After the 2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open was ruined by counterfeit poker chips, a few players involved in the event decided to file a lawsuit. Just one month ago, six men who competed in the Borgata Winter Poker Open filed a lawsuit against the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, claiming the casino was negligent in the operation of the tournament. This lawsuit has now been dismissed in state court.
According to the Press of Atlantic City newspaper, the lawsuit accused the Borgata of not running video surveillance properly during the event as well as not acting accordingly with the reports from players of the chips appearing to be a different color. The suit also states that the Borgata did not inventory the chips that were in play properly. The six men believed that they are owed $33,000 each since they were among the top 27 players in the event.
27 players were the remaining players in the event when the Borgata suspended game play due to the counterfeit chips. The fake chips had been allegedly introduced into the tournament by Christian Lusardi as employees of the casino traced back the chips via the plumbing system to Lusardi. A clogged system was the downfall of the player as the chips were traced back to his hotel room.
The lawsuit was dismissed by Judge James Isman, of the Atlantic County Superior Court. Isman ruled the case should be dismissed as the Division of Gaming Enforcement of New Jersey had already reviewed the tournament. Isman ruled that the Borgata had complied with the regulations under the Casino Control Act based on the jurisdiction of the DGE.
Maurice VerStandig is the attorney for the plantiffs in this case stated that he is considering an appeal and believes there are problems with the DGE given original jurisdiction during cheating events instead of allowing affected players the opportunity to bring a case to court with the jury system. VerStandig stated: “The DGE is not equipped to provide the sort of due process that is the hallmark of civil litigation in the state of New Jersey. There’s no jury box in the DGE, to the best of my knowledge.”
My take: This is obvious! The Borgata, already mired in a lot of hot-shit scandals with the Phil Ivey cheating scam among others, has enough power to squash a few cheat cases in court!
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