Australian player sues aristocrat and casino for addictive pokie machine
Australian Gambler Sues Casino and Pokie Supplier
It’s all about Aristocrat’s Dolphin Treasure pokie machine. A pokie machine like thousands, but this one pokie machine is the focus of a lawsuit in Australia.
The Australian Shonica Guy filed a case against manufacturer Aristocrat and James Packer’s Crown casino.
The reason: Dolphin Treasure is misleading, violates consumer law, and is designed to get people addicted. Guy was one of the many Australians who became addicted to pokie as they are called Down Under.
According to lawyer Maurice Blackburn, Guy is not for the money but for justice and honest information about pokie machines.
The Australian gambling industry takes this case seriously. A defeat could mean more claims to come. Slot machines will also have to go back to the drawing board for the necessary adjustments. Guy is not only supported by her lawyer but also by organizations like the Alliance for Gambling Reform.
In this article, we take a closer look at this lawsuit. Is Shonica Guy a sore loser, or does she have a point?
The Reels are Misleading
According to Guy and her lawyer, the layout of the reels is misleading and designed to keep gamblers spinning. Especially the idea that you are “almost winning” would encourage them to keep playing. And you’ll get that idea a lot on Dolphin Treasure.
The online pokies in Australia designed so that you often miss out on that big jackpot on the last reel. This way, the game stays exciting until the final reel comes to a stop.
Lawyer Blackburn argues that this is deliberate to mislead players. The first four reels of Dolphin Treasure contain 30 symbols each. The last reel has a lot more symbols, namely 44 symbols. This reduces the chance of getting the fitting, valuable symbol on the last reel.
The symbols are also not equally distributed over each reel. The most valuable symbol, the sunset, appears less often on the last reel than on the first reel. This means that you will see a sunset more often on the first reel than on the last.
The prizes are distributed on the last reel, not the first reel.
If you have a good memory, you probably remember that the reels were printed on pokie machines. That way, you could see exactly which symbol appeared, how often, and in what order on each reel of the pokie machine.
This is not the case in Australia.
Payout Percentage is Misleading
According to the complainants, the return-to-player ratio, payout ratio, or simply payout percentage is also misleading. The payout percentage of pokie machines is often determined by law. Just about every Australian pub has a pokie machine.
Payout percentages are usually between 85 and 90 percent, and Dolphin Treasure is no exception in this. This Aristocrat pokie machine has a payout percentage of 87.8 percent.
According to the complaint, this is misleading. It would suggest that you would be left with 87.8 percent of your deposit and only 12.2 percent at stake. According to the lawyer, the deception lies in the payout percentage also includes jackpots and high prizes. While these only rarely fall.
Players often incorrectly think that, for example, playing with $1,000 all evening will always result in at least $878 (in the case of a payout ratio of 87.8 percent) being left over.
Payout Ratio Calculated over Millions of Spins
This is not true. The payout ratio is the average return per spin, and this percentage is calculated over millions of spins. You have to look at it per spin.
Let’s take a simple example, for example, Blood Suckers. This NetEnt pokie has a payout percentage of 98%.
In theory, if you bet $1 10 times, it should result in $9.80. In fact, each spin should, in fact (again in theory), yield $ 0.98.
Of course, gambling would be boring if it did. The idea of gambling is that the deposit of thousands of spins is paid out in prizes in a few dozen spins.
Pokie manufacturers would do well to clearly state that this is a theoretical payout percentage calculated over millions of spins.