SkyCity casino has officially agreed on which five days it will close following its failure to meet its harm minimisation obligations.
The agreement, made with the Secretary for Internal Affairs, means the casino will close its doors for five days between September 9 to 13.
This close will only affect the casino section of the business.
A customer who gambled at the casino between 2017 and 2021 lodged a complaint, prompt the Secretary of Internal Affairs, Paul James, to place an application into the Gambling Commission to suspend SkyCity’s operator’s licence.
SkyCity Chief Executive Officer Jason Walbridge said the business takes responsibility for the closure.
“The closure is the result of failings on the part of SkyCity, which we have accepted responsibility for. We failed to meet the standards expected of us in this case.
“Over recent years, we have made significant progress to strengthen how we manage risk across the SkyCity Group, but there is still work to do. We are well underway and remain committed to prioritising the care of our customers. We understand that the privilege of holding a casino licence comes with significant responsibilities and obligations,” Walbridge wrote in a statement.
SkyCity is expected to lose $5 million over the voluntary five-day closure.
The company has confirmed staff in that portion of the business will continue to work and still be paid as usual.
Last month Hāpai te Hauora Māori Public Health Leadership’s Jessikha Leatham-Vlasic told Te Ao Māori News she was worried that people going to the casino would 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.
Nonetheless, she believes 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.”