Bar manager convicted

A former Auckland bar manager was sentenced to three months home detention and 50 hours community service for theft and failing to bank gaming machine profits.

William James McCormick, aged 57, pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court (on 1 July) to one charge of theft by a person in a special relationship and one of failing to bank almost $21,000. The Gambling Act requires gaming machine money to be banked within five working days.

McCormick was manager of Royal Oak's Roundabout Bar and Brasserie, which had a long history of late banking with the society that owned the gaming machines, the Southern Trust. As a result, the trust removed its machines, with almost $21,000 outstanding, and complained to the Department of Internal Affairs.

Internal Affairs Director of Gambling Compliance, Mike Hill said gaming machine money does not belong to a venue but to the society, which is responsible for distributing funds to the community.

"The community must be the ultimate beneficiary of gaming machine proceeds in line with one of the purposes of the Gambling Act," he said. "This case sends a strong message to venues that gaming machine proceeds do not belong to them but are held in trust. Not dealing with the funds as the law requires deprives the community of money and constitutes theft."