SkyCity Casino is set to voluntarily close its doors for five days, with an estimated loss of $5 million over the ordeal, after failing to meet its harm minimisation obligations.
A cusotmer who gambled at the casino between 2017 and 2021, complained then prompted the Secretary of Internal Affairs place an application into the Gambling Commission to suspend SkyCity’s operator’s licence.
Hāpai te Hauora Māori Public Health Leadership’s Jessikha Leatham-Vlasic said SkyCity might look like the good guys by volunteering its closure but it didn’t care for its customers.
“They only care about their profit, and their host responsibilities and the mechanisms that are in place are the bare minimum, and actually there’s some really strong regulations that could be put in place if it actually did reflect harm minimisation and prevention.”
She did welcome the news and how it is being held accountable.
SkyCity has acknowledged that it breached its licence and Host Responsibility Programme and has formally apologised to The Department of Internal Affairs for these failings
The DIA investigation found there were 23 cases where a customer gambled continuously at the casino without SkyCity’s employee’s oversight or technological system which should’ve detected continuous play.
DIA Gambling Director Vicki Scott said this is the first voluntary closure of a casino and is the longest suspension of operations in a casino under the Gambling Act.
“Casinos and other gambling operators have strict obligations when it comes to preventing and minimising harm from gambling, including those relating to continuous and long hours of play.
“We are pleased that SkyCity has admitted to the breaches and acknowledged the gravity of their failures and the importance of its harm minimisation obligations.
“We will be working closely with SkyCity to make sure it is compliant in the future. It is encouraging to see the work SkyCity has already done to lift its performance in this area and its public commitment to continue to improve,” Scott wrote in a statement.
Leatham-Vlasic is worried that people going to the casino will find another way to gamble their money away.
“Now there’s a whole online world that has just exploded and not to say that our whānau will turn to online gambling when the casino closes, but that’s a real consideration.
“We don’t have the numbers we can’t necessarily estimate what that looks like, but just because casino closing in Auckland doesn’t mean whānau aren’t going to find somewhere else to go,” Leatham-Vlasic told Te Ao Māori News.
She does believe SkyCity’s closure is a positive step into the future.
“We should keep building the momentum, it shows that there are mechanisms in place we can hold the industry to account, and we should continue to do so.”