Dunedin Casino ditches plan to fight suspension

Dunedin Casino will not say how much the suspension will cost. Picture / Gerard O'Brien

The Dunedin Casino will serve its two-day suspension next month, having decided against an appeal.

The casino received the suspension from the Gambling Commission this month for not stopping a problem gambler who spent more than $6.6 million at the venue.

Casino chairman Hanlin Johnstone yesterday confirmed the decision not to appeal.

The casino will be closed to the public on Monday, November 13, and Tuesday, November 14.

The suspension, the first of its kind under the Gambling Act, came after a hearing into the casino's response to gambling by Dunedin woman Christine Marie Keenan.

Keenan was jailed for three years in 2004 for stealing $500,000 from two employers to fuel a gambling habit.

In three years, she gambled more than $6.6 million at the casino, losing a net $400,000.

The commission found many of the losses were made under a previous owner of the casino, thus outside the scope of the hearing, and that the consequences to the current owners should be "modest".

It also noted that its decision to suspend was based on events at the casino from July 1, 2004, when new provisions under the Gambling Act kicked in.

Problem Gambling Foundation chief executive John Stansfield said yesterday that the casino should use the two days to do some "decent" host responsibility training and "really do it right".

It should also make sure the cost of the closure was not carried by staff.

"This is actually a penalty that should be paid by the people who take the profits, the shareholders."

Mr Stansfield has previously described the two-day suspension as a "slap over the hand with a wet bus ticket".

"A person has been exploited and jailed, her employer has been robbed, her family has been victimised, and her workmates have been traumatised.

"Every taxpayer in this country has paid for her incarceration," he said.

"The party that hasn't paid is the casino, which gets to keep the stolen money that has caused so much grief.

"We also find it disappointing that the casinos of this country haven't been instructed to take immediate remedial action to their host responsibility programme."

The Secretary for Internal Affairs had asked the commission at the hearing to apply a seven-day suspension.

Mr Johnstone has declined to say how much a two-day suspension will cost the casino.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES