SkyCity casino is bringing in facial recognition technology to pluck banned gamblers out of a crowd.

Matt McCarten was in an elevator with a senior gambling executive five years ago. It was a few days before John Key ousted Helen Clark's government.

Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell has accepted a major rewriting of his Gambling Harm Reduction Bill in order to secure National Party support for it.

Judy Fairey asks: "If the Govt's aim is truly to get more high-spending tourists, then why is the focus on putting in poker machines and electronic gambling tables?"

The Government has two choices, writes Jim Evans. But each of them would need to emasculate the carefully worked out structure of the Gambling Act 2003.

Sports betting laws should be overhauled to curb a growing number of addicts, say anti-gambling campaigners.

The New Zealand government and SkyCity Entertainment Group are giving themselves another fortnight to cut a deal on the terms for the casino and hotel operator to build a $402 million convention centre in Auckland in exchange for regulatory concessions.

SkyCity is targeting smokers with an expanded casino area designed for customers who want to have a cigarette while gambling.

The equivalent of an extra 240 poker machines are part of the SkyCity casino deal, with gambling opponents warning they could lead to new addiction problems.

The Government's pokies for convention centre deal cannot bind future governments to compensate SkyCity if the deal is revoked, leading constitutional lawyer Stephen Franks says.

While SkyCity this month got the nod for its controversial $402 million Auckland convention centre, a Queenstown expansion proceeds almost entirely outside the spotlight.

New Zealanders are forecast to spend more on Lotto, casinos, racing and sports betting in the next three years.

SkyCity's rivals say its pokie machines will earn more if Auckland Council heeds calls for a regional sinking lid policy on gaming venues.

Dealing with the government is like dealing with no other business because the government can usually muster the numbers to make law, writes Mai Chen.

The Department of Internal Affairs has warned the Government that extra pokie machines at SkyCity risks increased harm to the community, Steven Joyce has confirmed.

The value of SkyCity Entertainment Group could get a $200 million boost after a $402 million deal announced yesterday.

Labour and the Greens have slammed a deal announced for a new convention centre in Auckland today, saying the Government has handed SkyCity a licence to print money.

SkyCity shares have jumped after details of a controversial convention centre deal with the Government were announced today.

Details of the controversial SkyCity convention centre deal with the Government have been announced, with the listed casino operator paying $402m for the new centre.

Conceived over dinner almost four years ago, the Government's $350 million pokies-for-a-national convention centre deal with SkyCity is to be signed over breakfast today.

Internet bookmaker Tom Waterhouse may walk away clean as a whistle from the tawdry inquiry into allegations that he passed on confidential information from his trainer mother Gai to punters.

Police have appealed against the discharge given to the mother who left her children in a SkyCity Casino carpark while she and her partner gambled for two hours.