Crosbie not giving up on VLT class action


Posted on Dec 21, 2009

Lawyer Ches Crosbie is making a second attempt at getting a class action certified against Atlantic Lottery Corp. (ALC) over video lottery terminals.

Crosbie's attempt toward starting a class action failed in 2008.  Crosbie argued ALC broke the provincial Trade Practices Act.

But Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Justice Wayne Dymond ruled ALC was a Crown corporation and "immune" from the trade practice law.

This time around, Crosbie's arguments include a breach of the Criminal Code, breach of the Competition Act, unjust enrichment, breach of contract and breach of duty to warn.

A hearing on the application is yet to be set, but that will be the subject of a meeting with Dymond in January.

"The main point is this is a deceptively designed and inherently dangerous product," Crosbie said of the VLTs Friday.

"We're holding ALC as the agency charged by the government and law with upholding the public interest for purveying this product to the population of Newfoundland and Labrador."

The class period spans six years and the lead plaintiff is the estate of Susan Piercey, represented by her father Keith.

Susan Piercey, 31, committed suicide by overdosing on pills in 2003.

She was addicted to gambling for 10 years and is estimated to have lost about $100,000 over that time.

The family wants to see a ban on VLTs and has said it will donate any money from a successful class-action lawsuit to gambling-addiction programs.

There's also a new affidavit by businessman Robert Tucker detailing his personal turmoil with the machines.

He said he started selling properties - five between 2002-07 worth nearly $650,000.

"With each sale I would apply the majority of the funds to paying off debt accumulated because of VLT use or use the funds directly in VLTs," Tucker said in the affidavit, adding he'll donate any money resulting from a possible class action to charity.

"For me personally, this lawsuit is not about recovering lost money.  It is about exposing the misleading and inherently harmful nature of VLTs so that other people and their families will not have to suffer through my experience," Tucker said.

He said he began playing VLTs in 1994 when he took over the Alley Pub in a building he owned on Water Street, St. John's.

Tucker brought in five VLTs and operated the pub for six months before finding a tenant.

He also operated the Silver Spur on the ground floor from '94 to 2000.

There were VLTs in there, too, but Tucker took them out not long after taking over.

Tucker said he expects he would have made $25,000 to $30,000 a year on the VLTs at the Silver Spur, or about 10 per cent of the bar's gross revenues. 

But he observed some bars are much more reliant on VLT profits than they are alcohol sales, suggesting there are bars that "exist for the purpose of VLT revenues."

Tucker played the machines regularly in the province and quit in December 2007 when he ran out of money.

"The amount of money I deposited into VLTs was significant.  For instance, in 2006 and 2007, the last two years I was using VLTs, I spent approximately $150,000 playing VLTs in Newfoundland," Tucker said in his affidavit.

He said he tried everything to quit - leaving his house without money or credit and debit cards and reducing his daily ATM limit.  But it didn't work - he'd just go to the bank to get cash or a new debit card.

"When I played VLTs, I felt like I was under a hypnotic spell.  I felt like I did not have the choice of walking away from the machines - it felt like I had no control over the process," Tucker said.

He also said he wasn't given any instruction or training by Atlantic Lottery about how to address problem VLT gamblers.

But he was told to get a bank account where he could make weekly deposits to Atlantic Lotto Corp. of the money generated FROM the VLTs, as well as get a separate phone line for the machines and to keep a float to pay out to winning gamblers.

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