Elaine Solomon’s is the face of Australia’s gambling addiction: distressed, tired, heartbroken, penniless.
She sits on her couch in Monterey, in Sydney’s south, with her hand pressed to her forehead and her life savings lost to the bright lights and big buttons of poker machines.
But Solomon, 86, isn’t a gambler. She’s just a trusting mother-in-law.
Solomon’s son-in-law Neil Taylor, 58, was the one with the problem. Between 2002 and 2013, the former bank worker spent a mind-boggling $1.7 million (Australian) at the poker machines.
More than $417,000 of that money belonged to Solomon, a widow and the mother of Taylor’s partner.
The problems for Solomon began in 2002 when her husband died, according to the Penrith Press.
Not used to the responsibility, Solomon went looking for help. That’s when Taylor got involved.
Penrith Local Court last Wednesday heard that Taylor blew a $214,000 inheritance, $356,000 in savings and $700,000 from a lucky lottery prize he won.
I never thought that a family would do such a thing to a family.
- Elaine Solomon
Taylor convinced Solomon to sell her home, then gained access to her accounts to feed his habit. He covered up his crimes by presenting her with false bank statements.
He “preyed on” Solomon, the court heard, before sentencing him to two years behind bars.
“The breach of trust in regards to this case makes it a worst-case scenario,” Magistrate Roger Clisdell said.
Taylor came clean in 2005 and promised to pay the money back. But that never happened. Asked why he didn’t use the lotto win to repay his debts, he said: “Because that was my money. I won it.”
Solomon told the Press she was devastated.
“I never thought that a family would do such a thing to a family. I couldn’t believe it actually.
“And the trouble was we were close families. I had the two girls (daughters), so when I got the two boys (their husbands), I thought I had got two sons.
“Never trust your son-in-law. I should never have trusted him. It is terrible. What he could do was wasted, he went crooked.”
The court heard that while Taylor was spending Solomon’s money, he didn’t once check on her. She said she won’t bother checking on him.
“I wonder what jail he went to, not that I would go to visit him, there is no way in hell I would do that,” she said.
Problem gambling is nothing new in Australia. Last year, poker machine revenue topped $6.98 billion. This year to date, gamblers have lost more than $2.14 billion on poker machines.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie told The Project earlier this month that there’s a reason Aussie battlers are hardest hit.
“They are the victims of a ruthless industry targeting disadvantaged areas,” he said.
In 2012, then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard oversaw the introduction of mandatory pre-commitment legislation under which gamblers would set a limit and be forced to stick to that limit. That measure never made it to the club floor.