Inquiry into casino's $60k payout refusal

File photo / Janna Dixon

Internal Affairs will investigate the circumstances of Auckland SkyCity Casino's decision to deny a gambler a $60,000 payout won in a game of Caribbean Stud on Wednesday.

Gambling Compliance Director, Mike Hill made the announcement this afternoon saying: "We are looking into the matter to establish all the facts as we regard this as an issue involving the integrity of gambling."

SKyCity refused to payout Sothea Sinn, 28, and his girlfriend on the $60,000 win
because they banned themselves in 2004 for two years because they were gambling too much, Mr Sinn told the Dominion Post.

He had not visited the casino since 2005 and believed the ban had now expired.

But when he went to collect the $60,000 he thought he'd won playing the card game Caribbean Stud, he was taken to a room where casino and Internal Affairs staff said he wouldn't be paid because of the ban.

As part of the criteria for re-entering a casino, he had been required to undergo six counselling sessions, which he had not done.

Mr Sinn said he was "absolutely gutted" that he would not be paid the winnings, and that he did not have a gambling problem.
- NZPA