Australian Loses Casino Case
Earlier this year we brought you news that Australian property tycoon Harry Kakavas was suing the Crown Casino in Melbourne for allegedly taking advantage of his addiction to gambling. Between 2004 and 2006 Kakavas lost $20 million to the casino and this, he claimed, was after he had ‘banned’ himself from the establishment a decade earlier. Now Justice David Harper has ruled that the Crown Casino was innocent of the claims made by Kakavas, and the court has demanded that Kakavas repay $1 million that he still owes the casino.
The verdict has caused waves of protest from faith-based groups in Australia, some of which say that casinos need to accept more responsibility for the wellbeing of their clients. It has even been suggested that casinos should stop offering any incentives at all to both new and regular players so that people who could potentially develop a gambling problem are not actively encouraged to start playing.
We have said all along that this case was essentially one that revolved around the role of personal responsibility, and that a victory for Kakavas would have opened the floodgates for disgruntled gamblers to try and recoup any losses they had experienced under the pretence that they had been victims of enticement. Fortunately the court did not rule in favour of Kakavas, so for the time being at least the industry and rational casino gamblers alike can heave a sigh of relief.
Just as we shouldn’t stop restaurants from offering discounted meals simply because doing so might arguably encourage people to overindulge and become obese, so it would never have been right to have made casinos accept responsibility for the actions of their clients and to then revoke their rights to offer incentives to players.
Although some casino gamblers might be disappointed with the fact that Kakavas has lost his case against the Crown Casino, a success for Kakavas would have put the industry on a slippery slope to ultimate extinction. If we ever remove the right of the casinos to market and promote themselves effectively, casinos themselves would struggle to remain in business, and eventually the laws of commerce would force them to close down.
The good news in this case is that reason has prevailed and the casino industry can live to fight another day. And the moral for casino gamblers themselves? Well that's what it has always been - only bet with money that you can afford to lose!
Article Published: 18/05/2010 14:11:06
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