North Queensland have sacked major signing Ben Barba for a breach of his NRL playing contract without playing a single game for the club.

Barba was involved in an incident at a Townsville casino, according to a report by Nine news late on Friday night.

“When a player joins the North Queensland Cowboys he agrees to abide by the terms of the contract. After an internal investigation, it has been determined that this player has acted in contradiction to both the terms and the spirit of that agreement,” the Cowboys said in a statement on Friday.