Auckland's SkyCity casino is set to close for five days after "failing to meet its host responsibility obligations".
SkyCity Entertainment Group Ltd announced the news this morning.
"The dates of closure are not yet confirmed."
It will impact the gaming areas only and everything outside the gaming areas will remain open, the company said.
"All staff will be rostered on as usual," a statement read.
"The five-day closure comes after the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) made an application to the New Zealand Gambling Commission to suspend SkyCity Casino Management Ltd's New Zealand casino operator's licence based on identified failings of the Auckland Host Responsibility Programme.
"The DIA has now applied to the Gambling Commission to withdraw that application, with the agreement being conditional on this approval," the company continued.
The five-day closure of Auckland's SkyCity is punishment for failing to minimise problem gambling following an Internal Affairs investigation. (Source: 1News)
The company's chief operating officer for New Zealand Callum Mallett said "the failings are significant and the company is rightfully being held to account for them".
"We place great importance on host responsibility and take these failures very seriously," he said.
"On behalf of the SkyCity Board and management team, I accept and apologise for them.
"This relates to our obligations around host responsibility – essentially, how we look after our customers to protect them from gambling harm," Mallett explained.
"In this case, one of our systems failed to alert us to levels of continuous play from a particular customer. We are deeply sorry for the harm caused to this customer."
SkyCity chair Julian Cook echoed Mallett.
"The SkyCity Board, executive and entire team are wholly committed to doing better, and building back trust," he said.
"We have the plans, people and necessary investment to do this, but we know we have work to do."
How to address the issue
Cook said SkyCity "embarked on a significant risk management transformation programme in mid-2021, and the company has made demonstrable progress since then".
"It is clear that historically SkyCity's focus, resources and investment have fallen short of what was required of the business.
"This is not acceptable and, as part of meeting our regulatory obligations and wider social licence to operate, we are committed to fully addressing this."
He pointed to the appointment of a chief risk officer as a step the company had taken, along with enhanced training and more staff in the risk and host responsibility teams among other measures.
The company's also employed facial recognition technology to monitor players – and is introducing "100% carded, account-based play" next year which will "allow both us and the customer to monitor how long they've been playing and when they need to take a break".
"If they play for too long, the card will disconnect and they will not be able to continue playing," Cook said.
"These technological developments are important and significant, but they will never replace our people, who play a critical role in engaging with our customers and helping protect them from gambling harm.
"We are committed to ensuring we provide safe, responsible experiences and environments, and will continue to work closely with our regulators.
"Most importantly, we're committed to looking after our people, customers and communities, as they are at the heart of everything we do."
NZ$5 million estimated loss
A statement from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) said the investigation was triggered by a complaint from the customer.
"The estimated loss of income to SkyCity due to the five-day closure is around NZ$5 million," a statement said.
"This agreement is conditional on the Gambling Commission consenting to the withdrawal of the proceedings.
"DIA's investigation identified 23 incidents where the customer was able to gamble continuously at the casino without detection by SkyCity's technological system for identifying continuous play and without appropriate staff oversight or interaction.
"The resolution agreement is an unprecedented result. This is the first voluntary closure of a casino and is the longest suspension of operations in a casino under the Gambling Act."
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