SkyCity to temporarily close Auckland casino's gambling area; takes outlook hit
SkyCity lowers FY25 EBITDA forecast
Adelaide casino's gambling area to be closed for five days
Closure of gambling area subject to gambling commission's consent
Adds background throughout, Internal Affairs department statement in paragraph 5
July 18 (Reuters) - SkyCity Entertainment SKC.NZ said on Thursday it will be closing the gambling area of its Auckland casino for five straight days to settle a suspension application and would take a hit in earnings for fiscal 2025 due to it.
In September 2023, the Secretary of Internal Affairs filed an application against the New-Zealand based casino operator to the country's gambling commission to suspend the licenses of three casinos for a period of up to 10 days.
The application was filed following a complaint made in early 2022 by a former customer who gambled at the SkyCity Auckland casino from August 2017 until February 2021, the company said.
The company's SkyCity Casino Management unit (SCML) acknowledged it did not meet the required standards in the SkyCity Auckland Host Responsibility Programme relating to the detection of incidences of continuous play by the customer, it said in a statement.
"DIA's (Department of Internal Affairs) investigation identified 23 incidents where the customer was able to gamble continuously at the casino without detection by SkyCity's technological system for identifying continuous play and without appropriate staff oversight or interaction," the DIA said in an emailed response to Reuters.
The casino operator added that it would only proceed with the closure of the gambling area if the commission agrees to withdraw the suspension application.
SkyCity also lowered its earnings view for 2025, expecting a hit of around NZ$5 million ($3.04 million) from the five-day closure.
The firm expects to report underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization in the range of NZ$245 million to NZ$265 million.
The embattled casino operator has been hit by a number of civil proceedings to resolve anti-money laundering cases in the recent past.
In May, SCML said it would pay a penalty of NZ$4.16 million to resolve anti-money laundering cases brought against it.
($1 = 1.6445 New Zealand dollars)
Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee; Additional reporting by Echha Jain; Editing by Alan Barona
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