Our gaming lounge: 46 machines, nine tables, and the Sandymount Salon behind them. Open from noon until late, seven days, to anyone aged twenty or over who can prove it at the door.
White Heath is a hotel with a gaming lounge in it, not a casino with beds attached. If you never go downstairs, nothing about your stay will be poorer for it.
The Signal Room takes its name from Signal Hill, which stands directly behind the house and carries the 1940 centennial memorial at the top. The room itself was the cellar and the laundry of the original house until the 2009 refit dug the floor down by 700 mm and put windows into the light well on the eastern side. It is the only part of the building where you will be asked for identification.
It holds 46 gaming machines and nine tables. Behind it, through a door that is normally closed, the Sandymount Salon holds three higher-limit tables and six machines, and is opened on request or when the main floor is full. There is a bar at the western end, a supper counter that runs until an hour before close, and a terrace off the light well for anyone who wants five minutes of cold air.
Entry is free. You do not need to be staying in the house, and you do not need to play anything to sit at the bar. What you do need is to be twenty years of age or older, and to be able to prove it.
Forty-six machines along the eastern wall and the two inner bays: modern video slots, a bank of eight classic three-reel machines, and four linked to a progressive jackpot shared across the floor.
Nine tables on the main floor, dealt by nineteen dealers across the roster. Blackjack runs from opening; roulette and baccarat open at 4pm on weeknights and from noon at the weekend.
Every table in the Signal Room is dealt by a person; there are no electronic table terminals. The two poker tables run a Thursday and Saturday evening game from 7pm, seats first come, and a Sunday afternoon table when there is demand for it.
Named for the headland on the peninsula. Three higher-limit tables and six machines in a room of 84 m² behind the main floor, with its own bar and a supper service. Opened on request through the duty host; there is no membership and no fee.
12.00pm – 2.00am. Last entry 1.00am. The floor closes on time; the last hand is called, not extended.
12.00pm – 3.00am. Last entry 2.00am. Busiest between 9pm and midnight, and the poker table fills first.
Closed, as required. Anzac Day opens at 1.00pm.
Twenty and over, without exception, and photo identification is checked at the door. A New Zealand driver licence, a Kiwi Access card or a passport will do; a photograph of one on your telephone will not. If you look under twenty-five you will be asked, and if you are asked twice in a night by two different hosts, that is the system working rather than the system failing.
Dress is smart casual. No high-visibility clothing, no work boots, no motorcycle helmets carried onto the floor. Bags larger than a small handbag go to the cloakroom by the lift, which is free and staffed until close.
Guests staying in the house sometimes want the Salon for a party — a birthday, a company night, a group down from Christchurch. We will hold it for up to fourteen people with a supper service from the Bracken kitchen and a host who stays with the room. There is no fee and no minimum spend; we ask for two days' notice so that the roster can carry it.
What we will not do is put a gaming evening in front of anyone who has not asked for one. Nothing in the Stay & Play packages requires you to gamble, and the credit included in two of them can be spent on dinner instead. That is deliberate.
Stay & Play packages
The bar at the western end pours from the same list as the Ling Bar upstairs, minus the older whiskies. The supper counter runs from 6pm until an hour before close: cheese from Oamaru, a hot dish, toast at two in the morning for anyone who wants it. The terrace off the light well is small, cold and popular, and has an ashtray.
Water is free and always on the counter. We do not serve alcohol to anyone who has had enough, and the person who decides that is the duty host, not the guest.
No cash machines in the room or the corridor. Four clocks, all correct. A duty host on the floor every half hour. Self-exclusion in writing, confidentially, no reason asked.
White Heath operates the Signal Room under the Gambling Act 2003 and is regulated by the Department of Internal Affairs. Our host responsibility policy is a real document with a review date on it, and the full text is on this website rather than in a folder behind reception.
Staff complete host responsibility training within their first fortnight and again every March. Hosts are trained to recognise the signs — long unbroken sessions, chasing, borrowing, distress — and to approach quietly rather than publicly. Anyone can ask for a break, a barred entry or a full exclusion at any time, and it takes effect the moment it is signed.
The full policySixty-eight rooms and suites, dinner in the Bracken Dining Room, and a gaming lounge one flight below the lobby if that is what your evening wants to be.
The gaming lounge at White Heath is reserved for adults aged 20 and over, in line with New Zealand law. Please confirm your age before continuing.
Gaming at White Heath is available on the premises only. There is no remote or interactive service of any kind. Gambling Helpline 0800 654 655 — free, 24 hours.
Access to this website is restricted to visitors aged 20 and over.
If you need to speak to someone about gambling, the Gambling Helpline is free on 0800 654 655, 24 hours a day. Need to Talk? — call or text 1737.