Pennsylvania Supreme Court: $75K Mandatory Fine For Poker Dealer Who Stole $200 Is UnconstitutionalFive-Figure Fine Deemed To Be Unreasonably Cruel |
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The state of Pennsylvania goes to horrifying lengths to protect its casino industry, even at the expense of the people who do the work making it run every day.
That’s more or less what the state’s Supreme Court acknowledged this week when it said that a $75,000 minimum fine levied against a poker dealer who stole $200 was unconstitutional, or “constitutionally excessive.”
“The fine at issue here, both in an absolute sense and in a comparative sense, is strikingly disproportionate to the manner in which other crimes are punished in Pennsylvania. That the fine is mandatory merely exacerbates the disproportion,” wrote Chief Justice Ronald Castille in the unanimous, 33-page opinion, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
After stealing $200 in chips and putting them in his tip box in November 2010, Matthew Eisenberg, a former employee of The Rivers Casino, was caught and charged. He pleaded guilty, but under a Pennsylvania statute Eisenberg was hit with the mandatory—and minimum—$75,000 fine.
The maximum for such a crime is $150,000.
Eisenberg pleaded guilty in July 2011, and he was sentenced to one year of probation, to pay the $200 back and to pay the mandatory personal-finance-crushing fine. According to the Post-Gazette, at the time of the sentencing, Eisenberg was a student, was engaged to be married and was expecting a child. It’s unclear if he’s still a student and/or still engaged.
Eisenberg’s attorney argued: “What we’re doing here, we’re protecting the rights of the casino. We have—the Legislature has placed the casino above everybody else in Pennsylvania."
Pennsylvania remained steadfast to its side of the argument:
The state argued that the Legislature’s decision to require a substantial fine in the 2004 Gaming Act is neither irrational nor unreasonable, because the purpose of it is to protect the public by “punishing and deterring criminal behavior that would undermine public confidence in the gaming industry.”
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision comes at a time when another terrifying casino employee-related case is playing out in the state.
A former roulette dealer at Meadows Casino in Washington, Pennsylvania is facing criminal charges—“conspiracy” and “using illegal methods to win a bet”—for allegedly telling a gambler that his lucky number is four and that he’d try to hit it for the gambler.
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