3 Famous Gambler vs Casino Court Battles
Gamblers and casinos don’t always agree on the outcome of games. These disagreements have led to some high-profile court cases, where players have sued casinos to collect winnings or vice versa.
You’ve likely heard the saying “the house always wins.” But this isn’t necessarily true when it comes to cases involving gamblers and casinos.
In fact, over half of the most-famous court battles between casinos and players have gone the gambler’s way.
Whether the player or gambling company wins depends upon the circumstances. Slots glitches tend to swing the house’s way, while advantage players often hold the advantage in court too.
Of course, gambler vs casino court battles can be as unpredictable as the games themselves. You can see this for yourself by checking out the 11 cases below.
1 – Ken Uston vs. Resorts International
Ken Uston was a famous blackjack pro. He was also an author who wrote the books Million Dollar Blackjack, The Big Player, and Mastering PAC-MAN.
Uston became interested in advantage play after meeting blackjack legend Al Francesco. He eventually joined Francesco’s card counting team as a “spotter.”
Francesco is credited with inventing the “Big Player” strategy, which involves spotters counting cards until they get a favorable count. The spotter then signals the big player, who sits down and starts betting big right away, thus giving off the appearance of a regular high roller.
Uston claimed that he was an important member of the team, thus qualifying him to write the Big Player. But Francesco and other team members said that he didn’t make much money for them.
Whatever the case may be, he was involved in one of the most influential cases in gambling history. Uston, who eventually started his own card counting team in Atlantic City, was caught and banned from all New Jersey casinos.
He filed a lawsuit after being barred from Resorts International Hotel. Uston took his case to the New Jersey Supreme Court (Uston v. Resorts International Hotel Inc.), arguing that casinos shouldn’t be able to ban card counters just for being good.
Uston won his case after a judge ruled: “[gamblers] have a right of reasonable access to property open to the public as long as the person does not threaten the security of the premises and its occupants.”
Uston’s victory was short-lived, though, because Atlantic City casinos responded by adding decks and including other unfavorable rules to deter card counters.
2 – Phil Ivey vs. Crockfords and the Borgata
Phil Ivey has made his name in the poker world, where he’s won over $26.2 million in live tournaments along with a fortune in cash games.
But the 10-time WSOP champion is also a very good all-around gambler, which he proved by beating three casinos out of over $20 million through punto banco.
Working alongside an accomplice named Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun, Ivey was allowed to make special requests since he was placing a $1 million deposit.
Here are some of the odd requests that both Crockfords and the Borgata granted:
- A Mandarin-speaking Chinese dealer.
- Cards being rotated at 180 degrees.
- A purple Gemaco deck.
The Mandarin-speaking dealer allowed Sun to make special requests without the English-speaking Borgata management knowing what was said.
Sun and Ivey knew that the purple Gemaco deck featured flawed card backs, which was key to their edge sorting plot.
Edge sorting is an advanced technique that involves looking for flaws on card backs that might give away specific values before they’re revealed. Rotating the cards 180 degrees makes it easier for an edge sorter to spot these imperfections.
Knowing the card values before they’re flipped over helped Ivey and Sun make $11 million at Crockfords and $9.6 million at the Borgata.
Crockfords told Ivey that they’d wire him the money after the bank holiday ended. They instead kept the $11 million and waited for the impending lawsuit from the famed gambler.
The Borgata paid him $9.6 million at the time. But after seeing the case between Ivey and Crockfords, they sued to recover their money.
Following a lengthy legal process that involved multiple appeals in both New Jersey and London, the casinos both won against Ivey.
The judges in each lawsuit believed that Ivey honestly thought he wasn’t cheating. But they sided with the house, noting that Ivey’s and Sun’s requests went beyond standard advantage play.
3 – Katrina Bookman vs Resorts World Casino (Genting)
Katrina Bookman was playing slots at New York’s Resorts World Casino in September, when a life-changing jackpot flashed on her screen. The Sphinx slot machine she was playing showed that she’d won $43.1 million.
Naturally, the New Yorker was excited and took selfies of herself next to the dollar amount. She was crushed, though, when Resorts World officials told her that the game experienced a machine malfunction.
They added that she’d actually only won $2.25. Bookman was angry about this, at which point Resorts World tried buying her off with a steak dinner.
She’s since hired an attorney named Alan Ripka to fight her case. Ripka argues that Resorts World only claimed a machine malfunction to avoid paying a record-breaking jackpot.
“You can’t claim a machine is broken because you want it to be broken,” he told CNNMoney. “Does that mean it wasn’t inspected? Does it mean it wasn’t maintained?”
Bookman claims to have suffered “mental anguish” after having her perceived $43 million jackpot taken away. Unfortunately for her, the New York State Gaming Commission backs Resorts World’s claims on the machine malfunction.
“Casino personnel were able to determine that the figure displayed on the penny slot was the result of an obvious malfunction,” said Resorts World spokesman Dan Bank, “a fact later confirmed by the New York State Gaming Commission.”
The case is still pending in courts. But given the next story that I’m going to cover, the odds of Bookman receiving her jackpot — or anything close to it — are slim.
Conclusion
Casinos may have the house advantage in their own establishments. But they don’t always hold an edge in the courtroom.
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