52 year old Problem Gambler Ends Up in Court
5th September, 2007
Caesars Indiana, a well-known southern Indiana casino is going through a big lawsuit with Jenny Kephart, who couldn’t repay $125,000 that she borrowed due to her gambling addiction. A judge, now has to make a decision whether to consider Jenny’s argument against the casino that she claims has been luring her with inducements, which put her in the tough financial spot as a result. She claims that the casino has been offering her loans and generous giveaways, which due to her admitted condition, i.e. gambling problem, has made it impossible to cut the losses and run when she still could.
She borrowed the money whilst visiting the Ohio River casino in 2006, which is owned by Harrah’s. According to Jenny the company has been constantly contacting her about the special offers for a considerable number of years.
Jenny Kephart, 52, claims to have lost over $900,000 over the years in various casinos around the country. The woman argues that she is at least entitled to win the case if not get partial refund, as Harrah’s was one of her creditors and therefore aware of the fact that only four years prior to this she came out of bankruptcy. Jenny feels that the company has been exploiting her condition by offering giveaways and money for gambling purposes despite her tough situation.
Nevertheless, Stephen Langdon, the casino’s lawyer justified Caesars’ behaviour by pointing out that the woman never requested to be banned from the casino and therefore never gave them a clear message that she was a problem gambler. Therefore, the casino would have no reason to ban her on the grounds of the unpleasant financial situation.
It does not look too good for Jenny, as in previous cases with analogous scenarios; the judges were on the casinos side and said that they do not have to prevent gamblers from using their services. They have not been considered responsible for customers losses. In danger of sounding bias, it has to be said that common sense would tell people to try and take the responsibility for their actions themselves. Customer protection legislations have always aimed to defend us against being led on and cheated, but at the end of the day we should rely on our own sense of what’s right and what’s not and not find excuses for our personal problems. There are helplines and various other services that are there to assist you if you feel you are overdoing something. There are also measures you can take to protect yourself from getting in trouble, such as banning yourself from casinos or announcing your problem publically so that the casino owners are aware of the problems you have. And finally, if you love playing casino so much but the money issues come into place, there is always a very good option of free online casinos available!
It’s when you don’t actually want to be helped, you usually end up in a mess, isn’t it?
