What we are obliged to do, and what we actually do
Mooring Place Hospitality Ltd operates the The Compass Room at The Mooring Place under a host responsibility policy written to meet section 308 and the surrounding provisions of the Gambling Act 2003. The Department of Internal Affairs regulates gambling in New Zealand, and this policy is the version we work to on the floor — not a separate document kept for inspections.
The policy is reviewed every twelve months and after any incident that suggests it needs reviewing sooner. A printed copy sits at the desk inside the gaming lounge and reception will give you one on request. What follows is the whole of it in ordinary language.
02 — Age
Twenty and over. Every visit. No exceptions.
New Zealand law sets the minimum age for casino gambling at 20. Nobody under 20 may enter the The Compass Room or the The Bosun's Table room, watch play from the doorway, or sit at a machine while somebody else operates it.
Photo identification is checked at the door on every visit, however many times you have been in and however well the staff know you. We accept a New Zealand driver licence, a Kiwi Access (HANZ 18+) card, or a passport. We do not accept anything else, and staff who wave somebody through are not doing us a favour.
This is the only part of The Mooring Place where age is a condition of entry. Rooms, the restaurants, Tasman Bathhouse and the event spaces are open to guests of every age.
03 — The room itself
Decisions built into the floor
A gaming room can be designed to make you lose track of time and money, or designed not to. These are ours, and they are checked at every shift change:
- No ATM in the gaming room. The nearest cash machine is in the lobby, past reception, about forty metres and a flight of stairs away. That distance is the point of it.
- No credit of any kind. We do not cash cheques, advance against a room account, or lend. Gaming spend cannot be charged to a room.
- Clocks on all four walls, readable from every table and every bank of machines.
- Windows onto the quay. Daylight comes into this room. You can see the weather and the time of day without looking for a clock at all.
- No drinks service at the machines. There is a bar at the north end; staff would rather you got up and walked to it. Water and tea are free and always out.
- The room closes when it says. 2am Sunday to Thursday, 3am Friday and Saturday. It has never been extended and it will not be.
- Machines show their return-to-player figure on the glass, and staff will explain what that number means if you ask.
- Intoxicated guests are not served and not permitted to play. This is not negotiable and is not softened for good customers.
04 — Self-exclusion
Barring yourself, and how simple we keep it
Anybody may ask to be excluded from the The Compass Room. Ask any duty manager, or write to [email protected]. It is done in writing, it is confidential, and the minimum term is six months.
You do not have to explain why. You will not be asked to. The conversation takes about ten minutes, happens away from the floor in an office with a door, and the only people who know are the gaming staff who need to.
Once an exclusion is in place we will not admit you for its term, even if you ask us to, and even if you ask on a night when it seems unreasonable. That is what makes it worth having. When the term ends it does not lapse automatically — you have to come and ask, and there is a wait of seven days before it lifts.
If you would like to be excluded from other venues as well, the Problem Gambling Foundation (0800 664 262) can arrange multi-venue exclusion, and our staff will help you make that call from the office.
05 — Staff
Who is trained, and what they are trained to do
Every member of gaming staff completes host responsibility training before their first shift on the floor, with a refresher every twelve months and after any change to the policy. Duty managers hold the additional certification the Gambling Act requires.
They are trained to notice the practical signs: sessions of several hours without a break, visible distress, anger at a machine, borrowing from other guests, returning to the ATM in the lobby more than twice, or asking staff to hold back somebody else's play. When they notice, they approach — quietly, away from the table, offering a drink and a conversation rather than a lecture.
No member of our staff has ever been disciplined for interrupting play, and none ever will be. That instruction is written into the policy so that nobody has to wonder about it at one in the morning.
06 — Help
New Zealand support lines
These are free, confidential, and answered by people trained for exactly this. You do not need to be in crisis to ring one.
| Gambling Helpline | 0800 654 655 — free, 24 hours, seven days |
|---|---|
| Need to Talk? | 1737 — free call or text, any hour, for anything at all |
| Problem Gambling Foundation | 0800 664 262 — counselling, and multi-venue exclusion |
| Text | 8006 — free text for gambling support |
| Online | choicenotchance.org.nz · safergambling.org.nz |
| Regulator | Department of Internal Affairs — gambling compliance, complaints about a venue |
07 — Talk to us
The management, directly
If something in the The Compass Room was handled badly, or you want to raise a concern about your own play or someone else's, write to [email protected] marked for the duty management, or ring reception on +64 3 546 8820 at any hour and ask for the manager on duty. Written concerns are answered within five working days by a person who can actually do something about it.