Woman left ruined by pokies claims machines addictive, deceptive
A WOMAN who says pokies took over her life from the age of 17 is trying to have the machines declared unlawful in a landmark Federal Court case.
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A WOMAN who spent 13 years in the grip of a gambling addiction is suing Crown Casino claiming the popular Dolphin Treasure pokie machine is designed to entrap users.
Shonica Guy, who wants the machines declared unlawful, has taken Crown and the games’ manufacturers Aristocrat Technologies to the Federal Court in a bid to have them banned.
Ms Guy began playing pokies as a teen and says they ruined her.
“I started playing the pokies when I was 17. Poker machines took over my life for the next 14 years,” Ms Guy said.
“This case is not about seeking compensation for what I lost — I just want to make sure what happened to me doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
“What I want this case to show is that the industry knows their machines are addictive, and designs these machines to get us hooked. I’m looking forward to having my day in court to fight for honesty and fairness in the pokies industry.”
Ms Guy’s legal team, led by former Federal Court judge Ron Merkel QC, this morning argued that the Dolphin Treasure machine is “misleading and deceptive” and Crown Casino and the machines manufacturer Aristocrat engaged in “unconscionable conduct”.
The team claims the machines misrepresent possible returns, is programmed to reduce the chance of payouts and disguise losses as wins by trumpeting small wins even when overall losses are made on a “winning spin”.
Anti-gambling crusader Tim Costello said pokies had stripped billions from ordinary Australians for the benefit of a few.
“Aristocrat Leisure built its first poker machine in Sydney in 1953 ... founder Len Ainsworth and his family are worth about $3 billion — this is wealth taken from ordinary Australians, many of whom, like Shonica Guy, couldn’t afford to lose this money,” Mr Costello said
“The machines have become more and more sophisticated and losses have now soared to about $12 billion a year. Millions of dollars in political donations have been made, the gambling industry has hired dozens of former politicians, state budgets have pocketed more than $30 billion over the past 25 years, but this has been dirty money, a form of state-sponsored abuse of the citizenry.”
The trial, before Federal Court Justice Debbie Mortimer, is expected to run for three weeks.