For 14 years, Shonica Guy's life revolved around the poker machines.
She says every spare dollar was sunk into them as she chased the next win.
"I thought, 'Just another $50 and the free games will come up, and then I'll get my money back.' But it just never happened."
Hypnotised by them for over a decade, she is now rebuilding her life and trying to save others from the same fate.
Ms Guy is teaming up with Maurice Blackburn Lawyers in Melbourne to launch legal action against the gaming-machine manufacturer Aristocrat and gaming-venue operator Crown.
"Create awareness to a lot of people that the product is dangerous and that they shouldn't touch it in the first place because they might get hooked, and, most certainly, they probably will get hooked."
It is not compensation she is seeking.
She says she wants reform.
Maurice Blackburn principal Jacob Varghese says the case is based on the claim that the respondents are in breach of Australian consumer law.
"This is about making sure that the machines are honest and fair and that players have a good idea what their real odds are and they're not manipulated into thinking that they've got a better chance of winning than is actually true."
Maurice Blackburn says the poker gaming machine -- Dolphin Treasure, in particular -- uses tricks like reels that are different in size and each line having uneven numbers of symbols.
That makes it statistically less likely to get a match.
Mr Varghese says claims made about some machines that players are guaranteed to recoup a percentage of the money they put in is also a farce.
"To create the impression that you nearly win, or that you could win, or that the odds are not as bad as they really are, when, in fact, when you play pokies, you're almost destined to lose everything you've got."
Anti-gambling advocates say they hope the lawsuit will provoke change they feel should have come from the federal government.
Alliance for Gambling Reform representative Tim Costello says the last effort to reform the industry was launched by Labor's Julia Gillard and Independent MP Andrew Wilke in 2012.
He claims the poker-machine lobby has thwarted efforts to address problem gambling.
"The pokies lobby in this country is our equivalent of the National Rifle Association. It is that powerful."
Gaming Technologies Australia describes itself as the peak representative body for Australian gaming-machine technology.
It has responded to the litigation in a statement, saying it "looks forward to dispelling the myths underpinning this action."
Both Crown and Aristocrat say they will defend the claim vigorously, denying accusations the machines are geared towards encouraging problem-gambling.
But Maurice Blackburn principal Jacob Varghese says he is confident a court will find the machines deceptive.
"The litigation may take some time, and there will be, no doubt, some ups and down, but, at this stage, we think we've got a very strong case and we're not foreseeing challenges."
Five years in the making, the case is touted as the first of its kind, targeting what lawyers claim is a deliberate deception.
If successful, they say, the case will have ramifications for poker-machine makers and venues across the country.
