$6.6m gambler cut her losses, says casino's lawyer

The case against the Dunedin Casino is the first brought under the Gambling Act 2003. Picture / Greg Bowker

Lawyers for the Dunedin Casino have raised questions about whether a woman who gambled more than $6.6 million at the casino was a "problem gambler".

Casino lawyer Tom Weston QC told a Gambling Commission hearing in Auckland yesterday that Mrs Christine Keenan's gambling at the casino declined from March to July 2004, just before she was arrested for stealing $470,000 from two employers to fuel her habit.

Her casino card records showed that her average losses halved from $27,304 a month in 2003 to $13,697 a month in 2004.

The Internal Affairs Department wants the commission to suspend the casino's licence because it failed to follow requirements to identify Mrs Keenan as an actual or potential problem gambler and to offer her information and advice on problem gambling.

This is the first time the department has invoked the problem gambling provisions to suspend a casino licence since the current Gambling Act was passed in 2003.

The boutique Dunedin Casino is part-owned by Sky City and its "host responsibility exclusion policy" is modelled on the policies at other Sky City casinos.

Department lawyer Mark Woolford told the commission on Monday that Mrs Keenan visited the casino on average every second night in the two years to mid-2004 and that she personally accounted for at least 10 per cent of the casino's annual profits.

She spent the proceeds of a divorce settlement and inheritances from her parents, sold her house and then stole money from her employers.

But yesterday, when cross-examining the department's casino compliance manager, Debra Despard, Mr Weston asked whether a high level of gambling was necessarily a sign that someone was a problem gambler.

Ms Despard replied: "Certainly not on its own, but it's possibly a reason to look more closely at a person to determine whether those indicators exist."

Mr Weston noted that Mrs Keenan's casino card records showed that she reduced her spending from March 2004.

But the department said Mrs Keenan stopped using her casino card in mid-2004 because she knew she was being tracked. Instead, records of cash payouts at the casino counter and cancelled credits showed that she kept on visiting the casino at least seven times in June and at least eight times in July 2004, receiving $16,231 in cancelled credits in June and $28,334 in July.

Dunedin gambling inspector Dermot Harris said that a senior manager at the casino, Lawrence Peeters, was concerned about the way the general manager, Rod Woolley, dealt with Mrs Keenan's gambling.

Mr Peeters later left the casino after an employment dispute with Mr Woolley and has been called to give evidence when the hearing resumes on September 11.

The department will not call Mrs Keenan as a witness. Mr Woolford would not say why, and also declined to say how long the department wanted to suspend the casino licence for. The Gambling Act provides for a suspension of up to six months.


PROBLEM GAMBLERS

The law

'Problem gambler' means a person whose gambling causes harm or may cause harm. - Gambling Act 2003.

The signs

* Feeling depressed or anxious after gambling.

* Feeling guilty about having gambled.

* Gambling has sometimes caused you problems.

* You find it better not to tell your family about the amounts of time and money you spend on gambling.

* You find that when you stop gambling you have run out of money.

* You try to win back your losses from a previous gambling session.

* You have received criticism as a result of your gambling.

* You have tried to win money to pay debts.

Source: Responsible Gambling pamphlet on Dunedin Casino website.