Responsible Gaming

Eleven tables in a block at the end of the verandah, open five evenings a week. Everything described on this page is arranged face to face, at the hotel.

Where the house stands

A guest who plays for an evening, enjoys it and walks back along the verandah to bed has had a better night than one who plays until closing and thinks about it on the road to Uluru. That is not a slogan, it shapes how the room is run: eleven tables, closing at two, no credit at any hour and no cash machine anywhere on the property. The bar closes before the tables do.

Adults only, every visit

The age is eighteen, and photo ID is checked at the door on every visit, including for guests who have already checked in. We accept an Australian driver licence, a passport or a proof-of-age card. Nobody under 18 enters at any hour.

What staff will do, there and then

• Hold a limit. Say your figure before you sit down and it is written up and kept for the evening. If you would like a suggestion, ask.
• Tell you the time. Say when you would like to be told the time and you will be.
• Keep your seat. Twenty minutes on the verandah and it is still there.
• Keep you out for a stretch. Tell the desk you do not want to be admitted for a number of days, and it is written down and followed.
• Self-exclusion. Signed at the front desk, effective the same evening, lifted only by returning to that desk in person. Never by telephone.

None of this is offered on the website, on purpose. Each of these things is a conversation with somebody who can see your face.

Worth noticing in yourself

• Staying later than you decided to, on more evenings than you decided to.
• Going back the next night chiefly to get back what went the night before.
• Being vague with whoever you travelled with about how the evening went.
• Thinking about the low block while you are standing somewhere you drove five hours to see.
• Money meant for the rest of the trip going across the pool deck instead.

Any one of these alone means little. Three together are worth taking seriously, and the staff here have had that conversation before and know how to keep it low-key.

How staff are trained

Anyone who works that floor is briefed before a first shift and twice a year after that. The briefing covers setting and holding a limit, handling a guest who has drunk too much, taking a self-exclusion discreetly, and when to fetch the duty manager instead of dealing with it alone. The duty manager is on the property every evening the room is open.

How to ask

Tell whoever is on the floor, or come to the front desk between six in the morning and eleven at night. You do not need an appointment or have to explain yourself.