The Poker Machine Deception
Ever feel that Poker machines are a deadly addiction that comes at a significant cost to yourself and your loved ones? Well you can't sue a Poker machine can you?
A Poker machine falls within the meaning of a "gaming machine" which means a device that is designed for the playing of game of chance or a game of that is partly a game of chance and partly a game requiring skill and for paying out money or tokens or for registering a right to an amount of money or money’s worth to be paid: s3 Gaming Control Act 2007.
Can we raise a sound legal argument that some Poker machines, say in Sports Inn are programed to make winning more favourable, whilst some in Paddy's or Lamana steal from people? Whilst it may be the case that some Poker machines are deceptive whilst others make people addicted by actually allowing people to win, and then take away everything they earn at the end of the night. But then we can't sue a Poker machine right?
Well our friends in Australia have filed proceedings to say that some features of the poker machines are designed to be misleading and deceptive. Accordingly, a Federal Court (of Australia) judgment on 2 February 2018 on this landmark poker machine case has found that while poker machine design features are not legally misleading and deceptive, the full impacts of such features in fuelling gambling addiction remain unclear.
What was accepted by the Court in that case is that while poker machines look like the mechanical machines of old the reality of what actually happens to determine whether a gambler wins or loses when the button is pressed is actually something quite different.
Like Australia, problem gambling in PNG has reached an untenable level and that action is needed now to address this. The National Gaming Control Board (NGCB) which is governed by the Gaming Control Act (2007) must do something about it. The significance of the above case, albeit in Australia, is necessary in the continuing fight to ensure a fairer and more honest poker machine industry.