It’s My Problem, But I’ll Sue If I Want To.

A long time problem gambler, Constantin Digalakis is suing the Ontario Government and Lottery. I listened to a radio interview with this Tool this morning, and what I got from it is that, at various points during his descent into bankruptcy, he signed voluntary trespassing orders to keep him off of casino grounds. Any time he felt he had the problem licked, he’d ask for them to be voided. As they were voluntary, the government would say yes. There was a lifetime ban, again voluntary, that he officially asked to have lifted a few years ago. The casinos agreed, of course. After all, it’s a personal decision.

So now he’s suing the government, claiming that the lifting of his ban amounts to a breach of agreement because the casinos knew he had a serious gambling problem.

Wait, let me get this straight. The casinos breached the agreement that he officially asked to be lifted, so he’s suing the government (who basically owns the casinos).

Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

This, of course, is the tack the casinos are taking, that the onus is on the gambler to stay out, that Digalakis’s losses are entirely due to his own actions. In effect, they’re saying that he should have kept himself out. Can you sue a liquor store if you’re an alcoholic? A convenience store if you’re a smoker?

Granted that he was courted as a big spender (playing the $20 and $100 slot machines and throwing around thousands of dollars at the tables will give that impression), and granted that pathological gambling has been recognized as a legitimate mental illness, is this self-described top Canadian real estate professional and pathological Tool entitled to sue for $3 million because he refused to seek help for the problem as soon as he figured out he had one?

Again, whatever happened to personal responsibility? This guy is as bad as the stunned twit a few years ago who managed to sue McDonald’s because the coffee she put in her lap was hot and burned her when she spilled it.

While I have a certain amount of sympathy for your wife and children, whose lives you’ve certainly messed up, you deserve what you’ve gotten, you Tool, and there’s no reason my tax dollars should pay for it.