SkyCity Auckland Criticized For Gambling Harm Failures

SkyCity Auckland Staff Fails to Protect Customers

SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited, which also operates SkyCity Queenstown and SkyCity Hamilton in New Zealand and SkyCity Adelaide in Australia, is facing flak for implementing a weak system that fails to identify banned and self-excluded customers. Moreover, the operator takes no measures to determine player ethnicity and protect them accordingly. It has failed to consider existing reports showing that Pacific Islanders and the Maori are highly vulnerable to gambling harm.

The DIA investigation also reveals that the employees of SkyCity Auckland refuse to take problem gambling issues seriously and fail to identify bettors who had previously requested self-exclusion. The departmental probe shows that SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited does not even have an adequate number of employees at its Auckland venue to enforce player protection measures effectively.

The DIA confirms that SkyCity Auckland employees took no action when over half of its customers who had previously opted for a voluntary stake and time monitoring scheme violated the rules. Moreover, SkyCity Auckland hardly conducts risk assessments and does nothing to prevent individuals who had requested gaming time limits from playing beyond their established thresholds.

Problem Gambling Foundation Criticizes SkyCity Auckland

Andree Froude of the Problem Gambling Foundation describes the failure of SkyCity Auckland to protect its customers as “appalling” and asserts that these failures are a clear breach of host responsibility. She highlights the case of a bettor who had previously opted for self-exclusion. Owing to the inadequacy of the player protection measures at SkyCity Auckland, the bettor entered the casino twice and played slots during two gambling sessions of 28 and 14.5 hours each.

Froude says that no player should be permitted to play slots continuously for 28 hours. Criticizing SkyCity Auckland for failing to protect its customers from gambling harm, she said the operator must face the consequences of its actions just as a venue serving alcohol continuously to an underage customer has to face consequences.