Shonica Guy
Shonica Guy, from Adelaide, started gambling as a teenager, a pursuit which she says started out as a 'harmless bit of fun' with a then-boyfriend down at the local pub. 'Little did I know that. The lawsuit by Shonica Guy against Crown Casino and Aristocrat poker machines goes up a notch as the legal team expand the case to allege these 'unconscionable conduct' by these companies. Shonica will be in Melbourne as the case goes through this step, and she'd love to join you for an informal lunch near the Federal Court.
Campbelltown mother, Shonica Guy and her son Izaya, 6, were shocked to discover pokies hiding in the popular Where’s Wally? book. Picture: Tricia WatkinsonSource:News Corp Australia
- Shonica Guy – who fell into the grips of a gambling addiction – celebrating one year of being ‘pokie free’ A mother-of-one who spent 14 years addicted to poker machines has shared an honest account about what it took to pull herself back from the brink of total destruction.
- Campbelltown mother, Shonica Guy and her son Izaya, 6, were shocked to discover pokies hiding in the popular Where’s Wally? Picture: Tricia Watkinson Source:News Corp Australia.
Reformed pokies addict and mother Shonica Guy was “absolutely horrified” when her six-year-old Izaya found three poker machines in a popular Where’s Wally? picture book.
“We were driving home from the book store and he says, ‘look Mum, the pokies’. I thought, surely not and then when I took a closer look, there they were,” the Campbelltown resident said.
“I was stunned, absolutely horrified. Such images are completely and utterly inappropriate for a child’s book.”
The poker machines in the Where’s Wally? book.Source:Supplied
The book in question.Source:Supplied
The Pokies Anonymous and Gambling Link SA co-ordinator approached SA Best MLC and gambling spokeswoman, Connie Bonaros MLC.
“I am absolutely appalled … that a book like this is available for sale,” Ms Bonaros said.
“My concern is about the conditioning of children and normalising the behaviour.”
They wrote to the publisher requesting that the images be removed from future editions.
Shanica Guy
Walker Books Australia and New Zealand president, general manager and commercial director Angela Van Den Belt replied saying: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I have shared your thoughts with the character publisher and the senior editor who work with (author and illustrator) Martin Handford in the UK and they have passed your concerns on to Martin and his agent”.
Shoneca Marsh
Handford previously gave a topless sunbather her bikini back after outrage over nudity.