-1980s.

SkyCity Entertainment Group took over the license in 2000 and the casino was officially renamed SkyCity Adelaide.

A $330m investment has seen SkyCity Adelaide become a pivotal part of a world-class destination in the heart of the Riverbank entertainment precinct.

Opened in December 2020, the expansion includes the luxury five-star Eos by SkyCity hotel, a range of bars and restaurants, expanded gaming and VIP offerings and a showcase of 900 pieces of local art.

SkyCity forms part of the $1bn Festival Plaza rejuvenation project. Last financial year more than two million visitors passed through its doors, cementing its role as a driving force for economic growth and tourism.

40 years in a job Kym loves

By Anna Vlach

Five years after a wild night as bodyguard to John Travolta, security guard Kym Yeo started work at the Adelaide casino – and liked it so much he never left.

Mr Yeo, who is 70 years young, has been an employee at Adelaide’s first and only casino since its grand opening on Thursday, December 12, 1985.

Working in security, he has seen many changes to the casino in Adelaide’s historic Railway Station building.

He was there when party band Chunky Custard played on the balcony, when rocker Jimmy Barnes did an acoustic show in Marble Hall and when the casino’s license was taken over by SkyCity Entertainment Group in 2000.

“VIPs were always escorted through a different door – no one ever saw them, they never came through the (public) doors,” he said, adding he did spot Laughter In The Rain singer Neil Sedaka and comedian Billy Connolly back in the day.

Since then, Mr Yeo has watched as SkyCity Adelaide – which welcomed more than two million visitors through its door in the past financial year alone – continues to become bigger and better.

Kym Yeo has worked at the Adelaide casino since day one. Picture: Keryn Stevens.

The changes he has seen have included the casino’s evolution into South Australia’s only world-class integrated entertainment precinct, which includes the 5-star Eos by SkyCity hotel and dedicated conference and events facilities.

Famous for its Pullman Restaurant and silver service buffet back in the day, it now boasts a number of award-winning multicultural restaurants such as Madame Hanoi, The Kitchen, iTL and SOL Rooftop.

Recently announced as the LIV Golf entertainment partner, SkyCity Adelaide Ballroom hosted the LIV welcome party earlier this month.

But at what was the social event of 1985 – the Adelaide Casino’s pre-Christmas opening night party – Mr Yeo was actually already on the job.

“It was incredible,” he said of the launch, adding: “We had three practice runs on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for the workers who built the casino (fit-out), a charity night and VIPs.”

The casino’s main gambling room in 1985.

Mr Yeo recalled the casino was officially opened for business by then-premier John Bannon with South Australia’s first legal two-up game, featuring media stars Anne Wills and Bob Francis.

After the call “come in spinner’’, Mr Bannon entered the pit, tossed the coins high and exclaimed “heads”; the coins spun through the air before landing on the floor – tails!

“There was a real buzz,” Mr Yeo said of the casino’s early days.

“It was full every weekend, there were lines to (get in) to the corner of North Terrace … valet staff who looked like Buckingham Palace soldiers in military red outfits.”

Visitors also came decked out in “very classy attire”, which meant taffeta gowns with big shoulders and even bigger hair for women.

As for the men, Mr Yeo said “collared shirts were the minimum and there was no denim”.

Then premier John Bannon at the casino’s opening night on December 12, 1985.

Before the casino opened, Mr Yeo worked on “crowd control” when Travolta visited Adelaide at the height of Grease mania in the early ’80s, shielding the heart-throb as he moved through a mass of frenzied fans.

Looking forward to the casino’s 40th anniversary – and his own career milestone as one of its longest-serving employees – in December this year, Mr Yeo said the staff were like family to him.

“I love Christmas and always do up the area with decorations – I go all out,” he said.

He also likes to inspire fellow staff members by sharing an inspirational quotes with them as the walk in and out of the staff entrance which he now mans.

“I put one up every shift I am on – things like ‘Run the day or the day runs you’,” he said.

Originally published as Adelaide’s SkyCity casino recruiting for more than 140 new jobs amid ‘multi-year transformation’