Door at centre of legal dispute
An open door to a gaming room led to a dispute between Internal Affairs and a gaming trust, but it was anything but an open and shut case.
The Department of Internal Affairs imposed a condition on Glasine’s Cafe and Bar, in south Invercargill, requiring it to keep an external entrance to the gaming room closed and locked at all times, unless there was an emergency.
The condition was designed to prevent problem gamblers and those aged under 18 from accessing the venue’s pokie machines, but the trust argued the move wasn’t necessary.
The Aotearoa Gaming Trust went to the Gambling Commission to appeal the Internal Affairs condition. That decision was released late last week.
While previous inspections detailed no concerns about the door, Internal Affairs received information in November 2020 from the Ngā Kete Problem Gambling Service that problem gamblers – who were barred from the venue – could access machines through the open external door.
That led to another compliance check by Internal Affairs, which noted a sign that said ‘‘gaming entrance’’ above the door as well as the visibility of pokie-playing patrons. The door in question opened to a sushi bar area of the South City Mall. Internal Affairs’ inspectors were able to enter the room seemingly unobserved, the decision said.
The Aotearoa Gaming Trust was advised of the inspectors’ concern about the door, and it was decided it would be kept shut until a solution was found.
The venue owner, who had a list of those who had been selfexcluded from the venue, said the door did not need to be locked because it was in direct sight of the bar.
But more reports of the door being opened, and allegations of problem gamblers accessing the
venue, prompted Internal Affairs to put the special condition requiring the door to be closed and locked on the venue’s licence.
That came into effect in December last year.
But the trust argued that Internal Affairs’ decision-making on the matter had been ‘‘poor’’, and a simple solution was to keep the door closed, but not locked.
Internal Affairs, in reply, noted that a closed door may deter some people, but not those who were familiar with the venue.
The trust argued that concerns over problem gamblers accessing the pokie machines was based on ‘‘hearsay evidence’’.
Last month, the Gambling Commission suggested that a possible option for the door could include adding an automatic locking device. About the same time, the commissioners visited the venue themselves. The commission, in its decision, noted that while the trust had doubts that underage people had accessed the venue through the door, ‘‘the risk of such access is a real one’’.
The location of the door in the mall meant there was a real risk people could get in unobserved.
The Gambling Commission upheld Internal Affairs’ decision.