An Australian law firm has declared war on the lucrative gambling industry with claims that poker machines are illegal.

The announcement followed new research which showed pokies have a similar effect on the brain as illicit substances like crystal methamphetamine and cocaine.

Law firm Maurice Blackburn will bring the test case, which will seek to prove that poker machines deceive gamblers and that operators neglect the duty of care they owe to their customers by providing them.

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“The truth is when you press that button it is pre-determined whether you have won or lost. There is no such thing as a near miss, like there is no such thing as being half pregnant,” says Jacob Varghese, principal of the social justice practice at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.

“The machines are designed to create the illusion that you might have won.”

New research has found that the sounds, graphics and lights of poker machines trigger the brain’s reward chemical, dopamine, sparking a pleasure response.

Reverend Tim Costello, chair of the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce’s, said people “who get addicted are doing exactly what the machine is designed to do – to addict them.

“No state government licenses or sponsors ice, cocaine or heroin because we know it is addictive.”

‘We are the pokies nation’

Australians spend more on gambling than any other country in the world.

New South Wales has the most machines in the country with more than 100,000. Western Australia has the least with just 1750. Photo: Shutterstock

Home to about 20 per cent of the world’s pokies, we have just 0.2 per cent of the global population.

According to research from Roy Morgan released on Tuesday, about 1.2 million people gamble on pokies each week and 51 per cent of frequent players enjoy the thrill – whether they are winning or not.

The machines are regulated by Australian consumer law, which prohibits conduct or representations that are false or likely to, or do, mislead or deceive.

Specific laws that set limits on the total number of machines, times of operation, accepted currency, and maximum bet and win thresholds vary between each state.

Anti-gambling campaigner Senator Nick Xenophon told The New Daily it would be a “multi-billion-dollar battle”, but “must be had”.

“It could be a breakthrough in terms of reform because the major parties in state and federal parliaments around the country have been reluctant to take on the pokies lobby,” he said.

Compensation may be ‘down the road’

Two legal avenues are being examined, according to Mr Varghese, one in judge-made case law and the other in Australian consumer law enacted by parliament.

Rev Tim Costello and Maurice Blackburn lawyer Jacob Varghese will join forces for the case. Photo: The New Daily

He told The New Daily the machines themselves would be targeted initially, but compensation options could be “a few steps down the road”.

The case will be put together over the next few months.

Victory will not be easy.

In previous cases the responsibility usually came back to the gambler themselves, and not the machines.

Thomson Geer Lawyers partner Josh Simons said the case seemed to be based around “subtle messaging”.

“It is unlikely to result in poker machines being banned altogether. I think the most they could expect in terms of reform to the industry was that it would change the messaging they can deliver and the way the machines are promoted to people while they are using them,” Mr Simons said.

“Just by bringing this case they are obviously going to get a lot of publicity on the way poker machines, and the messages that are broadcast through them, bring people in and keep them betting.”