Crown Casino will vigorously defend a lawsuit which claimed the Melbourne venue engaged in deceptive and misleading conduct by designing a poker machine which deliberately tricks gamblers to play and lose.

The statement of claim lodged with the Federal Court stated the machine called the Dolphin Treasure, built by Aristocrat Leisure and operated by Crown Casino, was designed contrary to consumer law.

Shonica Guy has taken the legal action against Crown and Aristocrat Leisure after being addicted to poker machines for more than a decade.

"I've been ripped off. They stole 14 years of my life," she said.

Ms Guy said during that time the Dolphin Treasure was her favourite machine to play.

"You put more money in because you think the win's just around the corner," she said.

"You think free games are coming up or I'll get my money back and it never happens."

One wheel inside poker machine is larger than others

Her lawyer Jacob Varghese said academics purchased a Dolphin Treasure machine, then took it apart and analysed it.

Ms Guy said she kept feeding the machine thinking the next win was just around the corner. ( ABC News )

They discovered its fifth spinning wheel was much larger than the other ones, thereby reducing the chance of winning.

They also found the machine was designed to deceive players by having multiple winning symbols on most wheels and only one winning symbol on one of them.

"It's one thing for a machine to be designed for entertainment purposes," Mr Varghese said.

"It's another thing for machines to be designed with tricks that players are not aware of, which encourage them to keep pressing that button and keep losing money."

Despite losing tens of thousands of dollars on poker machines, Shonica Guy is not claiming compensation or damages.

"She is seeking a restraint that these kind of tricks are taken out of poker machines," said Mr Varghese.

He said there will be industry-wide ramifications if the lawsuit is successful.

"There is a federal law that protects consumers, and establishing that they are bound by that law, and that they can't conduct their activities with deceptive and misleading conduct, will have ramifications across the industry," Mr Varghese said.

Crown said it would vigorously defend any claim.

Aristocrat Leisure has been contacted for comment.