Casino Servos Cut Unleaded to 239.9 While Byron Shire Holds Rises of Up to 12 Cents

Casino Servos Cut Unleaded to 239.9 While Byron Shire Holds Rises of Up to 12 Cents

Two parts of the Northern Rivers have spent the past week moving in opposite directions, and the gap between them deserves closer scrutiny. Official NSW FuelCheck prices at the 12:00pm AEDT sync on Sunday 18th Oct 2026 show motorists in Casino paying as little as 237.5 cents a litre for unleaded. Every servo Petrolmate tracks in Byron Shire now asks 247.9 or more.

Casino cuts, one servo at a time

Seven of Casino's eight servos lowered their unleaded price between 11 and 15 October. United Petroleum Casino on Johnston Street went first, from 245.9 to 239.9. The next day both Liberty sites, on Centre Street and Hare Street, came down to the same 239.9. Nightowl on Johnston Street cut 5 cents to 244.9. On 15 October Casino Roadhouse matched 239.9 and Ampol Foodary on Centre Street dropped to 244.9.

Solo Casino has gone lowest, trimming from 239.5 to 237.5. That is cheaper than any servo in Lismore, Ballina or Byron Shire today. About 100 metres away on the same street, Ampol Foodary asks 244.9, a difference of 7.4 cents. Ampol Casino on Dyraaba Street is the only one that has held, at 245.9, unchanged since 3 October. The town's median has gone from 245.9 on 1 October to 239.9 today.

Byron Shire moves the other way

Between 50 and 60 kilometres to the east, prices have gone up instead. All 12 servos across Byron Bay, Bangalow, Mullumbimby, Brunswick Heads, Suffolk Park and Tyagarah are dearer than they were on 1 October, by between 4 and 12 cents. Most of the rises landed between 6 and 16 October. Bangalow General Store went from 247.7 to 259.7 in three steps, and Liberty Byron Bay lifted twice, from 243.9 to 254.9.

Only two of the 12 have given anything back. Liberty Bangalow trimmed 2 cents to 258.9 on 16 October, and EG Ampol Byron Bay is on 250.9, a cent below its 251.9 peak. The Byron Shire median has climbed from 243.9 to 251.9.

So the two areas have swapped places. On 1 October, Byron Shire's median was 2 cents under Casino's. Today it is 12 cents over.

Same sign, 19 cents apart

Liberty's own prices show the spread. Both Liberty sites in Casino sell unleaded at 239.9. Liberty's Lismore sites ask 245.9, Liberty Mullumbimby 251.9, Liberty Byron Bay 254.9 and Liberty Bangalow 258.9. That is 19 cents a litre under the same sign, or about $11.40 on a 60 litre tank.

EG Ampol has a similar split over a shorter distance. EG Ampol Ballina is on 242.9, 8 cents under the EG Ampol in Byron Bay about 25 kilometres up the coast.

The rest of NSW did not follow Byron

Byron Shire's rises are not part of a statewide lift, and that raises questions about what is driving them. The Sydney median peaked at 242.9 on 12 and 13 October and has since eased to 239.9, level with Casino. If wholesale costs had gone up, you would expect to see it in both Casino and Byron Shire. Instead, the two areas have moved about 14 cents apart since the start of the month.

Lismore, which sits between them, has barely moved. Its 15 servos, including Goonellabah and South Lismore, have a median of 245.9, the same as at the start of the month. Ballina is cheaper again. Four major brand sites in Ballina and West Ballina lifted 3 cents in early October to 242.9 and have stayed there, while Metro Ballina and Mobil West Ballina are on 240.5.

Petrolmate cannot see why an individual servo sets its price. The data does show Casino's cuts arriving one after another over five days, the kind of pattern you see when servos are responding to each other. Byron Shire has had no run of cuts like that since its rises.

What motorists can do

E10 prices offer little relief in Byron Shire, where only two of the 12 servos list it: EG Ampol Byron Bay at 248.9 and Ampol Foodary Brunswick Heads at 245.9. Across the wider region, most sites price E10 exactly 2 cents under unleaded.

If you drive between the coast and Lismore or Casino, it pays to choose which end of the trip you fill up at. Ballina's 240.5 sits 7 to 19 cents under every Byron Shire servo, and Casino's 239.9 cluster is cheaper again. Check unleaded petrol prices across NSW or the interactive fuel map before setting off. The price trends page shows whether a region is still climbing or has started to ease.

I will be watching whether Byron Shire's servos start cutting the way Casino's did. Armed with this information, Northern Rivers motorists who travel between the coast and Casino can avoid paying up to 19 cents a litre more under the same Liberty sign.