Australian casino operator Crown Resorts and gaming device maker Aristocrat Leisure have been sued for allegedly deceiving gamblers on their chances of winning on video poker machines.
On Wednesday, Australian resident Shonica Guy filed a lawsuit in Australia’s Federal Court alleging that she suffered significant financial losses playing the pokies over the past 14 years because the machines “deliberately give people false hope that they have a chance of winning to keep them playing.”
The suit focuses on one particular Aristocrat machine called Dolphin Treasure, reportedly selected because it boasts several potentially deceptive features. For instance, the device features five reels, four of which feature the same number of winning symbols while the fifth displays just one, a discrepancy the suit claims isn’t evident to the average player.
The suit also takes issue with the pokies industry’s claims that the machines return an average of 85% of stakes to players. The suit argues that this is an misleading statistic, as it’s entirely possible for a player to lose their entire stake in a few spins without receiving any cash back from the machine.