Level two · R20 · open 11am to 3am, seven days
The casino at Windshore Place. Ninety-six machines, twelve tables with a dealer behind every one of them, and a private salon beyond. Adults aged 20 and over, photo identification at the door each time you come in.
The Windward Room opened in March 2013 in what had been the shipping company's drawing office. It is 720 square metres, and it is on the harbour side.
Most gaming floors are built without daylight on purpose. Ours has eleven metres of north-east glazing and we have never covered it.
You can see the ferries, the weather coming up the harbour, and what time of day it is. Every wall carries a lit clock. There is no cash machine anywhere on level two; the nearest is in the ground-floor lobby, past the front desk. None of that is decoration — it is the shape our host responsibility programme takes in the building itself, and it is why the room feels like part of a hotel rather than somewhere separate from one.
The casino games here are the ones you would expect and no more than that: machines along the west wall, tables in the centre under the original concrete coffers, a bar at the far end, and the Beacon Room behind a door on the harbour side. Drinks are not carried to the machines. If you want one you walk to the bar, which takes about fifteen seconds and is, again, deliberate.
Minimums rise after eight in the evening on Friday and Saturday, and are posted on the table sign before you take a seat. Nothing is hidden and nothing changes mid-shoe.
Video slots, a bank of eleven classic three-reel machines for people who want them, and two progressive jackpots linked across the floor. Denominations from one cent to two dollars.
Six-deck shoe, dealer stands on soft seventeen, double after split, surrender not offered. Two tables run from opening; the rest come on between four and six in the afternoon.
Two single-zero wheels and one double-zero. The single-zero tables are the ones nearest the window and are the better bet; we say so rather than leave you to find out.
Punto banco, eight decks, five per cent commission on the banker. Both tables sit at the harbour end of the room and are the quietest seats on the floor.
Texas hold'em, dealer-run, rake capped at NZ$6 a pot. A Thursday tournament at 7pm with a NZ$60 buy-in that has run without a break since 2015 and fills most weeks.
A separate salon of forty square metres behind the harbour wall, named for the light on Point Halswell. High-limit blackjack, baccarat and one roulette wheel, with a host and a kitchen line of its own. Access by arrangement with the duty manager.
There are no electronic table terminals here and no screens standing in for a dealer. Every one of the twelve tables on the main floor, and all four in the Beacon Room, is run by a licensed croupier who works a twenty-minute rotation and is trained under our host responsibility programme before they are trained on a game.
Fourteen of our dealers have been here more than five years. It shows in the pace of the table, which is slower than you may be used to, and in the fact that somebody will notice if you have been in the chair a long time.
Nothing on this website is a game. The Windward Room can only be played in person, on level two, at 74 Oriental Parade.
The lift to level two needs no key. The door does need identification, every visit, however often you come.
The rest of Windshore Place — the rooms, Roseneath, Chaffers, the Carter, the pool — is open to guests of every age. Only level two is restricted, and it is the only floor with a door on it.
The full policy runs to a page of its own. What follows is what it means on the floor at one in the morning.
If gambling has stopped being entertainment, say so to whoever is nearest. Every one of them knows what to do next, and none of them will make it a conversation.
Rooms from NZ$249 with breakfast, the pool and the wireless included. The Stay & Play packages add a dining credit and gaming lounge access for guests aged 20 and over.
The Windward Room, the gaming lounge at Windshore Place, is reserved for adults aged 20 and over, in line with New Zealand law. The rest of the hotel — rooms, restaurants, the spa — welcomes guests of every age.
Access to this website is restricted to visitors aged 20 and over. Please close this window. If you would like to talk to someone about gambling, ring 0800 654 655, free, at any hour.