What 5 Dragons is
5 Dragons is a gaming machine game by Aristocrat. Crown Perth’s approved game rules define it as “the named video game developed by Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd”.
The name is not Aristocrat’s alone. Another studio, Royal Slot Gaming, has an online game also called 5 Dragons. In a snapshot of Google Australia results for “5 dragons pokies” from the search-data service Ahrefs, dated 11 October 2026, its listing on a slot catalogue site was third, and a page on Aristocrat’s own site was first. We did not compare the two games, so we cannot say how alike they are. If a site offers “5 Dragons”, check the studio name before you assume it is Aristocrat’s (how to check).
5 Dragons is also not Dragon Link, a separate series of games with its own rules. Both names have dragons in them; a figure or feature from one does not apply to the other.
Where the real 5 Dragons pokie machine runs in Australia
We can confirm two places: the Crown Perth casino floor and machines approved in the ACT. On 6 November 2026, Crown Perth’s 5 Dragons page said: “Available at the Crown Perth Casino.” The page does not say which version of the game stands there or how many machines there are.
The ACT gambling regulator approved 5 Dragons games between 2013 and 2019 (the approvals). An approval shows the game was allowed in ACT venues then; it does not show that a machine stands in a venue today.
Crown Perth’s rules say its prize schedules “should be read in conjunction with the on-screen game rules displayed on all Machines”. For 5 Dragons they list “Aristocrat Variation 01-07, 99”. So on a real machine, its help screen (the on-screen game rules) is what describes the game you are playing.
We did not check clubs or pubs in NSW, Victoria or Queensland, so we cannot say whether 5 Dragons stands in them. To find out, ask the venue.
5 Dragons online for real money: what we found in 14 lobbies
From Australia, none of the 14 offshore casino lobbies we searched listed a game called 5 Dragons on 6 November 2026. We searched twice, at 18:08 and 18:17 UTC, without an account, for “5 Dragons” and “Five Dragons”. Eleven of the lobbies run on one platform and publish a list of their studios; “Aristocrat” was on none of those lists. At the other three we read the full game list, from 4,828 to 4,911 games, and 5 Dragons was not in it.
The result was the same in our earlier checks: 5 lobbies on 11 October 2026 and the same 14 on 23 October 2026. A search for “Dragons” does find other games, such as Spadegaming’s 5 Fortune Dragons, but they are not Aristocrat’s 5 Dragons.
Aristocrat’s online version does exist, through Aristocrat Interactive, its online division. We found it named in the markets below, all outside Australia. This is what we found, not a full list, and being named does not show the game is open there today.
- Pennsylvania, USA: on 6 November 2026 Aristocrat Interactive’s game-help files listed the game for two operators, Caesars and FanDuel. A rules list is not a lobby.
- West Virginia, USA: on 24 March 2026 Caesars announced 5 Dragons on its online casinos there. That is Caesars’ statement on that date; we did not check the game today. Caesars says its online casino apps and websites are available only in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ontario, for players 21 or over. Australia is not on that list.
- Quebec, Canada: on 6 November 2026 a page on Espacejeux, Loto-Québec’s online gaming site, showed 5 Dragons with Aristocrat as the studio. We read it from a server in Germany and did not press Play. Loto-Québec’s rules for the game say “Malfunction voids all pays and plays.” They also say that in an unfinished bonus round “only the total winnings from games completed by the player at that time will be deposited into the account”. We do not apply those rules to any other site or to a venue machine.
What this means for you: we found no real-money 5 Dragons you can play online from Australia. This applies to the 14 lobbies on the dates we checked; a casino we did not check may list the name. We did not try the sites above from Australia or read their terms, so beyond Caesars’ statement we cannot say who they accept. Any such offer is also an offer ACMA says providers may not make to people in Australia (what the law says).
The 5 Dragons pokies bonus: free games and picking a dragon
Here “bonus” means the game’s own free games feature, not a casino bonus or promo code. In Aristocrat Interactive’s online rules, the feature “IS WON WITH ANY 3 OR MORE SCATTERED [coin symbols], FROM LEFTMOST REEL TO RIGHT”. A scatter is a symbol that counts wherever it lands, not only on a line.
A second screen then shows five feature options, one for each dragon, and you pick one. Each dragon gives a set number of free games, which are spins that cost you nothing. During them, wins with the dragon you chose standing in for other symbols are multiplied. A multiplier of ×5 makes such a win five times larger.
| Dragon you pick | Free games | Multipliers on wins with that dragon substituting |
|---|---|---|
| White | 20 | ×2, ×3 or ×5 |
| Red | 15 | ×3, ×5 or ×8 |
| Black | 10 | ×5, ×8 or ×10 |
| Blue | 8 | ×8, ×10 or ×15 |
| Yellow | 5 | ×10, ×15 or ×30 |
Aristocrat Interactive, 5 Dragons online game rules, read 6 November 2026. A venue machine’s help screen may differ.
The rules add three points. The feature “CAN BE WON AGAIN” during the free games. During the free games, a special symbol anywhere on reels 1 and 5 pays a bonus prize of 50, 20, 15, 10, 5 or 2 times your total bet. And “RETURN TO PLAYER FOR ALL 5 FEATURES IS ESSENTIALLY THE SAME.”
Aristocrat calls this choice “Choose Your Volatility”. Volatility means how much results swing: many small wins, or fewer and bigger ones. Our reading of Aristocrat’s rules: the dragon you pick changes how the free games swing, not how much they return on average. So under these online rules no dragon is the better deal; pick the swing you prefer.
Where this stops: the table comes from the online rules, and we did not read a venue machine’s help screen. In the rules and pages we read, Aristocrat gives no figure for how often the feature starts or for the biggest possible win, so we give none. On a machine, its help screen is the place to look.
The 5-credit ante bet
An ante is an extra bet you add to each spin. Aristocrat’s page for the 5 Dragons machine says: “Play an extra 5 credit ante-bet for an extra 5 free games when the Choose Your Volatility feature is triggered.” So the ante gives you 5 more free games, but only once the free games feature has started.
In 5 Dragons Deluxe, another version, the ante works differently: Aristocrat says “playing the ante bet gives players 2 more feature options”. In what we read, the ante belongs to the venue machine. The ACT’s 2013 approval lists 5 Dragons as a “Conventional – Ante Bet” machine, while neither set of online rules we read, Aristocrat Interactive’s and Loto-Québec’s, mentions an ante.
Is it worth it? Our reading: you pay the ante on every spin you play with it on, and it adds games only when the feature starts. We found nothing showing that the ante improves your chance of winning, and no source gives the return with and without it. Whether it suits you depends on whether you want to pay more per spin for longer free games when they come.
5 Dragons RTP: approved ranges, not one figure
RTP, or return to player, is the share of all bets a game pays back over a very long run of play. It is an average, not a promise for one session. A game can run in several variations, which are settings of the same game with different RTPs.
5 Dragons has no single RTP. Aristocrat Interactive’s online rules give 92.124–92.166% or 94.859–94.981%, depending on the variation; Loto-Québec’s rules give 94.86–94.98%. Venue machines have ranges approved for each configuration. The 95.17% that some sites quote has no source we could find.
| Where the figure comes from | Game or setting | Return to player listed | What it includes | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aristocrat Interactive online rules | 5 Dragons, var-02 (Caesars, Pennsylvania) | 92.124–92.166% | The game | Read 6 November 2026 |
| Aristocrat Interactive online rules | 5 Dragons, var-03 (FanDuel, Pennsylvania) | 94.859–94.981% | The game | Read 6 November 2026 |
| Loto-Québec game rules | 5 Dragons on Espacejeux (Quebec), variation not named | 94.86–94.98% | The game | Read 6 November 2026 |
| ACT approval NI2013-349 | 5 Dragons in a multi-game machine with a linked jackpot, variation 5 | 78.14–83.23% | Not the linked jackpot’s share, which the approval does not state | Approved 2013 |
| ACT approvals NI2014-96 and NI2014-396 | 5 Dragons – Diamond Edition and Sapphire Edition, all variations | 89.99–91.03% | The game and its jackpot (the approvals call it iSAP) | Approved 2014 |
| NSW and Victorian governments | All venue gaming machines | NSW: 85–92% over a machine’s lifetime; Victoria: at least 85% over a year | Rules for all machines, not 5 Dragons alone | Read 23 October 2026 |
| Third-party game sites | Not stated | 95.17% and others | No source given | Read 6 November 2026 |
Why the figures differ: they describe different games, settings and parts of the return. The 78.14–83.23% leaves out a linked jackpot, so it is not the machine’s whole return. One third-party site’s 94.86–94.98% is the same range as Loto-Québec’s rules. It matches var-03 when rounded, but that is our comparison: those rules name no variation. The 95.17% does not match anything Aristocrat, Loto-Québec or a regulator published that we read.
A sense of scale, our calculation and not a promise: at A$1 a spin and 600 spins an hour, a 92.124% setting keeps about A$47 an hour on average. A 94.981% setting keeps about A$30, and a 90% setting about A$60. A real session can lose more or win.
Where this stops: we do not know which variation a venue machine runs, and Crown Perth’s variations 01–07 and 99 are not matched to the online ones in any source. Do not apply an online figure to a machine; check its help screen. More on how RTP works is in our guide to how pokies set their return.
Which 5 Dragons is which: Gold, Deluxe, Pearl and the rest
5 Dragons is now a family of games. On 6 November 2026, Aristocrat’s site index had 26 entries with “5 Dragons” across its Asia, Europe-Middle East-Africa, Latin America and US sites. The names include 5 Dragons Gold, Pearl, Riches, Rapid, Deluxe, Ultra, Red Edition, Yellow Edition, Reign, Grand and Rising Jackpots.
Aristocrat’s descriptions show some differences:
- 5 Dragons Deluxe: “playing the ante bet gives players 2 more feature options.”
- 5 Dragons Pearl: “Max to 400x multipliers that players can receive during the free games feature.”
- 5 Dragons Ultra: “randomly-triggered free games and base game multipliers.”
- 5 Dragons Riches: “Multi games setup packaging with 5 Dragons Deluxe and 5 Dragons Gold.”
5 Dragons Rising Jackpots is a different online game, not the classic 5 Dragons. Its rules give 93.00% or 95.00% RTP, a minimum bet of 88 credits and four jackpots up to 100,000 credits. It is listed for Caesars, FanDuel and ESPN Bet, all in Pennsylvania.
For Australia, the ACT approved 5 Dragons Reign on 19 December 2019, as a new game from Aristocrat Technologies Australia. The Australian section of Aristocrat’s site, with 103 pages, has no 5 Dragons page. A site index is not a list of approvals, so this does not mean the games are absent from Australia.
What this means for you: a figure for one version does not carry over to another. On a machine, read its help screen to see which game and rules you have.
5 Dragons free play and how to spot a copy
The free option we found is Mighty Fu Casino, a social casino app sold by Product Madness. A social casino app is played with virtual coins, not money. Its App Store listing in Australia (rated 18+) names “5 Dragons” among its games and says: “This game does not offer gambling or an opportunity to win real money or prizes.”
We did not open the app, so we cannot confirm the game is in its lobby today or which version it is. The App Store descriptions of Heart of Vegas, Cashman Casino and Lightning Link Casino did not name 5 Dragons on 6 November 2026. We did not test any free 5 Dragons demo on the web, so we point to none as official. Other free options are in our guide to free pokies.
Copies and namesakes show up in search results. In Ahrefs snapshots of Google Australia results for “5 dragons pokies”, Royal Slot Gaming’s namesake was first on 16 August 2026 and third on 11 October 2026. The exact-match site 5dragonspokies.com was fifth in the August snapshot and not in the top 10 in the October one; on 6 November 2026 it offered “Play Now for Real Money” and listed AU among the countries. The same day a web search, with US results rather than Australian ones, showed many “5 Dragons” pages on unrelated domains, such as a university’s and a laboratory’s. We did not test these sites, so we do not call them scams.
Three checks before you trust a “5 Dragons”:
- The studio name. If the game tile or info panel names another studio, it is not Aristocrat’s game.
- The rules. Where the rules sit proves nothing: Aristocrat’s game can have them on Aristocrat Interactive’s game-help site or in the operator’s own file, as at Loto-Québec, whose file does not name Aristocrat. Look for the studio on the game page or in the rules. An online “5 Dragons” whose free games do not offer five dragons, from 20 games down to 5, is a reason for doubt, not proof.
- A real-money offer from Australia. If a site offers 5 Dragons for real money to you in Australia, that is the kind of offer ACMA says providers may not make (the law). For your money, ACMA’s warning page, read 23 October 2026, says: “If you gamble online using a company that operates illegally, you risk losing your money.”
5 Dragons and Australian law
ACMA, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, says: “The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes it illegal for gambling providers to offer some online services to people in Australia.” Its warning page lists “slots (pokies)” among “Illegal online services”. Our reading: an online 5 Dragons offered for real money to people in Australia falls under that list.
The law is aimed at providers. A 2011 federal review of the Act said: “However, the IGA does not make it an offence for Australian customers to access and use prohibited interactive gambling services.” That is a 2011 paper, not advice for your case. What the Act means for you as a player today is in our guide to whether online gambling is legal in Australia; for your own situation, ask a lawyer.
This section is about online real-money offers. It does not cover venue machines or social apps played with virtual coins.
What you can play online instead
The closest online game by theme in our comparison is 5 Lions Gold by Pragmatic Play. It shares a similar name and theme only: we did not compare how the games work or pay. On 6 November 2026 it was in none of the 14 lobbies from Australia. From a German connection it was in all 11 lobbies on the one platform.
Other games in Pragmatic Play’s 5 Lions series, namely 5 Lions Reborn, 5 Lions Dance, 5 Lions Megaways and 5 Lions Megaways 2, were in the full lists of three of the 14 lobbies read from Australia. A game in a lobby list is not a recommendation of the casino; we did not read these casinos’ terms.
Where to go next: the studio’s games are in our Pragmatic Play guide, other Aristocrat games in our Aristocrat pokies guide, and what to check before any real-money play in our real-money pokies guide. If 5 Lions Gold appears in these lobbies later, this section is out of date.
Safer play. Gambling Help Online is free and confidential, 24 hours a day, on 1800 858 858 and at gamblinghelponline.org.au. BetStop, at betstop.gov.au, is the national self-exclusion register for licensed Australian wagering; it does not cover online casinos. Set a limit before you play, including in social casino apps. You must be 18 or over. More contacts are on our support resources page.
5 Dragons FAQ
Can I play 5 Dragons pokies online for real money in Australia?
We found none: 0 of the 14 offshore casino lobbies we searched from Australia listed 5 Dragons on 6 November 2026. The markets we found for Aristocrat’s online version are all outside Australia: Pennsylvania in its rules files, West Virginia in a Caesars announcement of 24 March 2026, and Quebec on Loto-Québec’s site. ACMA says providers may not offer online pokies to people in Australia.
Is there a free 5 Dragons pokie?
The Mighty Fu Casino app from Product Madness names 5 Dragons in its Australian App Store description and pays no real money (6 November 2026). We did not open the app’s lobby, and we did not test any free demo on the web.
What is the RTP of 5 Dragons?
There is no single figure. Aristocrat Interactive’s online rules give 92.124–92.166% or 94.859–94.981% by variation; ACT approvals for venue versions give other ranges, such as 89.99–91.03% with a jackpot. On a machine, check its help screen.
How does the 5 Dragons bonus work?
In the online rules, 3 or more coin scatters start free games, and you pick a dragon: from 20 games at ×2, ×3 or ×5 to 5 games at ×10, ×15 or ×30. Aristocrat says the return for all five is essentially the same.
Is 5 Dragons the same game as Dragon Link?
No. Dragon Link is a separate series of games with its own rules. 5 Dragons is the Aristocrat game in which you pick one of five dragons for its free games.
Sources and method
- Crown Perth, 5 Dragons game page, read from Australia 6 November 2026, and Approved Rules of the Authorised Game – Video Bingo (updated by RAG/591 on 18 November 2024), read 17 October 2026
- Aristocrat Interactive, game help: 5 Dragons rules, the 5 Dragons Rising Jackpots rules and the game lists for Caesars, FanDuel, ESPN Bet, DraftKings and Golden Nugget, read 6 November 2026
- Aristocrat Gaming, 5 Dragons (Asia site), read 11 October and 6 November 2026, and the index of the pages on aristocratgaming.com, read 6 November 2026
- Caesars Entertainment, press release on Aristocrat Interactive titles in West Virginia, 24 March 2026, read 6 November 2026
- Loto-Québec, 5 Dragons page on Espacejeux and game rules (PDF), read 6 November 2026 from a server in Germany, without an account
- ACT Gambling and Racing Commission, gaming machine approvals: NI2013-349, signed 5 August 2013; NI2014-96, 18 March 2014; NI2014-188, 30 April 2014; NI2014-396, 20 August 2014, read 17 October 2026; NI2019-864, 19 December 2019, read 6 November 2026
- Mighty Fu Casino listing on the App Store (Australia); Heart of Vegas, Cashman Casino and Lightning Link Casino listings on the App Store (Australia), read 6 November 2026
- Lobby method: on 6 November 2026, at 18:08 and 18:17 UTC, we searched 14 offshore casino lobbies from an Australian connection and, for comparison, from Germany, without an account. On one platform (11), searched by title and studio list: BitStarz, CasinoChan, Casinonic, Dundee Slots, Golden Crown, King Billy, PlayAmo, Queen Spins, Ricky Casino, Spinago and Woo Casino. Full game lists (3): Casino Mate, King Johnnie and Wolf Winner. Jackpot Jill did not respond; Ozwin, Fair Go, Rich Palms and Kings Chance were not checked. Earlier checks: 11 and 23 October 2026. A casino named here is not a recommendation
- Search results: Google Australia results for “5 dragons pokies”, snapshots of 16 August and 11 October 2026 (via Ahrefs); a web search on 6 November 2026 with US results; third-party pages read 6 November 2026: 5dragonspokies.com, freeslots99 and coololdgames. We have no Google Australia snapshot for November
- Law: Australian Communications and Media Authority, About the Interactive Gambling Act and Protect yourself from illegal gambling operators, read 23 October 2026; Australian Government, Review of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (discussion paper, 2011), read 17 October 2026
- Return to player in NSW and Victoria, read 23 October 2026: NSW Government, GambleAware NSW: poker machines; Victorian Government, RSG online glossary
- Not checked: venue machine lists in NSW, Victoria and Queensland; the help screen of a venue 5 Dragons machine; the lobby inside the Mighty Fu Casino app; the terms of Caesars, FanDuel and Loto-Québec; other regulated markets outside Australia
- The cost per hour is our arithmetic: A$1 × 600 spins × (100% − RTP)
Written by: Helene Berner · First published: