An investigation into allegations of dishonesty among Sky City casino staff has sparked an expanded inquiry into the actions of 17 "licensed" security and gaming employees.
The latest investigation arose from New Zealand First leader Winston Peters' claims last month of dishonesty and a cover-up.
Minister of Internal Affairs Mark Burton
released details of the investigation yesterday, saying the claims related to staff access to food, alcohol and telephone calls.
The probe found that some allegations of dishonesty were reported to officials but Sky City did not advise casino inspectors of other cases, including unauthorised phonecalls - some understood to have cost only a few cents - two cases of abuse of staff complimentary cards, staff taking free drinks after hours and irregularities in the allocation of free tickets to Warriors matches.
However, officials found no breaches in legislative requirements on the part of Sky City.
"It is important to note that none of the allegations related to the gaming operations of the casino," said Mr Burton.
But he said the investigation showed that there was a need to establish whether the 17 staff members were suitable to hold licences necessary for them to perform functions at the casino.
The investigation found Mr Peters' claim - that 90 staff had committed acts of dishonesty requiring notification to the Casino Control Authority - related to the staff cafeteria.
But only 37 security staff were implicated by surveillance of the cafeteria, and of those, 10 received a free meal.
Mr Burton said Sky City met all of its legal requirements, although the casino inspectorate had concerns that it was not made fully aware of the involvement of licensed staff in all the cases of cafeteria dishonesty.
Notification of such incidents involving licensed staff was originally a requirement in the casino's licence conditions but was removed in 1988.
Mr Burton said he was seeking advice on the appropriateness of the change, with a view to reinstating the requirement.
