Greens seek to block additional pokies for SkyCity

Thursday 22nd of October 2015

New Zealand’s Green Party is calling on the government to withdraw a concession granting SkyCity Entertainment extra pokie machines for its new Auckland resort due to claims it’s not doing enough to ensure responsible gambling.

SkyCity is scheduled to gain 230 additional machines and 52 gaming tables as part of a deal with the government, under which it agreed to build an international convention centre in the city.

“SkyCity’s failure to stop a woman from gambling for ten hours straight shows it is failing to operate its existing machines responsibly,” Denise Roche, the Green Party’s gambling spokesperson said in a statement.

“The casino shouldn’t be allowed hundreds more machines till it can prove it is operating responsibly with the ones it already has.”

The comments follow a sting by ONE News in which an actor was able to spend hundreds of dollars on pokie machines over ten hours without any intervention from the casino’s staff.

“This is the second time in two years that SkyCity has been caught out by the media demonstrating zero host responsibility in allowing people to gamble for hours on end,” she said.

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