Average casino punter loses $68 a visit

The Press obtained a revenue report for the Christchurch Casino for the month ending May 13 during its investigation into loan sharks at the casino.

The monthly report reveals punters gambled $25.8 million in the Christchurch Casino that month. Of that, the casino's winnings were $2.27m, or 8.8c of every dollar bet.

The $2.27m winnings is an average of $67.80 from the 33,586 casino customers in the month.

The monthly report gives a rare glimpse into a business where few figures have been available.

The company is owned 40.5 per cent by Queenstown-based Skyline Enterprises and 40.5 per cent by listed entertainment group SkyCity Entertainment.

When Sky City reports, there is only a small amount of information about the Christchurch Casino.

The report shows that 33,586 casino customers spent an average of $768 each at the casino in the month.

The gaming machines appear to be where the casino won most money. But it won the greatest cut or percentage of what punters spent on the gaming tables.

Just over $21.8m was spent on the machines, and the casino's winnings were $1.6m, or 7.36c of each $1 bet.

On the gaming tables, punters spent $3.95m, with the casino winning $665,183, or 16.8c of each $1 bet.

The winnings differ on the machines. For instance, $8.7m was bet on the 2c slot machines and the casino won $912,084, or 10.5c of each $1 bet.

On the $2 machines, the casino won 2.7c of every $1 bet, the report says.

An analyst said the law restricted gaming organisations to winning 12.5% maximum from gaming machines, and the organisations did not necessarily go to that maximum to give a perception of value for money on the machines.

According to the report, the best percentage win for the casino in the month to May 13 was on Keno, where the percentage win was 39.4 per cent.

On the gaming tables, the casino's highest win was 33 per cent on stud poker.

In Club Aspinall, a gaming room for high rollers, roulette was the casino's best game, with a 19 per cent win rate.

Revenues from food, drinks and parking are also substantial.

For the month, total food and beverage sales were close to $433,000, and carpark revenue was just over $44,500.