It doesn't matter if the odds of you winning are 1 in 2 or 1 in...

It doesn't matter if the odds of you winning are 1 in 2 or 1 in a billion. The illusion of you playing pokies (or any gambling for that matter), and hoping to get rich quick is just that - an illusion.

This woman clearly states she has been playing pokies for over 14 years - and says the machines got her "hooked". It's unclear what her actual complaint is - the fact she didn't make big bucks after 14 years (lol), or the fact that the flashing lights got her addicted.

With reference to your pool comment, there is a level of reasonableness most individuals expect in a given situation. If I sit on a chair, I expect that it isn't going to collapse under my weight (given I am not morbidly obese). If I drive a car, I expect that the engine isn't going go blow up and cause me bodily harm. If i jump in a pool, i would expect the pool not to contain green ink. If I gamble, I expect to lose money - but in exchange for that money lost, I receive value in the form of "entertainment". The "rush" of putting money on the line, and having a chance (however small that chance is, is irrelevant) of winning - and yes, maybe even some value from "flashing lights"

Do you really believe that if the pokie machine advertised "if you play this, you have a 1-in-1000 chance of winning big money" would deter this lady? That she would sit down with her calculator, create a probabilistic distribution, determine the expected value of her winnings and make an informed decision on whether to put that $1 coin into the machine or not?

It is a disgrace that a court would even entertain such a complaint.