Responsible Gaming

The first floor is a small room with a few tables, in a hotel with 55 bedrooms. The building wasn't made for it, and it isn't why most people stay. We want you to have a good evening and come back, and everything on this page follows from that.

Strictly adults

Eighteen is the legal age in Australia, and it is enforced here without discretion. Photographic identification is checked at the door on every visit, so being a guest at the hotel makes no difference. A driver licence, a passport or a South Australian proof of age card is accepted. A room key does not count as identification, and neither does a friend vouching for you. Without an acceptable document you will not be admitted, and the host cannot make an exception.

What staff can arrange for you

• A time limit. Tell the host when you want to be finished. They will come and tell you, and if you ask, they will keep reminding you until you leave.
• A spending limit. Name an amount before you sit down. The floor staff will hold you to it and won't let you go past it, however the night is going.
• A break. Ask for one at any point and someone will walk you down to Cellarman's or out to the courtyard, and your place at the table is kept for the next twenty minutes.
• A quiet period. Ask to be kept off the floor for a few nights of your stay, and the door staff will be told.
• Self-exclusion. A longer, formal version of the same arrangement, described below.

All of it is arranged by speaking to a person, so the website has no form, online request or sign-up page for any of it.

Self-exclusion, in person at reception

If you want to be kept off the gaming floor, come to reception and say so. A duty manager will take the request there and then, write down the period you choose and have you sign at the desk. From that moment the door staff will not admit you for that period, and they will keep it private, including from other guests travelling with you.

It is confidential. The record is kept by the duty manager, not in your guest file, and it is not shared outside the building. Your room, your meals, the pool and the rest of the hotel are unaffected. You can extend the period at the desk but you cannot shorten it, because a shorter period would defeat its purpose. We cannot accept a request on behalf of someone else, since the person concerned has to be the one who asks.

No credit and no cash machine

The building has no cash machine, including on the first floor and the landing. Nothing is advanced against a room account, cheques are not cashed, and the Ledger bar does not run a tab that can reach a table. Staff will not lend money, nor accept money from one guest on behalf of another at the tables. When the cash you brought up is gone, the evening is over.

Signs worth noticing, in yourself or in someone with you

• Going back up for more money after deciding not to.
• Staying past the time you told yourself or told the host.
• Playing to win back what you have lost instead of for enjoyment.
• Being vague with the person you are travelling with about where the evening went.
• Feeling flat or irritable away from the table when you ought to be relaxed.
• Borrowing from a friend, or using a card or account meant for something else.
• Drinking more while playing than you would downstairs.

Any one of these on its own means little, but several together usually mean something.

How the staff are trained

Everyone who works the door, the tables or the Ledger bar completes South Australian responsible gambling training before their first shift and refreshes it each year. Beyond the certificate, staff are told that a host who is unsure should act: offer the break, slow the table down, ask the question. Staff are not measured on how long a guest stays at a table, and none of them earns anything from what a guest loses.

How to ask

You can tell the host at the first floor door, the dealer at the table, the bar staff at the Ledger or whoever is at reception. Any of them can start the process and fetch the duty manager, and no particular form of words is needed. If it is easier to ring, the desk is on +61 8 8232 7140, 6.30 am to 11 pm, with the night porter after that.

The dress code, the route up and how table limits are set are covered on the gaming floor page.