SkyCity Auckland Casino will shut its doors for five consecutive days in 2024 following an agreement reached with the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).
The unprecedented move comes after SkyCity admitted to breaches of the Gambling Act, specifically failing to meet its host responsibility obligations between 2017 and 2021. The DIA’s investigation was prompted by a 2022 complaint from a customer who gambled over $1 million without any intervention from casino staff during extended play periods.
The casino’s compliance shortcomings allowed the customer to gamble uninterrupted for more than nine hours on one occasion, reflecting systemic failures in monitoring and addressing potential gambling harm.
The closure is the longest ever agreed or imposed by the Gambling Commission.
The casino’s New Zealand chief operating officer, Callum Mallett has apologised.
The closure is expected to impact the casino’s earnings by around $5 million.
The DIA and SkyCity are collaborating to enhance compliance and harm minimisation practices, including the implementation of mandatory carded play by mid-2024. This initiative aims to ensure all customers are playing with unique identifiers, improving the monitoring of gambling activities.
The Problem Gambling Foundation lauded the DIA’s ‘decisive action’, noting it sets a clear precedent for other gambling operators.
Image credit: Michel Parzuchowski
Five days means nothing to this kind of business, they will just lie, cheat and steal to make it up. Shut them down for good as they are just useless to most Kiwi’s.
Some idiot gambles over $1 million and that is somehow the casino’s fault? Bullshit.
Next question: how did the fool have so much money to gamble?