As one tour through Australia, one would not miss out on the presence of the casinos. Poker is something that has been a big draw and much more now with the emergence of online casinos that also allow the slot games on any device. With the easy real-time payment options also available online, the rising number of poker players across the world, not just Australia has gone up.

However, much recently, a former gambling addict was on news for taking the Crown Resorts, and Aristocrat, a reputed gaming company to court. What went wrong? The answer was that Shonica Guy; a former Poker addict felt that the poker machine manufacturer was using misinformation to draw players. She has alleged that there were various ways in which the defendant was doing this to the players, who are ending up losing a fortune in this manner.

The Alleged Accusations Against the Game Developers

Shonica Guy has alleged that Aristocrat Technologies, who are developers of this game, “Dolphin Treasure”, and Crown Casino have just increased the size of the fifth reel and distributed the symbols unevenly thereby ‘misleading’ the players.  The game’s background lights and sounds, of bells, are also very misleading since they gave a false impression to the player of a win, even when they are losing. So, a player would end up being disheartened at the end, is what Guy remarks. Additionally, Ms. Guy’s representative has added that the poker machines also claim to offer 87% return to player, which is also wrong.

The Reason for the Court Case

More and more players come to play poker because of the high-quality graphics and unique themes of slot machines. Whether it is through online casinos or at land based casinos, the players are only coming in. The fact that many high rollers are playing the games right from the comfort of their homes or clubs without even visiting the casinos shows that they love this trend. While anything that people indulge in keeping restriction in mind is fine, many often people forget this limit.

That is when the problem sets in and starts to take over life. Much middle class or working-class people might also end up losing a major chunk of their earnings here.

Globally, this rise in the number of pokies has increased drastically from 2003 onwards and even now, there is a big draw for pokies. But that said, Shonica Guy’s claim that she has used the game developers so that it becomes more transparent to the player is worth note.

As a result of this lawsuit, a few big changes can come over in the Poker game from Crown Casino and Aristocrat Technologies. One, they could bring in more changes or totally remove the slot machines from the casinos altogether. However, Ms. Guy has expressed clearly that her main intention is to ensure that other pokies do not get fooled by such misinformation ever.

Recently, a decision by the Western Australia government caused quite a stir in the gaming circuit. The government has decided to impose a new tax – the consumption tax of 15% on the bookmakers. This decision has come just a few days prior to the commencement of the Spring Racing Carnival, which is an important event in the Western Australia. This has caused a shiver among the bookmakers and the gaming circuit that do not welcome this move at all. Of late, the government has been trying to implement a host of online protection for the gambling sector with a lot of measures, and this tax is one of those measures.

The complete list of measures would appear on the next few months and would come into play only from 2018.

Not Welcomed by the Gaming Circuit

The Responsible Wagering Authority has claimed that it has already agreed to take part in the Federal Government’s national plan of wagering. Similarly, many top names in the business like James Packer the CEO of Crown Casino has claimed that this move will not make the domestic market any stronger. The government is focusing to levy the highest tax rates on the betting companies in the Northern Territory and who do not pay the tax in Victoria.

Online betting and gaming companies have claimed that this would easily urge the bookmakers to force the regional punters to go and bet from unsecured and uncontrolled betting agencies.

So, the claim of the government that they would be able to control and regulate the local market is not going to work. Similarly, it would also force the online bookmakers to pass on their tax load onto the punters only, thereby discouraging the punters. So, Responsible Wagering Authority’s executive director has asserted that this would cause the racing and betting industry to face a big loss.

Hope Shown by WA Gaming Minister

Western Authority’s gaming and racing Minister Paul Papalia and Treasurer Ben Wyatt state that from 1 January 2019, the government would lay down all the new tax setup, the legalities and more for the betting companies.

This time the government has laid the tax on the place where people placed the bets and not on the location of the game developing company. That is to say, this was the main focus of this 15$ consumption tax and not to view it as a supply tax.

The government has stated that this move is sure to work for the benefit of the consumers and handles the gambling problems or the gambling addiction among the players. As per the statistics, the addiction to online betting was as high as three times as the other forms of gambling. They have also stated that it was true that the number of players who betted has risen over the past few years. This just shows that the plan of the WA is not to slug the punters but to control the betting losses and addiction.