Skycity warned over online gambling

Skycity has been warned for sending an email to loyalty customers suggesting they use its online casino during lockdown.

New Zealand.- The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) in New Zealand has issued a formal warning to Skycity over the promotion of offshore online gambling.

In an inquiry prompted by a complaint from a casino customer, the authorities found the group had been promoting its Malta-based online casino, SkyCityCasino.com to its loyalty customer mailing list in violation of the section 16 of the Gambling Act 2003.

This violation could carry a NZ$10,000 penalty but the casino escaped with a warning after the DIA decided the breach was not intentional.

DIA acting director Chris Thornborough said: “We expect SkyCity to exercise a high level of caution in future to avoid breaching the Act. The department will continue to keep an eye on the operator and take any future breaches seriously.”

A spokesperson from Skycity told RNZ that the company had sent an email to loyalty customers to warn them of the impact of Covid-19 lockdown measures on the casino, and that this communication stated that the website’s operations were still ongoing. The spokesperson said the DIA’s feedback would be taken into account.

Skycity’s casinos in New Zealand began to reopen after lifting restrictions from the pandemic in June.