Landmark case involving Crown and Aristocrat may change the landscape of the Australian gambling industry

Dolphin Treasure is among the most popular and widely used poker machine brands made by popular slots manufacturer Aristocrat. It is well known to those who belong to the gambling sector in Australia. However, this brand is all set to be analyzed and scrutinized for resolving a landmark malpractice lawsuit.

The Federal Court of Australia is going to start a 2 week long legal test filed against Aristocrat and Crown Resorts of James Packer. The latter is the largest casino operator in Australia. Maurice Blackburn, a prominent law firm and Shonica Guy, Former pokies addict have slapped the extraordinary lawsuit on Dolphin Treasure. As per the allegations, the machine is in violation of consumer law and it has mechanism deployed to induce addiction to the players.

The case is not filed for claiming compensations, said the law firm. It is meant to ensure poker machines are made in a fair way and players are properly informed about winning prospects. The repercussions of the lawsuit can be massive if the complaints are found to be true. This may compel Crown and Aristocrat to get rid of the machines or come up with new designs. It may also pave way to lawsuits against similar poker machines.

Alliance for Gambling Reform spokesperson Tim Costello said Australia has a robust consumer protection law and using misleading gambling products will not be tolerated. There are three claims on this case. The allegation is the number of symbols on reels makes gamblers feel they had near misses on loss. The lawsuit also points out Dolphin Treasure has unevenly distributed symbols across five reels. The punters do not get clear indications on these. It also claims Dolphin Treasure offers misleading information to players regarding the payouts.

In various Australian states as well as territories, the return rates vary between 85 to 90 per cent. The theoretical return figure of 87.8 per cent is calculated in a way that is hard to achieve for a player. Jacob Varghese, the principal lawyer thinks it to be grossly misleading. The lawsuit further alleges the ‘return to player’ itself is a misleading concept.

The allegations have been countered strongly by Crown Resorts and Aristocrat, as expected. As per the sources, both defendants are trying to give the case utmost importance. They think the machines comply with Australia/New Zealand Gaming Machine National Standard- a stringent set of requirements. The group standing for poker machine manufacturers aka Gaming Technologies Association, said the industry believes the products do not deviate from legal norms and they comply with stringent standards.

Ross Ferrar, the chief executive of the Gaming Technologies Association, said these gaming machines are made in such a way that players do not get false expectation on slots. They cannot display misleading information. The online poker machines are made in a way so that legal manufacturing norms are followed. Mr Costello added the Australian gambling lovers have not come up with such allegations so far and it remains to be seen what the Federal Court justice thinks.