Greek Australian self-confessed gambling addict Harry Kakavas who had sued Crown Casino for taking advantage of his addiction has lost his bid to force them to repay his losses and compensate him additionally for damages.
The Supreme court, where the case was tried, found that the defence team for Mr Kakavas had not proved that he had been the victim of enticement by Crown. “I’m not satisfied that Crown did formulate a scheme to lure Mr Kakavas to commence or to continue to gamble at the Casino, Justice David harper said according to a report in The Age.
“On the contrary, I’m satisfied had Mr Kakavas wished to escape the enticements of the casino, he could have done so with ease.
He could have arranged for self-exclusion.” he added.
As a so-called high roller Mr Kakavas enjoyed various perks from Crown, including flights from and to his Gold Coast base on board Crown’s private jet.
Mr Kakavas, a real estate developer, had sued Crown for $35 million in losses and damages.
But the court’s decision on Wednesday is forcing him to pay Crown a $1 million debt for a bad check and possibly cover the casino’s legal costs. The court heard that between June 2005 and August 2006 Mr Kakavas gambled close to $1.5 billion.
On one particular occasion, in a period of 28 minutes he accrued a loss of $2.3 million.
Although, in pure legal terms, Crown scored a victory, Justice Harper did chastise the casino for allowing back a known gambler who had in the past even excluded himself from Crown. It was unclear after the issue of the decision if Mr Kakavas would appeal.