Sydney Criminal Lawyers….
The District Court of New South Wales has ordered The Star to pay a disabled man’s $285,000 poker machine jackpot plus interest and legal costs after the controversial casino refused to do so in 2019 on the basis that an excluded person had assisted him to press the buttons.
David Joe was awarded almost $320,000 last week after successfully challenging the refusal, with the judge finding that casino’s conduct was ‘misconceived and breached the contract’ of wager, and was therefore unlawful.
Winning the jackpot
Mr Joe, who holds a Platinum Vantage VIP membership and suffers from motor neurone disease, asked his friend Lois Lie to help operate the pokie machines in the casino.
The court heard that Mr Joe’s significant disability meant that he does not have the agility to operate the machine himself.
Mr Joe testified that the casino had agreed that he could have a friend to help him to operate the machines, but when Mr Joe had $10 inserted into a machine (which the casino seemed happy to take) and won the jackpot plus other prizes, The Star refused to pay out on the ground that Mr Joe’s friend, Lois Lie, had signed a voluntary exclusion order in 2016, was therefore prohibited from the premises and not entitled to any winnings.
Instead of paying Mr Joe, the Star Casino paid the money into the Responsible Gaming Fund.
Winnings withheld illegally
According to Judge Montgomery’s decision, paying into the fund amounted to an unjustified assumption that the casino could retain the money.
His Honour determined that Mr Joe was the one taking all the economic risk by telling Mr Lie which buttons to press and providing all the money being wagered.
The Judge ordered the casino to pay the original winnings, plus interest and legal costs.
