By MIKE FOX
MONTREAL
Friday 15 June 2001
The Quebec provincial government's gambling monopoly could be forced to make a multi-million-dollar payout in compensation and damages to compulsive gamblers who become addicted to video poker machines.
Lawyers in the Canadian province are launching what is thought to be the world's first class action lawsuit involving gambling.
They will ask a Quebec High Court judge for permission to bring the case against Loto Quebec, the first formality in what is expected to be a case lasting years.
So far about 50 people are claiming that the government-owned Loto Quebec failed to issue proper warnings about the possible dangers of using video poker machines, found in more than 4000 bars across the eastern Canadian province.
With an estimated 125,000 people with gambling problems in the province (about 3per cent of the population), lawyers expect thousands more people to join the action in the coming years.
One of those involved in the case is Jean Brocheau, who lost his car, home and his job as a result of his addiction to poker machines. He also stole $C50,000 ($A62,000) from his trade union in an effort to cover his debts.
His lawyer, Roget Garneau, in Quebec City, said: "We think the government and Loto Quebec have to take some responsibility for my clients' problems. They should have been warned of the possible danger of those machines. The government and Loto Quebec knew that the machines could be damaging for people, and they gave no warning until recently."
One of the main arguments being used by Mr Garneau is that the government's involvement and ownership of the terminals gave a tacit form of approval of their use - it took control of the illegally run terminals in 1993.
"Mr Brocheau felt very confident due to the fact that the government had allowed the use of the machines, and he had no warning at all of any potential problems," Mr Garneau said.
"You see on a cigarette package that they may cause death or you may become addicted, but no such warning has been given to my client or other people from 1993 until as recently as last year."
At the moment bar owners can put up neon signs advertising their video poker terminals. As a result of the growing pressure the Quebec Government announced last month that it would restrict the size and type of signs allowed outside the bars, and cut the number of machines in the province by a thousand. But those involved in helping problem gamblers think that does not go far enough.
"Those signs act like a beacon to people with a gambling problem," says Sol Boxenbaum, of Viva Consulting, which helps people overcome gambling addictions."
