The Casino at White Heath
The Ben Lomond Room — 28 machines, 5 tables, open midday to 1am. Twenty and over, photo ID at the door.
01
One room, on the ground floor, at the north end
The Ben Lomond Room is named for the range behind the town — the one the sun comes off at about seven on a summer evening — and it is a room rather than a floor. It holds 28 machines and 5 tables across 210 square metres, it has windows onto the terrace, and on a still night you can hear the lake through them. Nobody has ever described it as Las Vegas and we would take that as a compliment.
Entry is free and there is no membership. You do not have to be staying here. What you do have to be is twenty, with photo identification, and willing to be asked for it — our staff are told to ask anyone who looks under twenty-five and they ask a lot of people who are plainly forty.
Everything here happens in the building. There is nothing to download, no account to open, and no way to play from a phone. We are a hotel with a licensed gaming room in it, not a gambling website, and the distinction matters to us and to the Department of Internal Affairs.
The practical facts
| Open | midday to 1am, seven days Tables from 6pm on Friday and Saturday until 3am |
|---|---|
| Age | 20 and over. Photo ID at the door, every time. |
| Dress | Tidy. No high-visibility workwear, no gang insignia, and shoes on. |
| Entry | Free. No membership, no minimum spend, no requirement to be a hotel guest. |
| Cash | No ATM in the room. The nearest is at reception, forty metres away. |
| Where | Ground floor, north end, past The Moonlight Bar. Step-free from the lift. |
02
What is on the floor
Every machine shows its return-to-player percentage on the glass, and the sheet listing all 28 of them is on the wall beside the door, because you should not have to walk the room to find out.
| Slot machines | 28 machines · Video slots and five older reel machines along the south wall, denominations from 1c to $2. Every machine shows its return-to-player percentage on the glass, and the sheet listing all twenty-eight is on the wall by the door. |
|---|---|
| Blackjack | 2 tables · NZ$10 to NZ$300. Both tables run from midday; the second opens Friday and Saturday from 6pm. |
| Roulette | 1 table · A single-zero wheel, NZ$5 to NZ$500 on the outside, called by a dealer rather than a screen. |
| Baccarat | 1 table · Punto banco, NZ$25 to NZ$1,000. Opens at 6pm, seven days. |
| Poker | 1 table · Texas hold’em, dealer-run, Thursday to Sunday from 7pm. Seats nine and the list is kept at the podium on paper, not on a phone. |
| The Skippers Table | 1 room · A single high-limit table behind a door, by arrangement with the duty manager. Minimum party of four, twenty-four hours’ notice, and exactly the same house rules as the main floor. |
03
The Skippers Table
One high-limit table in a room behind a door, named for the canyon road above the Shotover. It is booked rather than wandered into: a minimum party of four, twenty-four hours’ notice, and a conversation with the duty manager first.
The house rules in that room are exactly the house rules everywhere else. There is no separate limit on losses, no credit, and no arrangement that does not also apply on the main floor. What you get is a closed door, a dealer for your table alone, and someone from The Moonlight Bar who does not have to cross the room to reach you.
04
Host responsibility, in the room itself
Under the Gambling Act 2003 we operate to a host responsibility policy, and the Department of Internal Affairs holds a copy. Most of it is paperwork. The part you can see from a chair is this:
- There are no ATMs on the gaming floor. The nearest is at reception, forty metres and one corridor away, and that is deliberate.
- There are clocks on all four walls, visible from every machine and every table.
- The room has windows and daylight reaches it, so you can tell what time of day it is without being told.
- It closes at 1am, and at 1am it closes. There are no extensions and never have been.
- We do not lend money, cash cheques, or let gaming go onto a room account.
- All 11 gaming staff hold current DIA host responsibility certificates, refreshed every two years.
- Self-exclusion is available in writing, confidentially, at the duty manager’s office. Minimum three months. We do not ask why.
Free, confidential, any hour
- NZ Gambling Helpline — 0800 654 655, 24/7
- Need to Talk? — 1737
- Problem Gambling Foundation — 0800 664 262
- Text 8006
- choicenotchance.org.nz
- safergambling.org.nz
Make a night of it, or do not
The Stay and Play package is two nights, breakfast for two, and NZ$40 of gaming credit loaded at reception when you check in. If that is not what you are here for, every other package we run has nothing to do with the gaming room at all — and most guests take one of those.