SkyCity’s new Kiwi chief executive has plenty to navigate
SkyCity’s next boss may have some belated big events to look forward to and a wild world of online gambling to navigate, his chairman says.
Jason Walbridge, a Kiwi now in Las Vegas, was picked as the casino and entertainment company’s next chief executive, six months after Michael Ahearne’s resignation.
Walbridge knew the online gaming space well, which was important to the company, SkyCity chairman Julian Cook told the Herald.
“The online gaming market in New Zealand is actually a lot bigger than anyone in New Zealand realises,” Cook said.
“To date, it hasn’t been regulated. It’s one of the last grey markets in the OECD. In New Zealand at the moment it’s been described as a free-for-all, with essentially no regulation.”
Some bizarre ads you might have seen on social media feeds could be examples of the freewheeling online gaming or gambling space.
Cook said it was in the interests of consumers and taxpayers for the market to be regulated. “It will be good for Sky,” he admitted, referring to his own company. “But the bigger picture is it’s good for the country.”
He said online gaming with appropriate rules would have anti-money laundering safeguards, problem gambling tracking, and ensure taxes were paid in New Zealand.
Cook said a functional online sphere would also have strong advertising protections. Gambling ads running rampant would not be in the public’s best interest, he said.
SkyCity in February announced it set aside A$73 million ($79.4m) for penalties after Australian regulator Austrac investigated alleged breaches of anti-money laundering rules at the company’s Adelaide casino.
Cook said the company was working hard to ensure no repeat of that drama, which surfaced in 2022 after lurid claims of dirty money flowing through the Adelaide operation.
“We have in the last two years made some very solid progress.”
He said Walbridge’s experience at Australian-based gambling machine manufacturer Aristocrat Leisure was crucial. There, Walbridge advised on its proposed acquisition of Israelbased lottery software company NeoGames SA. “He understands risk and compliance very well,” Cook said.
Walbridge is also executive chairman of amusement ride and game vending machine company National Entertainment Network in Las Vegas.
His appointment to SkyCity followed a time of much turmoil.
Apart from Austrac, there was the huge New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) fire in 2019 and subsequent delays.
Then there were Covid lockdowns, border closures, an Internal Affairs prosecution over alleged money laundering and then a recession.
Retail spending in March was down 0.7 per cent from February, according to Stats NZ. That kind of downturn impacted SkyCity’s eateries and restaurants.
“We are definitely seeing the effects of the recession. We started seeing it probably in October last year,” Cook said.
Patronage was holding up at SkyCity sites but generally, people were spending less per visit. But the NZICC was expected to open next year and the Horizon hotel on Hobson St this year. Big conferences were already being booked for the NZICC.
SkyCity said nine Australian and five New Zealand bookings were already confirmed, plus 10 more international bookings, with a total of around 130,000 delegate days.
“The opening of the NZICC will be a huge change to the centre of Auckland,” Cook said.
Parts of the neighbourhood were looking “forlorn” now but with the Horizon, convention centre and Te Waihorotiu (Aotea) city rail link station due to open in the next two years, that should change.