A casting unit for a die casting machine has a casting container with a casting chamber, a casting piston, which is arranged in an axially movable manner in the casting chamber, a melt bath connection opening, a melt inlet channel from the melt bath connection opening to the casting chamber, a melt outlet channel, which leads out of the casting chamber separately from the melt inlet channel, and a shut-off control valve for the melt inlet channel. The shut-off control valve has a valve main body arranged on the casting container, a valve seat and a valve closing body. The valve main body is held on the casting container at a lateral valve assembly region of the casting container in a manner accessible from the outside and includes the melt bath connection opening, and/or the casting piston is of a spool type, and the shut-off control valve is located with its valve closing body in the melt inlet channel at a flow-technical distance from the melt bath connection opening on the one hand and from the casting chamber on the other hand.