Addicts accuse casino of enticing them

This man spent $750,000 over 20 years at SkyCity and other gambling venues. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Auckland's SkyCity casino is under fire from former gambling addicts who say the giant casino is breaching the terms of its licence by not identifying and helping problem gamblers.

An Auckland man who spent $750,000 over 20 years at SkyCity and other gaming venues says he was never approached by staff at any of the them about his out-of-control gambling.

A woman who sought outside help to stop gambling was pursued by the casino with free tickets to a rugby test to induce her to come back. When she refused, the casino asked her to return the tickets.

The Internal Affairs Department is still investigating another case where former Refugees As Survivors Trust manager Patrick Jackson is alleged to have fraudulently obtained $766,708 from the trust to fund his gambling.

Mr Jackson held a SkyCity loyalty card which recorded his income and tracked his spending. He told the Herald on Sunday this year that the casino used the card to give him free drinks, meals and tickets to a test match, but never asked if he had a gambling problem.

SkyCity harm minimisation manager Debbie Edwards said the Auckland casino managers excluded 38 customers in the year to June and helped another 440 gamblers to "self-exclude".

Nationally, Internal Affairs said, exclusions by casino managers dropped from 206 in 2004-05 to 108 in the year to June. Self-exclusions declined from 690 to 626.

The Auckland man who gambled $750,000 over 20 years said he was never approached by anyone in any of the places he gambled except to offer free meals and other inducements to keep gambling.

The Service and Food Workers Union's SkyCity organiser, Jennifer Natoli, said the woman who was sent free tickets to a rugby test to tempt her to keep gambling was a VIP in the casino's Pacific room.

"They sent her tickets to the rugby with a note saying, 'Are you coming back?' She said she didn't want to come back, and they said, 'Can we have our rugby tickets back?"'

The union is seeking monitoring of SkyCity's problem gambler management by an external body such as the Problem Gambling Foundation as part of its claim for a new collective agreement.

Some of its 500 members at the casino will strike for up to two hours today in support of the claim.

"None of the staff want the casino to close down," Ms Natoli said. "They want the casino to live up to its promise of fun and entertainment.

"If it's making people's lives miserable, that's not much fun."