A self-confessed gambling addict who arranged to ban himself from all pubs with pokies in the Canterbury region says he can still walk into any establishment he likes and play slot machines for eight hours or more.
It comes after Newshub exclusively revealed that the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) found a litany of failures at Auckland's SkyCity Casino it concluded were "systemic". An audit found casino staff were "dismissive" of problem gambling issues, "failed" to identify excluded gamblers, and the DIA states there's a "high likelihood" underage customers are accessing the casino.
Gambling addict Greg has got a problem and he knows it. The allure of pokie machines is at the heart of his three-year addiction.
"Those big wins and all the lights are going and the sounds. It's such a huge dopamine release. It feels really good," he tells Newshub.
He will easily spend $3000 a day on pokies.
"I keep feeding it by putting more money into the machines trying to get the bigger wins."
He sought help from a councillor to get himself banned from all pubs in Canterbury. Photos of him were sent to all venues, but he still manages to get in anywhere he likes, saying that the system is "broken".
"Literally no staff member will recognise who I am, ask who I am, or notice that I'm on the banned list," Greg says.
"I can walk into pretty much any pub in Christchurch and gamble for as long as I want and I think that's wrong."
- If you know more, email Michael Morrah in confidence at michael_morrah@discovery.com
Pokies in pubs are the most harmful, yet only 15 percent of them in New Zealand have facial recognition cameras to stop banned players from coming in.
"We want to roll out the facial recognition software because it works so well. We've applied to the government for additional funding. We haven't got any of that yet," says Peter Dengate Thrush, Gaming Machine Association independent chairperson.
Dengate Thrush represents pokie machine owners. He says that pokies are a form of gambling that "a lot of people like".
"Gambling is a legitimate activity and there are many forms of it and this is one of the legal forms of gambling that the law allows," he says.
The DIA says between 10,000 and 60,000 New Zealanders are problem gamblers.
"It's laughable that we are emptying the bank accounts of the country's most vulnerable and providing that to charity," Greg says.
Minister of Internal Affairs Jan Tinetti is reviewing pokies in pubs, known as class four machines.
"No harm is acceptable to me and that's why I'm absolutely passionate about leaning into this space. We can do better and we will do better," she says.
But as Newshub revealed on Monday, casinos could be up for review too.
SkyCity Auckland has failed significantly in multiple audits. Despite this, the regulator, Internal Affairs, took no enforcement action. Tinetti now wants to know why.
