Blames unshuffled decks of cards
A New Jersey casino has sued a group of gamblers who won $1.5 million after they allegedly realized the eight decks of cards used in a game of mini baccarat were not preshuffled.
The Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, N.J., filed suit against the gamblers and playing card company Gemaco after 14 players collectively won $1,536,700 in 41 winning hands.
As the same sequence of cards kept appearing April 30, the players increased their bets from $10 to $5,000, the casino alleged.
"The gamblers unlawfully took advantage of the Golden Nugget when they caught onto the pattern and ... by passing money to fellow gamblers in order to place bets in excess of posted betting limits," the casino said in a statement.
In a lawsuit filed in New Jersey Superior Court, the casino cited gambling regulations that state gaming odds must be fair for both sides.
The Golden Nugget is seeking a return of the $558,900 it paid out to several of the players and the nearly $1 million worth of chips.
Benjamin Dash, attorney for the gamblers, said his clients, who did not know each other, were "playing the game lawfully."
After paying out a portion of the winnings, the casino managers became suspicious. Convinced they were watching a "sophisticated swindling and cheating scheme," they refused to cash in the remaining $1 million in chips.
No evidence of a scheme was found. On May 1, the Golden Nugget said it learned by "direct admission" from Gemaco's CEO that the decks used in the baccarat game were unshuffled, despite being touted as preshuffled, certified decks.
ABCNews.com was unable to reach Gemaco for comment.
Three of the gamblers filed a countersuit against the casino alleging they were discriminated against because of their Chinese heritage.
"All of the players were Asian [and] none of their chips were honored," Dash said. "In New Jersey, a chip is evidence of a debt."
After the win, Dash said, one of his clients was assaulted when he answered the door of his hotel room.
The man was pinned against a wall and his belongings were searched, Dash said. He was then held in a room without access to food, water or an interpreter, according to allegations in the countersuit, which identifies no particular assailant.
The Golden Nugget called the claims "completely false."
"[We] would never discriminate against anyone, including the Asian community," the casino said in a statement. "In fact, the Golden Nugget designed and built an Asian gaming area and restaurant to specifically attract Asian guests to the casino."
The case will be heard Aug. 31.
"[We] would never discriminate against anyone, including the Asian community," the casino said in a statement.
That's when they are taking someone's money, however that doesn't apply when someone is taking their money.
Sounds like sour grapes from the casino.
Their management staff should have checked to insure the card decks were shuffled prior to the start of the game. This is just casino 101 stuff.
What idiots, they deserve to have lost.
How many times has a casino not paid a player because of human or machine error.....
The casino deserves a settlement from the card MFR.
however the players chips should be honered,
but w/ this costing jersey tax $ my guess is the jersey supremes will side w/ the casino.
Maybe Im confused and I read the story wrong. I understood that the people who won notice that THE CASINO did not shuffle the deck of cards. Whos fault is it?? It does sound like sour grapes for the casino. So New Jersey Casino...SHAME ON YOU!! If it was me, HAND ME MY MONEY, the dealer was not doing his/her job and he/she should be penalized for that. A win is a win. The casino, already knows that people know how to count cards, that why they have multiple decks......DUH on yall part!! Yall got caught slipping.
countless times,
every machine has a warning on it
" malfunction voids all play and pays"
As a casino player. I freakin LUUUVV it. I heard about this a while ago on a poker table. This is a beautiful thing. There are more details to this story that are just worth looking into. For instance, during the streak security was called to surround the table. They thought the players were cheating. All the pit bosses were fired ( dumbazzes ) dealers, etc.. I think this is hilarious. i hope the players get to keep the winnings.
9 ppl. were fired over this incident,
all supervisor level and above, no dealers.
not just sour grapes, but if the chips are not honered, could also be bad P.R.
this casino has been doing pooly for years, I know, my sister has been working there since 85
Its called the golden nugget now, but it just got that name a year ago when a new owner took over.
It used to be called Trump marina and before that trump castle.
Sounds like a long history of incompetent management.
I agree with the casino's decision to not fire the dealers, their just the low guys on the totem pole.
"You can either have the money and the hammer or you can walk out of here. You can't have both. What do you want? "
...if I got screwed out of 1.5 mil I can assure you someone will be getting sodmized with a cactus.
It's sad that they run on the mentality that it's ok to keep plundering peoples wallets and bank accounts but it's not ok to take a beating every once in a while whether from personal fault or someones dumb luck
Wonder if a little Vaseline would ease the pain of the cactus sodomy.
I meant if I were the player who got screwed out of the money.....and hell no I wouldn't use vaseline.Maybe a habenaro based sauce...
The sauce would be extremely appropriate.
Sooooo, whats good for the goose is not good for the gander........what a surprise......FVUKERS!!!
Imagine what this will cost them in the long run. I doubt high rollers especially asians will be patronizing This establishment any longer.
$1.5 million in PR won't help them.
jersey gets the taxes from the winners, unsure how your theory would then show they would side with the casino.
Dealers make boo koo moola ...i have zero compassion when a guy shuffling cards and is in a union who makes 70k plus isnt fired for doing a simple task of running the cards thru the shuffle machine.
Loved the casino saying "it needs to be fair to both sides"...really now?? Come on...its never a 50/50 when it comes to their take of your money....Malfunction notices are their get out of jail free card.
"In a lawsuit filed in New Jersey Superior Court, the casino cited gambling regulations that state gaming odds must be fair for both sides."
okay since its supposed to 50/50 fair for both sides then give the players 50% and call it even stevens. Hows that for fair? Mighty generous fo the players to take 50%when they eserve all of it but hey casino dont give them even 50% and see a deep decline in your casino business. Te casino should start putting up signs going out of business now and start boarding the place up.
Ya Know this just like the Insurance, trying to get of paying claims, if your don't like the rules of business then get of that type of work!
"The casino cited gambling regulations that state gaming odds must be fair for both sides."
The gaming odds were fair for both sides. The odds are determined by the rules of the game, not whether or not both parties play intelligently. Both sides had the option of playing or not playing. The casino had the option of making sure they weren't making a stupid and very expensive mistake, or assuming there would be no problems.
"The gamblers unlawfully took advantage of the Golden Nugget when they caught onto the pattern and"
Im pretty skeptical about that. Parties to a contract are usually free to take advantage of the other party's errors of judgment, and failing to ensure that the cards were properly prepared is an error in judgment on the part of the casino. There's a chance that there's a law protecting casinos in case of this sort of mistake, but I'd think they're SOL.
I agree with you!!!
TheGameGirl,
And where did you deal? In one of the Vegas casinos I worked in we werre paid a little over minimum wage and because of that management put a letter in the guest rooms, "Our dealers are among the best paid in town so don't feel that you have to tip them". One of the regular players showed us the letter. Our tokes (tips) ran about $45 to $70 on a good night.
In Vegas the bi-weekly paycheck was often zeroed out to pay the taxes on the tips.
That was back when you got a tip enevleope for every day you worked, not a paycheck one week and a tip check the next (all that thanks to AC by the way).
I don't know about AC but dealers + union in Nevada gets people put in the desert.
As far as the mishap with the cards, this is news to me. In Vegas part of opening a game up is checking the cards to make sure they are all there, spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds. Then they are shuffled. And shuffled. And shuffled. Strip strip shuffle shuffle strip shuffle.
What a perfect storm for the gamblers,and the dealer never saw the pattern,put the dealer in charge of the horseshoe pit.
The biggest laugh is the casino says they ,the gamblers took advantage of the casino,haha Every time anybody walks in a casino there prepared to take advantage of the casino.,You think if you were winning ,because you saw a pattern,you would burst out and say ,stop the game somebody forgot to shuffle the cards,Not hardly
Pay up casino ,its only a drop in your bucket.
Jersey casinos pay 8% tax on gross revenue, $ they loose takes away from that gross,
now the players have to pay tax on their win also, but they can use deductions,
and they may not live in Jersey.
Dealers fixed pay is only about $6 an hour the great majority of their pay comes from tokes.
As for shuffling when the shoe is nearing the bottom the dealer stops the game and manuely shuffles the cards,
they like doing this because it is like taking a break,
however if the cards are pre-shuffled the pit boss will tell them to get down to business,
and most are not union.
yes, the malfunction notices are a cop-out.
CT,
That was a really lame trick on the part of management,
I guess they thought if ppl. don't tip they'll have more to gamble,
therefore more in the dropbox.
haymaker,
You got it. This was at one of the properties that belonged to what would become a "gaming group.' They were asked to run the Fremont for the state after it had been shut down. Then they took over the Stardust.
Ahem.
They were known for providing good benefits. A freidn and I were on break one time and overheard a shift boss and the CM talking about the benefits they provided, all the while watching some employees on break playing video poker. (This casino let employees play slots, no table games, too much chance for collusion there.)
The CM said, "Yeah, we give them good benefits, and truth be known, they're paying for it with all those quarters."
RE: the OP
I worked at the Vegas Golden Nugget for awhile (after the casino mentioned above). This is what would happen with a lot of players from China and points east. They'd get to Vegas and have phony letters of credit from a phony bank. This is all pre-internet. Those letters of credit would include phone numbers.
Those players would ask for, and get markers.
"This is the Golden Nugget. Do you have a bank customer named Choi Lee with so much on deposit?"
Friend somewhere in China, "Yes, give him anyhing he ask for, he's good for it."
If they won, they won. If they lost (we're talking big bucks) they would simply go back to Hong Kong or wherever and another Asian who hadn't left yet would tell the casino, "You call Hong Kong, find Mister Lee. Good luck."
CT,
I think that 'gaming group" controls/operates half of the borgata in atlantic city.
My daughter works there.
First of all,
catching on to a pattern...
Its like in baseball...well i notice this pitcher is throwin meatballs down the plate...it would be unfair of me to swing...WTF!!
Or...Mark Mcgwire is on steroids, it would be unfair for me to throw him a ball, he might not swing...let me give him a meatball so he can break the home run record...and then congress can pardon him.
There's a chance that there's a law protecting casinos in case of this sort of mistake, but I'd think they're SOL.
I dont know what SOL is, i also dont know what SMH is...
but i am sure they have INSURANCE...so not only do they not want to pay out...but they want to not pay out AND get the insurance money.
I blame it all on NUCKY.
In this story there was allegation of betting over the limit...this could be enforced.
Thats why I dont buy chinese food, they are always plotting strang things in the kitchen.
I only buy the fortune cookies.
Hey the old man trick doesn't fly in Vegas...either you take the money and the hammer...or just the hammer.