SkyCity staffer’s six-figure pledge to VIP gambler costs him his job

A former SkyCity Entertainment Group casino staffer who made six-figure promises to a VIP gambler that the company declined to honor has lost his wrongful termination suit.

Longtime SkyCity employee Keith Hayashi was dismissed in May 2016 after the company determined that he’d overstepped his authority in offering rebates to a high-roller without checking with his superiors.

The incident occurred in February 2016, when Hayashi was an operations manager at SkyCity Auckland. Hayashi had been informed that the table limit for certain baccarat side wagers in a specific area of the international VIP section had been capped at $25k.

An unidentified woman had been playing baccarat at the casino for nine days in a salon where bets were capped at $20k. Hayashi, who mistakenly believed the $25k limit applied to her salon, calculated that the women could have won an additional $310,400 had she been allowed to play to what he believed was the ‘correct’ limit during her entire nine-day run.