Just when does gambling actually become problematic? Does it become problematic when you lose $200,000 in one night? Or maybe, it only becomes problematic when you no longer have the resources to cover for your compulsion? In fact, problem gambling is quite easy to tell. A person who develops a habit that they can’t control, this can easily be considered an addiction. And sadly, gambling is a highly addictive activity.
But if you will ask employees who work for Canberra Raiders Club, they are actually adamant that there was never a sign of any gambling problem on a woman who lost around $200,000 on poker machines within their establishments.
Recorded Gambling Problem Habits
Last year, the commission found that there were eight cases of people suffering from problem gambling habits that staff members failed to detect. Professor Laurie Brown, for instance, fed $226,050 via a poker machine at Raiders club in Belconnen. However, the gambling simply went on for 18 more months at the Raiders club Belconnen website. The alert was only sent to the bank during the beginning of 2017.
Because of this, Raiders clubs were fined by the gambling and racing commission for the failure to identify and report clients that are probably suffering from gambling problems. On eight separate occasions, Professor Laurie Brown was able to play without any problem.
According to the commission, there was one staff member that told the investigators that Brown’s multiple withdrawals were actually reported to the managers on several occasions. Unfortunately, the managers opted to not take any action.
Dispute Against the Fine
The Raiders are making an appeal against the fine via the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunals. According to the document that was submitted, “Staff did not observe the member having a gambling problem”.
Unfortunately, the case against them is quite solid. Professor Brown was able to withdraw thousands of dollars to feed into the poker machines. He was also able to get around ATM withdrawal limits simply by using the club’s EFTPOS machine in order to make multiple withdrawals.
What makes the EFTPOS machine quite a strong evidence against the Raider’s club? The EFTPOS machine is located behind the counter at the club. It is also required to have a member to provide the PIN and swipe the patron’s card before the money can be taken out of the machine. The staff is supposed to be trained to trace gambling problem by having a gambling behavior checklist.
The behavior should’ve been a red flag for the staff. If a staff has been traced to trace gambling-related problems, getting cash on two or more occasions from ATM or EFTPOS is definitely something to watch out for. It is already a “money seeking sign” that is code red in the checklist of gambling problems. And to make matters worse, there wasn’t any record that staff was even alarmed by the withdrawals even though cash was obtained at least four times on each gambling event.
The worst instances happened on November 9, 2016. Professor Brown was able to make seven withdrawals of $400 to $500 which eventually added up to $3,500 in just one gambling session.
