How this man blew $3.8m on the pokies

Patrick Jackson says the casino should have stepped in. Photo / Adrian Malloch

In three years, Patrick Jackson gambled - and lost - $3.8 million on the pokies at Auckland's SkyCity casino. Jackson won two luxury motor vehicles, which he cashed in, and a $69,000 jackpot, but he squandered it all on a gambling addiction that eventually cost him everything.

Much of the money wasn't his: Jackson had stolen it from his employer, the taxpayer-funded Refugees as Survivors Trust. The authorities eventually caught up with him, and in December he was convicted and jailed for three years and nine months for misappropriating $745,000 from the trust - $660,000 of which he gambled away at SkyCity.

An Internal Affairs inquiry, released to the Herald on Sunday under the Official Information Act, has revealed that while the casino was not technically in breach of the Gambling Act it was remiss in not identifying Jackson as a problem gambler. Internal Affairs has asked for a formal response from SkyCity to its concerns.

The report found that SkyCity's reluctance to go beyond the minimum requirements of its problem gambling policy was of concern.

Jackson, 60, had spent up to 14 hours at a time gambling at the casino, and once left the premises so tired he was involved in a car accident on the way home. When he won vehicles at the casino, he claimed he was "treated like royalty".

There was a ceremony, he had his photograph taken, and he was invited to have dinner with casino staff.

His turnover on the pokies was $3.8 million, and he spent a further $32,670 on table games.

The Problem Gambling Foundation has strongly criticised Sky City's handling of the case, saying the casino should have seen the telltale signs of Jackson's gambling addiction.

SkyCity has three strategies to deal with problem gambling - warning signs on the casino floor, third-party notifications and "self-exclusion processes". However, Internal Affairs has taken issue over the signs, saying they should also include warnings about people who spend long periods of time in the casino and those who don't interact with other patrons - both indicators of problem gambling.

Internal Affairs has also asked why the casino did not use its sophisticated electronic player tracking systems, which record how much customers spend, to identify problem gamblers.

Jackson held a SkyCity loyalty card and over three years was upgraded from a basic action card member to a platinum VIP member. These upgrades are based primarily on how much a customer spends. Jackson was such a good customer he was also given free rugby tickets and accommodation at the SkyCity Grand Hotel.