Host Responsibility

Last reviewed 1 June 2026 · Version 4.2 · Next review June 2027

Why this document exists

White Heath Estate Limited operates a gaming lounge, the Signal Room, on the lower ground floor of the hotel at 41 Royal Terrace, Dunedin. It is licensed under the Gambling Act 2003 and regulated by the Department of Internal Affairs. Section 308 of that Act requires us to have a host responsibility policy. This is it, in full, on a public page rather than in a folder behind reception.

The policy is reviewed every June by the general manager and the gaming operations manager together. The version number and review date at the top of this page change when the policy does.

Our position is straightforward. White Heath is a hotel with a gaming lounge in it. Sixty-eight rooms, a dining room, a bar, a spa, four event rooms — and one room where people gamble. We would rather a guest had a good evening than a long one, and we would rather lose an hour of turnover than have someone walk out of here in a worse state than they walked in.

Minimum age: twenty

Entry to the Signal Room is restricted to people aged 20 years or over. There are no exceptions, including for hotel guests, including for people accompanied by an adult, and including for people who are staying in the house and have already been checked in.

• Photo identification is checked at the door for every person who enters. A New Zealand driver licence, a Kiwi Access (18+) card, or a passport is accepted. A photograph of a document on a telephone is not accepted.
• Anyone who appears to be under 25 will be asked. If two different hosts ask on the same night, that is the system working.
• Anyone who cannot produce identification is refused entry and offered the Ling Bar upstairs instead.
• A person found on the gaming floor who is under 20 is removed immediately, and the incident is recorded in the duty log whether or not they had played.

What we actually do on the floor

Policies are easy to write. These are the specific arrangements that follow from ours, and they are the ones we would point an inspector at first.

• No cash machines. There is no ATM in the Signal Room, and none in the corridor that leads to it. The nearest is in the main lobby, about sixty metres away, and you have to walk past a member of staff to reach it.
• Clocks you can see. There are four wall clocks in the room, positioned so that every table and every machine bank is within sight of at least one. They are checked against the network time each Monday.
• The room closes on time. Two in the morning Sunday to Thursday, three on Friday and Saturday. The last hand is called, not extended, and the doors are locked at the hour whether or not the floor is busy.
• A host walks the floor on the half hour. The duty host completes a written round every thirty minutes and records what was seen, whether or not anything happened. Blank rounds are still written down and still signed.
• No credit, no lending. We do not extend credit for gambling, we do not cash personal cheques, and staff are prohibited from lending money to a guest under any circumstances.
• Alcohol. We do not serve alcohol to a person who is intoxicated, and the person who decides that is the duty host rather than the guest. Water is free and kept on the counter at all times.
• Breaks. The supper counter runs from 6pm, and hosts are trained to suggest it rather than to hover. Sitting down to eat is the single most useful thing an unbroken session can be interrupted with.
• No promotion inside the room. We do not advertise the gaming lounge in guest rooms, on the in-house channel, or in the dining room, and no package offered by the hotel requires a guest to gamble.

Recognising when something is wrong

Every member of gaming staff completes host responsibility training within their first fortnight and again each March. Training covers the signs of harm and, more importantly, how to raise them without embarrassing anyone.

The indicators our hosts are trained to notice include long unbroken sessions, playing several machines at once, visible distress or anger, returning repeatedly to the cash machine in the lobby, asking other patrons or staff for money, complaining about losses, and remaining after close. None of these on its own means very much. Two or three together are a conversation.

That conversation happens quietly, away from the table, and it begins by asking how the evening is going. Nobody is ejected for being unlucky.

Self-exclusion

Any person may exclude themselves from the Signal Room. It is free, it is confidential, and we do not ask why.

1. Ask any member of staff, or write to the gaming operations manager at 41 Royal Terrace, Dunedin 9016, or email [email protected]. It does not have to be said out loud in front of other people.
2. We complete the order with you in a private office. You choose the length; the minimum is two years, and it can be for longer.
3. It takes effect the moment it is signed. A photograph is taken with your consent so that door staff can recognise you; it is held securely and used for no other purpose.
4. Nothing about the exclusion appears on your hotel account, your booking record, or anything visible to non-gaming staff. You remain welcome in every other part of the house.
5. An exclusion cannot be lifted early. At the end of the term you must ask in writing to have it removed, and there is a fortnight's stand-down before it takes effect.

We can also issue an exclusion ourselves where we believe a person is being harmed by gambling. Where we do, we say so to the person's face and we put the reason in writing.

Family and third parties

If you are worried about someone else, telephone the gaming operations manager on +64 3 477 2814 and ask for them by title. We cannot tell you whether a particular person has been in the building — that is their information, not yours — but we can take what you tell us, record it, and act on it on the floor. Under the Gambling Act 2003 we may issue an exclusion order on our own initiative, and information from a family member is a legitimate reason to consider one.

Advertising and the way we sell

Our promotions are hotel packages. Two of the five include a house credit that may be spent in the Signal Room or in the dining room, at the guest's choice; the credit has no cash value, cannot be withdrawn, and can be moved to a dining account on request at check-in. No package is priced on the assumption that a guest will gamble. We do not advertise gambling to anyone under 20, and we do not describe gambling as a way to make money. Nor do we borrow the language of remote operators: nothing at White Heath is claimed, matched or credited on condition that you play.

White Heath does not operate any remote or interactive gaming service — not by website, not by telephone, not by application. Gaming happens on the premises, in one room, for adults who have shown identification at the door.

Complaints

If you believe we have not lived up to this policy, write to the general manager at 41 Royal Terrace, Dunedin 9016 or [email protected]. We reply within ten working days. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you may complain to the Gambling Compliance group at the Department of Internal Affairs, which regulates us and can be contacted through dia.govt.nz.