Internal Affairs Gaming Inspectors Raid Big Housie

Internal Affairs Gaming Inspectors Raid Big Housie Session

Department of Internal Affairs Inspectors of Gaming raided a large and sophisticated housie session in New Plymouth on Sunday afternoon with the assistance of local police.

They seized $28,000.00 in cash and say prizes of up to $5000 were being offered. This far exceeds the normal maximum payout for a Super House of $700.

Around 400 people were in the venue at the time of the raid. Many had been bussed in from Hamilton, Wellington, Auckland, Palmerston North and the New Plymouth areas.

Two Hamilton women and one New Plymouth woman are assisting the Inspectors with their inquiries.

Inspectors have been investigating reports of large scale 'commercial' housie sessions offering sizable sums in prize money for several months. The sessions have been operating secretly and have been held in different locations throughout the North Island

Warwick Hodder, Manager Gaming Compliance says well organised, commercial operations offering large prizes to attract participants away from legitimate housie sessions effectively deprive 'licensed' community groups of many thousands of dollars in revenue.

"We will always attempt to protect the interests of those groups who make the effort to obtain a licence and run their operations in a legal manner", he said.

All housie sessions must be licensed under the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1977 and all profits must be applied to authorised purposes.

For further information please call Pamela Fleming on 025 575676.

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