Dead gambler's fast cash withdrawals at pokies club

Raimo "Ray" Kasurinen took his own life on March 31, 2020. He was deep in debt and had just learnt that his Landcruiser was being repossessed.

But the bank records show that Mr Kasurinen (and his now-widow) Marlene would withdraw lots of $200 in quick succession, often adding up to $600. Their family said the couple would then then go straight back into the nearby pokies room and put the cash into the machines.

They said that the EFTPOS machine was operated by a member of staff and hidden from general view. It was, they say, in a drawer and available to gamblers next to the poker machine room. It wasn't a more generally available machine at the bar, for example.

"The key point is that the EFTPOS machine remained in view of the gaming machines, and that's against harm-minimisation regulations," Mr Kasurinen's son-in-law David Chambers said.

The couple's bank statements show multiple withdrawals from their joint account, sometimes barely seconds apart. On September 2, 2019, for example, they withdrew lots of $200 from their joint account at the club's EFTPOS machine at 1.22am, 1.23 am and again at 1.23am.

The next day, they did the same at 8.35pm, at 8.36pm and at 8.36pm.

The rules of the ACT's Gambling and Racing Commission state: "the maximum cash withdrawal from an EFTPOS facility in a club is $200 per transaction".

It is not clear whether there is a limit on how many transactions are legal within a day. Mr Chambers said that the couple were handed one single wad of $600 for the three withdrawals within two minutes - and that, he said, amounted to one transaction in clear breach of the regulations.

The club has denied breaking the law. "Any claim that the Hellenic Club failed Mr Ray Kasurinen or his family or that there was any indication of potential gaming harm to him or them are unfounded and are denied by the club," club chief executive Ian Cameron said.

Club statements of the couple's gambling activity show that they lost $345,597.67 between October 26, 2012 and February 29, 2020.

Mr and Mrs Kasurinen's son-in-law, retired policeman David Chambers, said that the couple's granddaughter Ashley Chambers phoned the club on December 9, 2019 to beg staff to bar her grandparents from the poker machines.

She told the member of staff (according to her father David Chambers) that the couple "had gambled away all their money at the Hellenic Club playing poker machines and that they are now living in a disgusting factory because they have no money left.

"We want to get them banned from the club so we can get them some help to stop them gambling".

Mr Chambers said the couple was not barred. Indeed, they went there and gambled on New Year's Eve, three months before Mr Kasurinen took his own life.

After the call pleading for a ban on December 9, club records show that Mr Kasurinen gambled there virtually every day, losing $7834.32 in the 11 weeks.

His wife did the same, losing $18,234.57 in the period.

Sometimes, they would each put more than $1000 into the machines.

On January 12, Mr Kasurinen put $7343.58 into the machines and won $7045.80 (net loss: $297.78). On January 20, 2020, Mrs Kasurinen put $6482.56 into the machines and won $4738.11 (net loss: $1744.45).

Mr Kasurinen's last recorded gamble at the Hellenic Club was on February 29, 2020. He put $360.71 in and got $210.10 out (net loss: $150.61).

A month after that final loss, he took his own life.

As the creditors closed in, the couple had moved from Canberra to a remote property between Goulburn and Bathurst. Mrs Kasurinen still lives there, in poverty in the cabin, relying on the Salvation Army for food and the kindness of local people. She couldn't afford to repair the solar panels so she was living on gas from canisters when she could afford them. There was no phone coverage and lots of snakes.

After Mr Kasurinen's suicide, his son-in-law and daughter made a formal complaint to the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission.

In her statement, the couple's daughter, Vanessa, described the day her father had killed himself. She had been phoned by her mother.

"My mother was crying and extremely upset," Vanessa Chambers said. Then she told her daughter that Mr Kasurinen had just killed himself. "She was screaming hysterically," Mrs Chambers said.

The dead man's family is very angry at the Gambling and Racing Commission because, more than four years after the death, it has still not completed its investigation.

Mr Chambers said that he had dealt with numerous officials, each one seeming to start from scratch.

"Once the matter is concluded a statement would likely be issued by the Commission," a spokesperson for the Commission said this week.

The club declined to comment.

"Unfortunately, I cannot comment as the matter is the subject of formal complaint proceedings by the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission," the Hellenic Club's chief executive Ian Cameron said.

At the end of March, he said: "The late Mr Ray Kasurinen was a popular and well-respected member of the Hellenic Club, known fondly to many staff and patrons, as was his wife, Mrs Marlene Kasurinen.

"The Hellenic Club takes seriously its role in relation to the responsible provision of gaming and our records demonstrate a consistent application of best-practice gaming harm-minimisation strategies. The Hellenic Club prides itself on strong member engagement, which extends to the exercise of a duty of care where we believe a member's gambling could become problematic."