Host Responsibility

Last reviewed: 1 July 2026. Reviewed annually and after any change to the gaming lounge.

1. Our commitment

Coastal Verge Hospitality Ltd operates a gaming lounge at 58 Shotover Street, Queenstown. We hold host responsibility obligations under the Gambling Act 2003, and this policy sets out how we meet them. It is written down because staff have to be able to follow it, and it is public because guests are entitled to know what to expect from us.

Our position is straightforward. Gambling is a form of entertainment that costs money. It is not a way to make money, it is not a solution to a financial problem, and the longer anyone plays the more the mathematics of the games assert themselves. We will not market it as anything else, and no advertising we publish will suggest that gambling leads to success, status or relief.

A copy of this policy is displayed at the entrance to the gaming lounge and at the cashier, and is available in print from reception on request.

2. Age — 20 and over

Entry to the gaming lounge is restricted to persons aged 20 years or over. This is a legal requirement and applies without exception, including to hotel guests, to people who are only passing through the room, and to people accompanied by an adult.

We operate a challenge policy: any person who appears to be under 25 will be asked for identification, every time they enter, regardless of how often they have visited before. Door staff are instructed to apply this consistently rather than at their discretion.

The only forms of identification we accept are:

• a current New Zealand driver licence;
• a current Kiwi Access (18+) card; or
• a current passport from any country.

We do not accept photographs of documents, expired documents, student cards or any other form of identification. A person who cannot produce one of the three documents above will not be admitted, and staff have no authority to make an exception.

Anyone found in the lounge who is under 20 will be asked to leave immediately, any stake will be returned, and any winnings are forfeit. Under section 305 of the Act, it is an offence for a person under 20 to gamble in a casino and an offence for us to allow it.

The rest of the hotel — rooms, restaurants, the lounge bar, the spa, the pool and the event spaces — is open to guests of all ages.

3. Self-exclusion

Any person may ask to be excluded from our gaming lounge. Self-exclusion is voluntary, confidential and free. You do not need to give a reason, you do not need to speak to more than one person, and nobody will try to talk you out of it.

To arrange it, ask any member of our gaming staff, the duty manager, or reception. The process takes about ten minutes and is carried out in a private office, not at the desk. You choose the length of the order — from three months up to two years — and it can be renewed.

Once an order is in place:

• we will refuse you entry to the gaming lounge for the full term of the order;
• we will remove you from any marketing list that mentions gaming;
• we will not issue you gaming credit as part of any hotel package;
• your details are held only for the purpose of administering the order, and are seen only by staff who need them to do so; and
• you remain welcome in the hotel, the restaurants, the spa and the event spaces.

An order cannot be cancelled early. That is the point of it. At the end of the term you may let it lapse or renew it, and we will not contact you to encourage either.

We can also arrange exclusion at the request of a family member concerned about someone else. In that case we cannot exclude the person on your say-so alone, but we will speak with them, and we will tell you what we can do.

4. Trained staff

Every member of our gaming staff completes host responsibility training before they work on the floor unsupervised, and refresher training each year. Training covers the signs of gambling harm, how to open a conversation about it without embarrassing anyone, the self-exclusion process, and the point at which they must involve the duty manager.

A duty manager is on the gaming floor at all times the lounge is open. Staff are instructed to approach a guest, offer a break and offer information where they observe behaviour such as:

• playing for long periods without a break, or through the night;
• visible distress, anger or agitation during or after play;
• attempting to borrow money from other guests or from staff;
• asking us to extend credit, or to cash a cheque;
• returning repeatedly to withdraw more cash;
• saying they are chasing losses, or that they cannot stop.

Staff may require a guest to take a break from play, and the duty manager may exclude a person from the lounge on the hotel's initiative where there is a reasonable belief of harm. Neither decision is a judgement about the person, and neither affects their stay in the hotel.

5. How the room is run

Some of what reduces harm is in the design of the room rather than in a policy document. In our lounge:

• there are clocks on the walls and windows onto the lake, so you can tell what time it is and whether it is dark;
• closing times are posted and enforced, and the lounge closes fully every night;
• there are no automatic teller machines on the gaming floor — the nearest is in the lobby, one floor down;
• we do not extend credit to any guest under any circumstances, and hotel room accounts cannot be charged for gaming;
• we do not cash cheques or provide cash advances against a card;
• alcohol service in the lounge follows the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, and intoxicated persons are not served and not permitted to gamble;
• machines display return-to-player information on the cabinet, and house rules for every table game are available at the table and at the cashier;
• information about gambling harm and the helpline numbers below is displayed at the entrance, at the cashier and in the lounge bathrooms.

6. Complimentary gaming credit in hotel packages

Some of our accommodation packages include a fixed amount of complimentary gaming credit. Where they do:

• the amount is fixed at the time of booking and never increases with play;
• it is issued only to guests aged 20 and over, on presentation of valid photo ID at the lounge cashier;
• it is not issued to any person subject to a self-exclusion order;
• it has no cash value, cannot be transferred and is not refundable; and
• a guest may decline it, and a package can be booked without it at the same price on request.

We do not offer any inducement that scales with the amount a guest gambles, and we do not run a loyalty scheme based on gaming turnover.

7. Getting help

The services below are free, confidential and independent of Coastal Verge. You do not have to be in crisis to call any of them, and you do not have to give your name.

Service	Contact	Hours
NZ Gambling Helpline	0800 654 655	Free, 24 hours, 7 days
Need to Talk?	1737 — call or text	Free, 24 hours, 7 days
Problem Gambling Foundation	0800 664 262	Weekdays, plus web chat
Text support	Text 8006	Free, 24 hours
Choice Not Chance	choicenotchance.org.nz	Online, any time
Safer Gambling Aotearoa	safergambling.org.nz	Online, any time

Face-to-face counselling is available in Queenstown and throughout Otago at no cost. The Gambling Helpline will make the referral for you if you would rather not do it yourself, and our duty manager will make the call from a private office if that is easier.

8. Regulation and complaints

Gambling in New Zealand is regulated by the Department of Internal Affairs. If you believe we have failed to meet our host responsibility obligations, we would like to hear about it first — write to the General Manager at [email protected] or 58 Shotover Street, Queenstown 9300. We will acknowledge within two working days and respond substantively within ten.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may raise the matter with the Department of Internal Affairs, which is independent of us and has the power to investigate.

9. Contact

Coastal Verge Hospitality Ltd
58 Shotover Street, Queenstown 9300, Otago, New Zealand
Phone +64 3 442 6180
Email [email protected]
NZBN 9429048173620