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LBW (Canadian) Lawsuit of the Day: Casinos Let Me Keep Losing Money

By Eric Lipman

It's no "improper use of a beer pong commercial," but it's more interesting than the average slip and fall. A Canadian woman has sued the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and two casino owners for letting her gamble away over $300,000 after she had signed a "voluntary self-exclusion" form, pursuant to which she should have been thrown out on her a$$ as soon as she entered the building. The complaint (.pdf), linked from Courthouse News, alleges that the plaintiff, Joyce May Ross, had become so addicted to gambling, and so at risk of financial ruin, that, in desperation, she signed a form available at all British Columbia government-sanctioned casinos, effectively banning herself from entering, and subjecting her to criminal fines if she violated the ban. She alleges that she was assured that, should she try to enter in violation of the ban, she would be escorted out by security. Alas, it didn't work out that way. Ross stayed clean for a few weeks, but then the blackjack gods summoned her. She claims she entered one of the casinos and "security personnel who knew her" didn't do squat. So, naturally, she kept going back. To the tune of $331,000. The brochure (.pdf)...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on July 16, 2010 (boomark / email).