Star Gold Coast: Weeping gambler who spent 54 per cent of her income has ban overturned
A tribunal has found that a woman who gambled away $31,000 in nine months and cried every time staff at The Star Gold Coast tried to discuss her means with her was not a problem gambler. Here’s why.
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A Queensland tribunal has overturned a gambling ban imposed by The Star Gold Coast on a woman the casino deemed a problem gambler, notwithstanding the fact she lost almost $31,000 in nine months and burst into tears anytime staff would ask her about her means.
According to a recent decision of Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal member Michael Howe, the woman, known as ‘SB’, was ruled a problem gambler by casino staff on February 9, 2023, and issued an exclusion direction the same day.
The woman had been living overseas until March 2022, when she returned to care for her elderly aunt, for which she was paid a carer’s allowance of $1,163 a fortnight.
The pair would attend the casino together five or six times a week and formed friendships there, before the aunt passed away on October 30, 2022, shortly after which SB became a member of the Star’s Sovereign Room for platinum members.
Two months later, in December 2022, casino officers began inquiring about her employment status and income, Mr Howe said.
On January 22, 2023, SB was asked when her carer’s payment would end and what she would do for money after that.
“Her response was that she did not know what she would do after administering [her aunt’s] estate, nor how long that would take, but she was not concerned because she had her own money,” Mr Howe said.
“[She] explained that the casino was a social outlet for her.”
Casino officers told her she had lost $30,954.06 between April 3, 2022, and January 24, 2023, and that she was losing $1000 a week, which SB refused to believe.
She was “evasive” when asked to set a betting limit, but reluctantly agreed to limit her spend to $500 a week, Mr Howe said.
On February 9, 2023, she furnished the casino with vague financial information indicating an annual income of about $51,000 for 2022.
The casino calculated she had lost 54 per cent of that to gambling in the nine months between April and December 2022, leading to its decision to ban her.
“Star believed, on that information provided, she was spending more than she could afford and the spending (out of savings) was not sustainable, and therefore SB was a problem gambler,” Mr Howe said.
“SB failed to understand that she was spending her savings... [and] cried in almost every interaction with Star staff, suggesting she was fragile and potentially vulnerable after her aunt’s death.”
During the tribunal hearing, evidence emerged that SB held assets totalling $3.5m (about two-thirds of which was the value of a house she inherited from her aunt), and Star’s responsible gambling manager, Junior Toleafoa, conceded on that basis she could afford to lose what she was losing.
He also conceded that on 29 of the hundreds of days she attended the casino across the nine months she left with winnings (inability to leave with winnings being a sign of problem gambling).
On the basis SB wasn’t harming herself (due to her sound asset position) or her family (she appeared to have none), Mr Howe found SB couldn’t be considered a problem gambler under s99C of the Casino Control Act 1982 and he set aside the exclusion direction.
Mr Home said SB could have saved herself a lot of trouble by simply providing a more detailed picture of her asset position to The Star when they began inquiring about her means.
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Originally published as Star Gold Coast: Weeping gambler who spent 54 per cent of her income has ban overturned
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