01 — Our commitment
What we are required to do, and what we actually do
The Beacon Room operates under a licence granted under the
Gambling Act 2003. Section 308 of that Act requires every
licence holder to have a host responsibility policy. This is ours. It is
written down, a copy is on the wall beside the door of the room, and every
member of staff who works the floor has been through it.
We are a hotel first. The Beacon Room is one 210 m² room on the ground floor
of a 54-room house, and it seats fewer people than
Moturiki Kitchen does. That is not an accident of the building —
it is the size we want it to be. Most guests never open its door, and that is
a perfectly good way to stay here.
Our obligation, as we understand it, is not merely to obey the Act but to run
a room in which a person who is getting into trouble is noticed and spoken to
before it gets worse. The rest of this page is how we try to do that.
02 — Age: 20 and over, without exception
New Zealand law sets the minimum age for casino gambling at 20.
We apply it as follows:
- Photo ID is checked at the door every time, for everyone. Not on the way in the first night and then waved through — every time.
- Acceptable ID: a New Zealand driver licence, a passport, a Kiwi Access (18+) card. Nothing else.
- Guests staying in the house are checked exactly like visitors. Being a guest is not a form of identification.
- If we are not certain, we refuse. The person on the door has our written authority to refuse anyone, and no manager will overturn it.
- Under-20s cannot enter the room even accompanied by a parent, and cannot pass through it to reach anywhere else. There is no other route through it, by design.
- Anyone who looks under 25 is asked for ID as a matter of course.
The rest of the hotel — every room, Moturiki Kitchen,
The Pilot Bay Bar, The Saltwater Bathhouse, the pool, the event spaces — welcomes
guests of every age.
03 — How the room is built and run
Some of what follows is required of us and some of it is our own choice. We
have not marked which is which, because we would do all of it either way.
- There are no cash machines on the gaming floor. The nearest ATM is in the lobby, deliberately — it means leaving the room, which is the point.
- A clock is visible from every table and every bank of machines. It is very easy to lose three hours in a room with no windows, so we made sure the time is always in your eyeline.
- The room closes at three most nights, and four on Friday and Saturday. It closes at those times whether the tables are full or not. Last hands are called fifteen minutes before.
- We do not extend credit for gaming. Not to guests, not to regulars, not to anyone, at any amount.
- Nothing from the gaming room can be charged to a hotel bill. The two accounts are kept entirely separate, so a room bill can never quietly become a gaming debt.
- We do not serve anyone we think has had enough, at the tables or anywhere else in the house.
- Every machine displays its return-to-player rate. If you want to know the odds of what you are sitting at, they are printed on it.
- No cheque cashing, no currency advances, no lending between staff and guests.
- Free water, tea and coffee are available in the room at all times, and staff bring them without being asked.
04 — Self-exclusion
If you want to be barred from The Beacon Room, ask any member of staff
anywhere in the hotel — the front desk, the bar, the floor. You do not
need to explain yourself and you will not be asked to.
- It is done in writing and held in confidence. It takes about five minutes.
- You choose the length: the rest of your stay, six months, two years, or indefinitely.
- Once it is in place we will refuse you entry, and we will do so quietly. No announcement, no explanation to anyone you are with.
- An exclusion cannot be lifted on the spot, by design. Ending one early requires a written request and a conversation with a duty manager, and there is a minimum period before we will have it.
- A family member who is worried about someone can talk to a duty manager. We will listen properly, and we will explain honestly what we can and cannot do — we cannot exclude an adult on someone else's behalf, but we can make sure the right person has the conversation.
- Records are kept only as long as the exclusion needs them and are handled under the Privacy Act 2020. See our privacy policy.
05 — The staff on the floor
Everyone who works in The Beacon Room — croupiers, the door, the floor
supervisors, the bar staff who serve it — is trained in host
responsibility before their first shift, and again every year. The training is
not a video. It is run by a duty manager and most of it is about what to say.
They are trained to notice:
- Someone who has been at a machine or a table for a very long stretch without a break
- Someone visibly distressed, angry, or in tears
- Someone who says something that matters — about money owed, about chasing losses, about not wanting to go home
- Someone trying to borrow from other guests
- Someone drinking more than they are playing
- Someone asking staff to keep their being here from a family member
- A change in a regular's pattern — longer sessions, bigger stakes, a different mood
And they are trained to say something. Not to lecture, and not to make a scene
— to sit down, offer a coffee, and ask how the evening is going. Where it
goes from there is up to the guest. Staff can offer the helpline numbers, offer
to start a self-exclusion, or simply talk. A duty manager can and will ask
someone to leave the room for the night, and that decision is not negotiable.
Staff themselves are not permitted to gamble in The Beacon Room, on duty
or off it.
06 — Advertising, and what we will not do
- We do not advertise gaming to anyone under 20, or anywhere aimed at them.
- We do not suggest that gambling is a way to make money, solve a money problem, or improve anybody's life.
- We do not run inducements of the kind used by internet betting operators — no sign-up incentives, no matched stakes, no rebates on losses, no codes to redeem. Where a hotel package includes gaming credit it is a fixed dollar amount with no conditions attached, and it expires with the stay.
- Gaming happens on the premises and nowhere else. We have no application, and there is nothing playable anywhere on this website. If you want to play, you come to Marine Parade and show your ID at the door.
- We do not chase people. Nobody who stops coming will get a message from us asking why.
- We do not pay staff commission or bonuses based on gaming turnover.
07 — If it is a problem for you, or someone you know
Gambling harm is common, it is treatable, and asking for help is unremarkable.
Every service below is free and confidential. You do not have to be in crisis
to ring one, and you do not have to have lost a particular amount of money to
qualify for the conversation.
You can also simply talk to a duty manager here. It will be a private
conversation and nothing will be written down unless you ask us to write
something down.
08 — Complaints and the regulator
If you think we have fallen short of any of the above, tell a duty manager, or
write to [email protected]. Complaints
about host responsibility go to the general manager and are answered within
five working days.
Gambling in New Zealand is regulated by the
Department of Internal Affairs, and you are entitled to
complain to them directly at any point, whether or not you have raised it with
us first. Their gambling compliance team can be reached through
dia.govt.nz.
Contact hotel management
