The impending installation of a ''virtual door'' at a rural Southland hotel has been hailed as a victory.
The Riversdale Hotel faced the closure of one of its entrances because of Department of Internal Affairs concerns it provided direct access to four poker machines.
The machines in the Northern Southland hotel are operated by the Dunedin-based Southern Trust, which appealed the decision to the Gambling Commission by offering a ''new technological solution''.
That proposal was to install a large high-definition television screen displaying a live feed from a camera directed at the external door, with a buzzer which would sound whenever someone entered.
The screen would go from a still view of a door to a moving image when a person entered the venue.
Publican Gary Kirk told the Otago Daily Times the large screen would be installed near the bar in the next fortnight, which would allow staff ''to see everything''.
''It is good we have been able to stand up ... it is a technological world and we are doing our bit.''
The plan to close the entranceway would have required hotel patrons to walk 150m from the car park, along a side street, around a corner and on to the main road, before entering at the front of the hotel.
He said he was pleased the Gambling Commission saw ''the common sense in the plan''.
Internal Affairs had been concerned those aged under 18 could access the venue's poker machines.
The trust argued that risk was minimal in a small, rural community of fewer than 400 people, where patrons knew each other.
It also noted the pub's rear entrance was critical as an access point, and it was not practical to create an alternative entranceway.
The Gambling Commission confirmed the decision of Internal Affairs to impose a licence condition concerning the entranceway, but varied that condition to include the virtual door proposal.
Mr Kirk praised the Gambling Commission for reaching the decision, and the support and advice he received from the Southern Trust.
Southern Trust chief executive Karen Shea welcomed the decision.
''We were very happy with the outcome, a bit of common sense and the acknowledgement that technology is always moving and improving.''
