The casino at Sable Sails is twelve tables and a slots room in a hundred-year-old woolshed above Lake Hayes — licensed under the Gambling Act 2003, open to anyone over 20, and small enough that the dealers learn your name by the second night.
The Casino Floor
The casino occupies the ground floor of the woolshed, across the courtyard from the main house. The floor was laid for sorting fleeces and has been left exactly as it was; the tables sit under the original roof trusses, and the only real additions are the lighting and the bar along the eastern wall. It holds about eighty people comfortably, which is roughly a tenth of what a city casino turns over in an hour, and that is the entire point of it.
There are twelve tables. On a quiet Wednesday, six of them are open. On a Saturday in July every one is running and the courtyard doors are propped open regardless of the temperature. The slots room is separate, deliberately quieter, and opens two hours before the main casino floor does.
Lodge guests walk in free. Visitors from outside the lodge are welcome and pay no entry charge either — the casino makes its money at the tables, not at the door. Booking a table for a group of six or more is worth a phone call, particularly between June and September.
Casino Games
The casino deals blackjack, roulette, baccarat and three-card poker. Every one of those games is dealt to rules approved under the Gambling Act 2003, and the approved rules, minimum and maximum stakes, and the odds paid on each wager are printed and held at the cash desk. Ask for them. Any dealer or supervisor on the casino floor will fetch a copy and walk you through it without a hint of impatience.
- Blackjack — six tables, the busiest games in the casino. Beginners’ tables run from 6pm to 8pm with reduced minimums.
- Roulette — two single-zero wheels, both hand-spun.
- Baccarat — two tables, opened on demand from 8pm.
- Three-card poker — two tables, the game most guests learn first because the hands are quick and the decisions are few.
- Slots room — a small separate room off the courtyard, open from 4pm, with return-to-player figures displayed on every machine.
There is no sports betting and no TAB terminal on the premises. The casino is a table casino and intends to stay one.
Casino Entry & House Rules
Entry to the casino is R20. This is not discretionary and it is not negotiable at the door: no person under the age of 20 may enter or remain on the casino floor, including in the company of a parent, and including if they are staying at the lodge. Photo identification is required from every person entering the casino who cannot obviously satisfy the age requirement, and our staff will ask. A passport, a New Zealand driver licence or a Kiwi Access card are all accepted.
- Casino hours are 6pm to 2am, Wednesday to Sunday. The slots room opens at 4pm. Last entry to the casino is 1am.
- Dress is tidy. Ski gear, wet boots, hi-vis and beachwear stay in the drying room.
- Photography and filming on the casino floor are not permitted, out of respect for other guests.
- Phones may be carried but not used at the tables while a hand is live.
- The cash desk handles all chip purchases and cash-outs. There is deliberately no ATM on the casino floor.
- Management may refuse entry to, or remove any person from, the casino at its discretion, and will always do so where a person is intoxicated or where continued play appears to be causing harm.
Licensing & the Gambling Act 2003
The casino at Sable Sails operates under a casino licence held in accordance with the Gambling Act 2003 and the regulations and game rules made under it. In practice that Act governs almost everything you will notice about the room: who may enter it, what games may be dealt, the rules and stakes those games run to, how winnings are paid, how the casino advertises itself, and what we are obliged to do when somebody is gambling in a way that is hurting them.
The Act requires every casino operator in New Zealand to hold and follow a written host responsibility programme. Ours is available at the cash desk and covers staff training, the display of harm-minimisation information across the casino floor, limits on the promotion of gambling, restrictions on serving alcohol to anyone gambling, and the handling of exclusion orders. Complaints about the casino may be made to the duty manager at any time and, if you are not satisfied with our response, to the Department of Internal Affairs, which regulates gambling in New Zealand.
Responsible Gambling
Most people who walk into a casino have an enjoyable evening and go to bed. A small number do not, and the difference is rarely obvious from the outside — which is why the obligation sits with us rather than with you.
Every member of casino staff at Sable Sails is trained to recognise the signs of gambling harm and to approach a guest about it. That conversation is private, it is not a judgement, and it does not end your stay at the lodge. You can also come to us first:
- Self-exclusion. Ask any supervisor to exclude you from the casino, for a period you choose or indefinitely. We will issue the exclusion order the same evening, without argument and without asking for a reason.
- Third-party exclusion. If you are worried about someone else, speak to the duty manager. The Gambling Act 2003 gives us the power to act on that.
- Limits. The cash desk will hold you to a spending limit you set on arrival, and will decline to go past it.
- Breaks in play. Clocks are visible from every table in the casino, and there is no ATM on the floor. Both of those are deliberate.
Free, confidential and independent help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from the Gambling Helpline on 0800 654 655. You do not need to be in crisis to call, and you do not have to be the person gambling.
Reserve a table, or ask us anything about the casino.
Table reservations, group bookings, house rules, exclusion requests and questions about the Gambling Act 2003 all go to the same number. The casino desk answers from 4pm, and the lodge answers from 8am.
R20. The casino at Sable Sails is licensed and operated in accordance with the Gambling Act 2003. No person under the age of 20 may enter the casino floor, and photo identification is required. If gambling stops being fun, call the Gambling Helpline free on 0800 654 655, any hour of any day.