ABC<\/a>, the case centres on Canberra woman Marlene Kasurinen, whose husband Raimo (Ray) died by suicide in March 2020 amid gambling debts.<\/p>\nThe Kasurinens are reported to have lost at least $345,000 playing poker machines at the Hellenic Club.<\/p>\n
ACAT found the Hellenic Club breached gambling regulations by allowing Kasurinen to withdraw more than the permitted $200 in cash via EFTPOS at the club on 45 occasions.<\/p>\n
On one occasion, she withdrew $1,400 through seven transactions within two hours.<\/p>\n
Kasurinen told the ABC that club staff had shown her and her husband how to use EFTPOS withdrawals to access additional cash after they had reached the $200 limit.<\/p>\n
She said the couple had been told they could withdraw money in $200 increments, subject to the withdrawal limit on their bank card.<\/p>\n
Kasurinen also said her gambling increased after the deaths of her brother and daughter, and that she had been offered free meals and other benefits at the club.<\/p>\n
She told the ABC she felt the couple had been \u201cgroomed\u201d to spend more time and money at the venue.<\/p>\n
ACAT cleared the Hellenic Club of an alleged breach relating to its failure to record the Kasurinens\u2019 gambling incidents as problem gambling incidents.<\/p>\n
The tribunal found that none of the current or former employees who gave evidence said they were aware of signs of problem gambling in relation to the couple.<\/p>\n
ACAT said its decision on the issue had arisen from \u201cvague and uncertain laws\u201d, noting that the regulatory framework did not clearly define signs of a gambling problem or behaviours that could constitute such signs.<\/p>\n
The tribunal also raised questions about whether club staff were adequately trained to identify problem gambling behaviour.<\/p>\n
The ACT\u2019s gambling code of practice requires club staff to hold a Responsible Conduct of Gambling certificate, with training including a 32-item checklist of gambling behaviours. However, ACAT found the checklist did not include behaviours outlined in the code\u2019s definition of problem gambling.<\/p>\n
Neos Kosmos reached out to the Hellenic Club, who welcomed the findings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe welcome the Tribunal\u2019s findings, which support the Club\u2019s longstanding position in relation to the allegations concerning problem gambling,\u201d CEO Ian Cameron said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout this process, the Club has maintained that it takes its responsibilities around responsible gambling seriously and has always sought to provide a safe and supportive environment for its members.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the matter will return to ACAT for a further hearing in November, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tribunal is yet to determine any fines against the Hellenic Club.<\/p>\n
ACT Minister for Gaming Reform Marisa Paterson told the ABC the case highlighted the impact of gambling harm and described the tribunal\u2019s decision as a \u201ctest case\u201d.<\/p>\n
Paterson said the ACT Government was preparing a \u201csignificant reform agenda\u201d for the territory\u2019s gaming industry, including changes to gambling legislation and the code of practice.<\/p>\n
She said the government was considering measures including a ban on EFTPOS and ATM withdrawals at clubs, which she said were contributing to gambling harm.<\/p>\n
The matter is expected to return to ACAT for a further hearing in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hellenic Club has welcomed findings from the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) in a case involving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163,85,46,522,523],"class_list":["post-567985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}