The Hellenic Club of Canberra has won a partial victory in its bid to overturn a $1.2 million fine for breaking poker machine law in the way it dealt - or failed to deal - with "problem gambling" by a Canberra couple, one of whom took his own life.
The club's chief executive welcomed the decision by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The case concerned Marlene and Raimo "Ray" Kasurinen. Deeply indebted Mr Kasurinen committed suicide on March 31, 2020, shortly after the couple's LandCruiser was repossessed. The tribunal heard that the couple lost $345,597 on Hellenic Club poker machines from 2012 to the time of his death.
The ACT Gambling and Racing Commission hammered the Hellenic Club with a fine for (1) not spotting the couple's gambling problems, and (2) for letting Mrs Kasurinen take out multiple lots of $200 from a club EFTPOS machine to get around the legal ceiling on such withdrawals.
The Hellenic Club appealed to ACAT. Its panel which heard the case accepted the club's argument on the first point but not on the second. The club, ACAT decided, could not be expected to put together 28 alleged problem gambling incidents and conclude that the couple were in trouble.
But the panel of Greg Curtin and Emma Morrison said the relevant ACT laws were "vague and uncertain". They did not criticise the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission.
"None of the employees or former employees who gave evidence in the proceedings said that they were aware of any signs of problem gambling. That is, they never formed a subjective opinion that whatever it was that they observed was a sign of problem gambling.
"Unless that evidence of their subjective state of mind is rejected, then the problem gambling part of the case must be decided in favour of the Club."
Mrs Kasurinen gave evidence at the tribunal as did the couple's daughter and son-in-law, Vanessa and David Chambers. The family were angry that the signs of harm were missed, including their contacts with the club, urging its staff to ban Mr and Mrs Kasurinen from the pokies.
The ACAT panel said: "The result of this case in terms of problem gambling will probably come as a disappointment to Mrs Kasurinen and the Chambers family who at all times conducted themselves with dignity and grace in the Tribunal despite the many tragedies that were visited upon them, and especially Mrs Kasurinen."
The tribunal did find that the club had some awareness of the couple's problems - just not enough: "It is true that the Club admitted that certain behaviours occurred which would fall within one of the problem gambling behaviours, it is true that the Club admitted that some of those behaviours were known to someone in the Club, and it is true that there must have been one employee dealing with Mrs Kasurinen when she made multiple eftpos withdrawals.
"But what was not present was evidence that any particular employee was aware of at least two of those behaviours and had the subjective opinion that those behaviours were signs of a gambling problem."
The tribunal did find against the club on the matter of multiple withdrawals from an eftpos machine aided by a member of staff: "It seems to us that the Commission's interpretation should be preferred up to a point, and that the Club's interpretation is artificial. That is, it is artificial to distinguish between, for example, one withdrawal of $400 (which was prohibited) and two immediately successive transactions of $200 within seconds of each other (which the Club submitted was permitted)."
ACAT said there would be a new hearing in November to decide on what the appropriate penalty should be. It is likely to be less than $1.2 million.
The club's chief executive Ian Cameron said: "We welcome the tribunals findings, which support the Club's longstanding position in relation to the allegations concerning problem gambling. Throughout this process, the Club has maintained that it takes its responsibilities around problem gambling seriously and has always sought to provide a safe and supportive environment for its members.
"As the matter will return to ACAT for a further hearing in November, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage."
