Gambler and property developer, Harry Kakavas is taking his case against Crown to the high court, hoping to recoup $20 million in losses on the tables.
Mr Kakavas argues that after signing a self-exclusion order banning him from the Southbank casino for life, Crown devised a scheme to lure him back.
He then lost more than $30 million on a baccarat binge in 2005-06.
At the height of his gambling, Mr Kakavas was betting up to $300,000 on the flip of a card, once losing $2.4 million in 43 minutes.
Over 14 months, his turnover on Crown’s tables was almost $1.5 billion.
A full bench of five judges will hear submissions in Canberra on April 4 and 5, in a landmark case that could have major implications for the gambling industry.
Mr Kakavas won the chance to appeal his case to the High Court after the Victorian Supreme Court and Court of Appeal rejected his claims, finding there had been no clear indication that Mr Kakavas was not able to look after his own interests while he was gambling.
In appeal papers, his lawyers argue Crown behaved “unconscionably in inviting, inducing or allowing him to gamble when it knew, or ought to have known, that he was suffering from a special disadvantage by reason of his . . . gambling addiction”.
Mr Kavkas’ lawyers will argue that Crown’s global chief executive, Rowen Craigie, who along with senior casino executive John Williams is also being sued, knew of the exclusion order and that the law prevented the subject of an interstate exclusion order from gambling in the casino.
Source: Herald Sun