Borgata To Pay Final 27 Impacted By Cheating Scandal In Poker Event $19,323 ApieceCasino Also To Refund Buy-Ins For 2,143 Players |
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The state of New Jersey has figured out what the Borgata casino in Atlantic City should do to resolve the cheating scandal at one of its poker tournaments in January.
The $2 million guarantee event, the first of the 2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open, was rocked by the discovery of counterfeit chips in play. Christian Lusardi, the man accused of the crime, is in jail awaiting trial. Lusardi made a small cash in the event.
The state said the casino will be in charge of distributing $1,721,805 to affected players, which includes $1,433,145 in prize money that was frozen when the event was suspended, and then later canceled, as well the $288,720 in rake the casino made.
The buy-in for the event was $500+$60.
According to the investigation, a total of 2,218 players “were not impacted by the alleged criminal conduct.” The state also said that the review determined 2,143 players “may have been impacted” by the counterfeit chips coming into play.
In order to make such determinations, the investigation basically looked at if a player had “reasonably” come in contact with fake chips or played in the same room as Lusardi.
Borgata has been told to pay $560 to each of the 2,143 players who may have been impacted. That group only includes those who were eliminated from the event prior to reaching the money. The top 450 made the money in the event, out of the 4,814 who entered.
As for the final 27 who were still alive in the event when it was canceled, they each will collect $19,323—a mere pittance compared to what was to be awarded to first place.
Those who finished 28th to 450th, and who have been paid already, will not receive any additional compensation. There are still some who cashed who need to be paid, though. A sum of nearly $51,000 is owed to those players.
Some in the poker community were very critical of the resolution to the cheating scandal.
Poker pro David Bach Tweeted: “Horrible ruling in Borgata Chipgate. Very unfair to final 27. Shocked that Borgata would not make a fair resolution, totally their fault…Just absurd that the final 27 chip leaders are basically coming out of their pocket to pay for Borgata security lapses.”
Thousands of poker players filed a lawsuit in February claiming that the casino didn’t do a good enough job to prevent the cheating from happening. In other words, alleging negligence. The suit aims to get buy-in refunds, as well as reimbursement for travel costs.
“In my 31 years in practice, I have to say this is one of the cleanest claims we’ve had,” the lawyer involved with the suit told Press of Atlantic City. “Borgata holds itself as a respected provider of poker tournaments. They might say this is a learning experience for them, and while that’s laudable, it’s at the expense of the thousands who traveled to Atlantic City…under the expectation that it would be run properly.”
As a result of the incident, the Borgata did obtain new, high-tech tournament poker chips. They were unveiled just recently at one of the casino’s tournaments. The casino told the Associated Press that the move was “very expensive, but very necessary.”
While the Borgata has faced a heavy loss resulting from Lusardi’s alleged act, that amount isn’t nearly as much as the casino suffered from Phil Ivey, who the casino recently said cheated it out of $9.6 million in a high-stakes baccarat session in 2012. The Borgata has filed a federal lawsuit against the poker pro. Some believe that Ivey’s alleged technique isn’t actually cheating.
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