SkyCity will close its casino in Auckland for a period of five days later this year.

In accordance with the interim suspension of its licence, SkyCity will close its casino in Auckland for a period of five days later this year.

 As part of a licence suspension agreement reached with the New Zealand secretary of internal affairs, SkyCity Entertainment Group has reached an agreement to temporarily close its land-based casino located in the city of Auckland in the country of New Zealand.
 The H1 SkyCity
 In accordance with the agreement, SkyCity Auckland will be closed for a total of five days in a row during the current year.  Although it is not entirely obvious when this will take place, it has been verified that the closure will bring an end to the case of the licensing suspension.

 The application for the suspension of the licence is related to a matter that occurred in February 2022, when a former client of SkyCity Auckland lodged a complaint with the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).  The casino had failed to comply with the criteria for responsible gaming during the months of August 2017 and February 2021, as this statement made reference to.

 After conducting an investigation into the matter, the secretary of internal affairs submitted a request to provisionally suspend the casino licence held by the SkyCity subsidiary SCML.  According to what was stated at the time, there were worries over the detection of continuous play at the casino.  It was in September of 2023 that the application for suspension was submitted.

 It is anticipated that the closure will have a negative impact on the underlying group EBITDA in the company's results for the fiscal year 2025, resulting in a total loss of about NZ$5.0 million (£2.3 million, €2.8 million, or $3.0 million).

 In light of this, SkyCity has revised its guidance for the fiscal year 2025, indicating that the underlying group EBITDA will now fall within the range of NZ$245.0m to NZ$265.0m.  Compared to the earlier guideline of NZ$250.0m to NZ$270.0m, this is a decrease.

 Can you tell me about the SkyCity settlement?
 When SkyCity and SCML reached the settlement, they admitted that they had failed to meet the rules for responsible gambling. They also stated that the specific continuous play failure was caused by a design flaw with their technological system, however this issue had been remedied in the future.  

 Additionally, SCML acknowledged that it was unable to successfully identify continuous play through the utilisation of personnel observation and intervention, in addition to its technology system.  In addition to that, it sent a written apologies to the secretary of internal affairs over the subject.

 The Department of Justice (DIA) commended the "swift" action taken by SkyCity and the steps it has made to improve its processes in its own response to the matter.

 "The work that SkyCity has done to lift its performance in this area and its public commitment to continue to improve is encouraging," the DIA stated. "It is encouraging to see SkyCity's commitment to continue to improve." 

 In an effort to enhance risk management, SkyCity is working.  
 When asked about the subject, SkyCity chair Julian Cook stated that the closure will bring an end to it, and that SkyCity had implemented additional safeguards to prevent similar problems in the future.

 According to what he said, "There is still a significant amount of work that needs to be done in order to improve our risk systems, including our approach to mitigating money laundering and gambling addiction."

 "It is quite obvious that throughout its history, SkyCity has failed to meet the requirements that were placed upon the company in terms of its focus, resources, and investment.  The fact that this is not acceptable is something that we are committed to addressing in its entirety as part of our efforts to fulfil our regulatory obligations and wider social licence.

 The year 2021 marked the beginning of SkyCity's multi-year transformation effort, which was designed to improve the company's risk management across all of its businesses.  Among these measures are the recruitment of new directors who have experience in risk management and the establishment of a committee specifically devoted to risk and compliance.  Additionally, SkyCity has strengthened its internal audit skills as well as the monitoring of its external audits, and it has established a group chief risk officer likewise.

 Furthermore, SkyCity has committed to implementing carded play as a necessary requirement across all of its casinos in New Zealand.  During the middle of the year 2025, this will take place, and by the end of the following year, its casino will be located in Adelaide, Australia.

 In the meantime, SkyCity made the announcement in April that it would be appointing Jason Walbridge, an experienced gambling executive, as its new CEO beginning in July.  The departure of Michael Ahearne from the band has resulted in Walbridge taking over for him.

 Callum Mallett, the chief operating officer of SkyCity, stated that the company is "remaining committed to ensuring that we provide safe and responsible experiences and environments for our people and customers."  Continued engagement with our regulators in a cooperative and productive manner is what we want to do.