Man blames casino for his 'pathological gambling problem'

A gambler is claiming that a casino should be held responsible for the thousands of liri he lost there over the past years because it never did anything to stop him from gambling his money.

The man - whose name is not being published given the circumstances of the case - filed a sworn application before the First Hall of the Civil Court against Dragonara casino Limited saying he had a pathological gambling problem and, over the past years, he regularly frequented the Casino where he lost thousand of liri.

He claimed that the casino never did anything to stop him from gambling his money, as it was obliged to do. On the contrary, he added, the casino sent him material (via mail or through text messages) encouraging him to frequent the casino to gamble and to dine at the restaurant there. One had to pass through the casino's games area to access the restaurant.

The casino also allowed him to access his bank accounts through the Epos (electronic points of sale) machines. He could thus have access to an unlimited amount of money from his accounts because the ATM machines at the casino posed a daily withdrawal limit.

The man claimed that over the years he had tried his luck at all the games at the casino. Among these games were the slot machines that were advertised in a misleading manner. The adverts said that one could win a jackpot of thousands of liri but failed to specify that this was only possible if large sums were played. Besides, he had his doubts as to whether the machines were programmed to give a paying rate of 92 per cent of the amount played.

He added that he had already contacted the casino - through official letters - asking it to liquidate the damages he suffered as a result of their inaction. But the casino did not uphold his requests.

Thus, he decided to file the sworn application calling on the court to declare that he suffered damages as a result of the casino, liquidate those damages and order the casino to pay him damages suffered.

Lawyer Chris Cilia signed the application.