By Canadian Press

Court certifies class action lawsuit against Atlantic Lottery Corp.

Jan 4, 2017 | 8:00 AM

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A Newfoundland judge has certified a class action lawsuit against the Atlantic Lottery Corporation that alleges VLT line games are designed to deceive players.

The class action involves an estimated 30,000 players of line games on video lottery terminals in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“These games have been cheating Newfoundlanders for many years,” said Doug Babstock of St. John’s, one of the representative plaintiffs.

Ches Crosbie, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the Atlantic Lottery Corporation deceptively generates tens of millions of dollars from VLTs every year.

“The line games lead a person to believe they are getting closer and closer to a win, except a win doesn’t happen. It’s a deceptive feature and has nothing to do with how the internal programming actually dictates how the game is going to end up,” Crosbie said in an interview.

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Atlantic Lottery said Wednesday it plans to appeal the certification.

Carla Bourque, senior communications counsel with the corporation, said the court decision does not deal with the merits of any claims made by the plaintiffs and none of the plaintiffs’ claims have been proven.

“It is Atlantic Lottery’s position that the claims made by the plaintiffs are without merit. If the case does proceed to trial, it will be aggressively defended,” she said in a statement.

“We stand behind all of our products, with more than 10 responsible gambling features available on all Atlantic Lottery’s regulated Video Lottery Terminals, and additional responsible gaming tools available at all VL sites,” she said.

In a 52-page decision, Justice Alphonsus Faour of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador said he is persuaded that a class action is a workable way of dealing with the case.

“A class action is the preferable procedure to advance this litigation, and, given that the claim does not require individual harm, is probably the only practical manner to pursue the claim,” Faour wrote.

Crosbie said VLTs cause more than twice the rate of problematic gambling compared to other forms of legalized gambling.

“That’s what leads to all manner of social breakdown, dislocation, marriage breakdown, bankruptcy and family breakup,” he said.  

Crosbie said the social cost in bankruptcy and broken families far outweighs any benefit to government.

“The government takes in tens of millions of dollars a year in revenue from the machines, so the potential for monetary award — if you multiply that over a number of years — is very large.”

However, he said most of the plaintiffs aren’t looking for money.

“They are genuinely dedicated to the idea that the games are destroying people’s lives, their own lives and the lives of people they know, and they want to see a change,” Crosbie said.

Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press