Shonica Guy
Campbelltown mother, Shonica Guy and her son Izaya, 6, were shocked to discover pokies hiding in the popular Where’s Wally? Picture: Tricia Watkinson Source:News Corp Australia. Shonica Guy – who fell into the grips of a gambling addiction – celebrating one year of being ‘pokie free’ A mother-of-one who spent 14 years addicted to poker machines has shared an honest account about what it took to pull herself back from the brink of total destruction. Shonica Guy, from Adelaide, started gambling as a teenager, a pursuit which she says started out as a ‘harmless bit of fun’ with a then-boyfriend down at the local pub. ‘Little did I know that decision was going to cost me the next 14 years of my life,’ the 42-year-old woman told Daily Mail Australia. Law firm Maurice Blackburn has brought the case in the Federal Court on behalf of Shonica Guy, whose gambling addiction lasted 14 years. 'This case isn't just about me, I want this to stop.
© AAP Image/Joe Castro Shonica Guy and Maurice Blackburn's Jennifer Kanis (right) launched the case in September.A former gambling addict who argued a popular poker machine was deceptive and misleading has lost her landmark court case against Melbourne's Crown Casino and the game manufacturer.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn brought the case on behalf of Shonica Guy, whose gambling addiction lasted 14 years.
It argued the Dolphin Treasure machine, which is manufactured by Aristocrat and available to players at Crown, had been deceptively designed to give players the impression they had won, when they had in fact lost money.
But the Federal Court has ruled the machine complied with regulations.
Lawyers for Ms Guy claimed the machine uses light, sound and images to fool gamblers, and has an oversized fifth reel, which misrepresents the true chances of winning.
Both Crown and Aristocrat denied they had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.
Lawyers for Aristocrat told the trial their machines had been scrutinised by regulatory bodies and complied with strict standards.
Peter Jopling QC told the court Aristocrat was operating in an 'intensely regulated' industry.
'We say that we've followed the standards to a tee and nobody has said that we haven't,' Mr Jopling said.
'They haven't withdrawn our licence for the machines.'
There are 38 Dolphin Treasure games among the 1,080 Aristocrat brand poker machines on the floor of the Crown Casino.
Lawyers for the casino argued the machines were tested and approved by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.
They said Crown was doing nothing more than making authorised machines available.
Victorians lose billions to pokies
Every year Victorians lose more than $2.6 billion on the state's 27,000 poker machines that operate outside of Crown Casino.
Data for Crown's pokies is not published by the state regulator.
Shonica Bowermeister
The State Government receives more than $1 billion in tax revenue from pokies every year.
Crown is also under investigation from the state's gambling regulator following allegations from whistle-blowers that staff at the casino tampered and manipulated poker machines to boost profits.
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