Editorial Process

Casino Near Me publishes nothing about a venue that isn’t on the NZ Department of Internal Affairs gambling register. This page explains how the directory is assembled, verified, and refreshed.

The Source of Truth

Every Class 4 pokie venue on this site originates in one file: the DIA Class 4 venue-and-gaming-machine-numbers quarterly list, published four times a year (31 March, 30 June, 30 September, 31 December). The file is a government XLSX that lists every licensed pokie venue in the country with its society (operator), licence number, venue number, address, territorial authority, machine count, and jackpot count.

The six licensed casinos are governed separately under Part 3 of the Gambling Act 2003 (sections 124–146), which carries forward the six-licence cap originally set by the Casino Control Act 1990 — the list is frozen at six, with licence conditions published by the DIA and Gambling Commission. We reconcile casino pages against that source.

Refresh Cycle

Within 6–8 weeks of each DIA quarterly release:

1. Download the new quarterly XLSX.
2. Diff it against the previous snapshot — new venues, closed venues, machine-count changes, operator changes, and address updates.
3. Reconcile the diff into Directus (the site’s content database). Closed venues are archived, not deleted, so they can be restored if they return.
4. Rebuild and redeploy the directory.

Every page on the site carries a “Verified against the latest official NZ gambling register — {month} {year}” stamp at the top, auto-updated at build time.

Editorial Team

All three editors are editorial personas rather than named individuals — they represent standing review responsibilities on the site. We do this because the work described here is a discipline, not an individual’s opinion, and the standards apply regardless of who physically runs the pipeline.

Marama Williams — Editor-in-Chief

Leads editorial at Casino Near Me, cross-referencing every venue entry against the DIA Class 4 register and the Gambling Commission casino licence list. Editorial brief: if the DIA doesn’t hold a record, the site doesn’t list one.

Tim Jensen — Senior Venue Researcher

Tracks venue openings, closures, operator changes, and machine-count revisions across the quarterly DIA register. Confirms addresses, opening hours, and operator details at the venue-page level before anything is published.

Aroha Taylor — Responsible Gambling Lead

Oversees the site’s responsible-gambling standards, ensuring every venue page surfaces Gambling Helpline NZ (0800 654 655) and accurate self-exclusion information. Reviews all regulatory copy against the Gambling Act 2003 and current DIA public-health communications.

What We Don’t Do

• No affiliate promotion. This is a reference directory. We don’t take commissions from casinos or pokies operators and don’t rank venues by anything other than machine count, suburb, or alphabetical.
• No user-generated venue listings. Venues appear on the site only after they appear on the DIA register.
• No speculative venue claims. Opening dates, machine counts, and operator details that aren’t in the register are flagged as editorial or omitted entirely.

Corrections

If you’re a venue operator, council, or a member of the public and you’ve spotted a factual error, contact us with the DIA venue number (or name plus suburb). We verify against the next quarterly release and correct within the refresh cycle.

For regulatory or licensing matters, contact the Department of Internal Affairs directly.