For the past year, SkyCity Casino in Auckland and the New Zealand Health Ministry have been at odds over the smoking area in the venue’s high roller room. There has been quite a lot of back-and-forth over the issue, and the Health Ministry has made a final decision. The issue dates back to September 2013, when the Health Ministry started its investigation of SkyCity Auckland.
When the room was constructed, it was built to comply with specs set out by the Health Ministry’s Open-Air Calculator tool. With a roof and louvre windows, the smoking lounge was originally deemed to be suitable. However, Open-Air Calculator was eventually proven to be inaccurate. According to Stuff NZ, It was during this time in 2013 that the Health Ministry instructed SkyCity to make its high roller room smoke free.
Shortly after the order, the casino complied and shut down the room for a month. Then, one month later, SkyCity Auckland quietly reopened the lounge. What is even more interesting is that there is a similar smoking lounge in the general gaming area that remain unnoticed by the Health Ministry. It was only recently that government officials found out about this smoking area.
Only just last week, it was still open to the public and there were several smokers inside. The entire situation is quite complex, and the Health Ministry is now drawing up new smoking area guidelines for pubs, clubs and casinos across New Zealand. There is also talk of a new Open-Air Calculator being developed in order to ensure whether or not a smoking area is compliant with Health Ministry guidelines.
There is likely going to be even more back-and-forth over the new smoking area guidelines in New Zealand gaming venues.
We will keep you updated with further developments as they arise.
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