The Hellenic Club of Canberra is appealing against a decision by the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission to fine it $1.2 million, after it was found it had broken gambling laws in relation to a man who later died by suicide.
Raimo Kasurinen, who was known as Ray, died on March 31, 2020.
Prior to his death, he and his wife had poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into poker machines and were in debt.
After he died, his son-in-law David Chambers wrote to the ACT’s Gambling and Racing Commission, complaining that the Hellenic Club had failed in its duty to prevent problem gambling.
The ABC has seen a letter sent to Mr Kasurinen’s family, which said the commission had “decided to take disciplinary action” against the club.
The commission said the reprimand would act as a “public warning against any further misconduct pertaining to the failure to record problem gambling incidents”.
In the letter, the commission said the club had allowed Mr Kasurinen and his wife to make multiple withdrawals of $200 from cash machines, which is more than the legal amount.
Complaints made prior to death
Mr Chambers said he made complaints to the club in December 2019 and early March 2020 about the couple’s problem gambling, before his father-in-law took his own life.
He described the club’s response as showing it was “in denial”.
“[The Hellenic Club] were just in complete denial then and remain in denial today,” he said.
Three months after corresponding with the club, he took his complaint to the ACT’s gambling regulatory authority, which spent four years investigating the matter.
He said his parents-in-law were able to “trick” or “deceive” Eftpos facilities at the club to withdraw more than the legal amount of $200.
“[They] were allowed to make withdrawals of up to $1,000 in a single transaction,” he said.
He said the couple would “disguise” those transactions as “five lots of $200 transactions, which meant inserting the credit card each time, [then] pop in your PIN, tricking the machine into believing that you were making a $200 transaction, but actually doing it five times and receiving $1,000 in a single transaction”.
In the letter sent to Mr Kasurinen’s family, the ACT’s Gaming and Racing Commission confirmed the Hellenic Club had broken the law in allowing the couple to withdraw more than $200 from the venue’s Eftpos facility, on multiple occasions.
The gambling watchdog also wrote the Hellenic Club had failed to comply with the Gambling and Racing Control’s Regulations “by not recording multiple problem gambling incidents in the problem gambling incidents register within three consecutive trading days after becoming aware of the incident”.
Hellenic Club appeals against decision
The club, which has a venue in Woden and another in Canberra’s CBD, says it is appealing against the decision. (ABC News: Joel Wilson)
The Hellenic Club told the ABC in a statement it was “disappointed” by the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission’s decision to take disciplinary action against them.
It has since launched an appeal against the findings in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
“The investigation concerned the recording of problem gambling incidents in the gambling incident register maintained by the Commission and compliance with regulations relating to limits on the amount of money that could be withdrawn by club patrons via Eftpos,” a club spokesperson said.
“The Hellenic Club has immediately commenced an application for a review of the decision in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
“Given those ongoing proceedings, it would be inappropriate for the Hellenic Club to comment any further on the substance of the Commission’s decision.”
‘We want no other family to suffer’
The Alliance for Gambling Reform praised the territory’s regulator for taking action, but urged them to go further by adopting a cashless gaming model to help with harm prevention.
“We know from two Productivity Commission reports into pokies, 63 cents in every dollar going through a machine comes from someone addicted,” chief advocate Reverend Tim Costello told the ABC.
“Typically nothing happens so that’s why in this case, something happened and it’s a significant fine … it is so refreshing.”
In a statement, ClubsACT told the ABC it hopes to strengthen the sector’s compliance framework by working with the ACT government.
“The industry has raised with government its concerns over the complexity of the compliance framework for clubs in this area,” a spokesperson said.
“The fact the investigation into this matter has taken over four years clearly indicates how complex the current framework is for clubs and the government.”
Mr Chambers described his late father-in-law as a “hard working man”, who worked seven days a week as a water-proofer.
He said activity records provided by the Hellenic Club showed Mr Kasurinen and his wife had gambled more than $345,000 since 2012 but he estimated this figure to be higher.
Mr Chambers said he and his family made the complaints to the regulatory authority in the hope of preventing someone else losing their loved one to problem gambling.
“We wanted no other family to suffer what we have suffered.
“If you find evidence of multiple $200 Eftpos withdrawals happening on the same day in your banking documents, please contact the Gambling and Racing Commission immediately.”