{"id":69094,"date":"2018-02-04T17:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T01:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=69094"},"modified":"2018-02-03T07:48:48","modified_gmt":"2018-02-03T15:48:48","slug":"court-sides-gaming-industry-landmark-australian-pokies-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/court-sides-gaming-industry-landmark-australian-pokies-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Sides with Gaming Industry in Landmark Australian Pokies Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crown Resorts<\/a> and Aristocrat are breathing a sigh of relief after an Australian judge rejected claims by a former gambling addict that one of Aristocrat\u2019s pokies (slot machines) was designed to deceive players.<\/p>\n

\"Australia
Shonica Guy lost her case against Crown Resorts and Aristocrat over whether the Dolphin Treasure slot machine was designed to deceive players. (Image: AAP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Federal Court of Australia found that the popular poker machine Dolphin Treasure did not break any laws, despite claims by Shonica Guy that both the casino and the game\u2019s manufacturer tried to manipulate players with unrealistic expectations about the game.<\/p>\n

Guy filed the lawsuit last September against Crown Resorts and Aristocrat<\/a>, saying she had lost 14 years of her life to a gambling addiction. Her hope was that the lawsuit could lay some culpability for problem gambling at the feet of the gaming industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long now, we have been told we are the only ones to blame for pokies addiction,\u201d she said when filing the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Guy Targeted Slots Features as Misleading<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Guy charged that Dolphin Treasure used several tricks to con players into thinking their chances were better than they were. Her legal team pointed out that adding more symbols to the final of the game\u2019s five reels and making losses frequently look like near misses were among the deceptive practices designed to trick players into chasing jackpots.<\/p>\n

But while Justice Debbie Mortimer found some aspects of Guy\u2019s claim compelling, overall, she did not agree that the gaming firms had done anything wrong.<\/p>\n

For instance, Justice Mortimer agreed that the return to player figure of 87.8 percent posted on the machine might be confusing to players, as the average gambler could get the impression that they would win back that percentage on an average session, when in reality, that figure included rare jackpots that a typical player might never hit.<\/p>\n

But Justice Mortimer also said that this impression wouldn\u2019t last long once someone started playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny such impression formed would be dispelled as soon as she or he actually starts gambling and the randomness of the operation of the machine and returns become apparent,\u201d she said.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ultimately, Justice Mortimer found that the machines were a pretty standard form of gambling, something that wasn\u2019t on trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not part of the court\u2019s task to characterize gambling as a desirable or undesirable activity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Case Could Be Just the Beginning<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For Aristocrat, the ruling was a vindication of their behavior as a slots manufacturer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we have said throughout, Aristocrat is a high-integrity business that takes our regulatory obligations extremely seriously,\u201d the company said in a statement to the stock market following the ruling.<\/p>\n

While the case did not go Guy\u2019s way, she said that she hoped it \u201ccould lead to a better way forward.\u201d And while the industry may have won this case, Monash University professor of public health Charles Livingstone says it may be only the beginning of a long process in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis, to me, is like the beginning of the issues around tobacco control,\u201d Livingstone told The Sydney Morning Herald. <\/em>\u201cIt took 50 years or so, through a series of court cases and other actions for the harms of tobacco to be properly addressed, and I think this will be the first of what will be many decisions made by the courts that will reflect on this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crown Resorts and Aristocrat are breathing a sigh of relief after an Australian judge rejected claims by a former gambling addict that one of Aristocrat\u2019s pokies (slot machines) was designed to deceive players. The Federal Court of Australia found that the popular poker machine Dolphin Treasure did not break any laws, despite claims by Shonica […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":69098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCourt Sides with Gaming Industry in Landmark Australian Pokies Case<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Justice Debbie Mortimer found that the Dolphin Treasure slot machine did not break any laws, ending a landmark case in Australia\u2019s Federal Court.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court Sides with Gaming Industry in Landmark Australian Pokies Case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Justice Debbie Mortimer found that the Dolphin Treasure slot machine did not break any laws, ending a landmark case in Australia\u2019s Federal Court.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/court-sides-gaming-industry-landmark-australian-pokies-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-05T01:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-03T15:48:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1686bb2bfae28f98261ec1153a5e7f83.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1023\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/court-sides-gaming-industry-landmark-australian-pokies-case\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/court-sides-gaming-industry-landmark-australian-pokies-case\/\",\"name\":\"Court Sides with Gaming Industry in Landmark Australian Pokies Case\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/court-sides-gaming-industry-landmark-australian-pokies-case\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/court-sides-gaming-industry-landmark-australian-pokies-case\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1686bb2bfae28f98261ec1153a5e7f83.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-05T01:00:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-03T15:48:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Justice Debbie Mortimer found that the Dolphin Treasure slot machine did not break any laws, ending a landmark case in Australia\u2019s Federal Court.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/court-sides-gaming-industry-landmark-australian-pokies-case\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/court-sides-gaming-industry-landmark-australian-pokies-case\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/court-sides-gaming-industry-landmark-australian-pokies-case\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1686bb2bfae28f98261ec1153a5e7f83.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1686bb2bfae28f98261ec1153a5e7f83.jpeg\",\"width\":1023,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"Shonica Guy lost her case against Crown Resorts and Aristocrat over whether the Dolphin Treasure slot machine was designed to deceive players. 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