Poker Dealer Fighting $75,000 Mandatory Fine After He Admitted To Stealing $200 At CasinoLawyer For Former Worker Asking State Supreme Court To Intervene |
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Sometimes the oneness of the political and business worlds becomes so blatantly offensive. One former poker dealer in Pittsburgh is paying the price for such a system.
After stealing $200 worth of chips and putting them in his tip box, 27-year-old Matthew Eisenberg, a former employee of The Rivers Casino, was caught and charged. He pleaded guilty, but under a Pennsylvania statute designed to protect the casino industry and the state, Eisenberg was hit with the minimum $75,000 fine. The maximum for such a crime is $150,000.
The fact that such a hefty penalty would be imposed upon an individual who stole just $1 from a Pennsylvania casino adds to the obscenity. A lawyer for Eisenberg is asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to strike down the fine because it’s “excessive” under the state constitution or “cruel and unusual punishment” under the United States Constitution, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Eisenberg obviously was guilty of misconduct by stealing from the pot (poker players), but does he deserve what could be a financial lynching?
It should be noted that poker dealers usually don’t make very much money per year. It isn’t an excuse for his behavior, but an argument against throwing him into the perils of debt.
Doing so seems to be the mantra of those who are seemingly in favor of harsh consequences for petty crimes against private property. In some sense it’s also similar to the belief that playing online poker can warrant jail time (in the state of Washington) or that running a private card game is deserving of a heavy-handed police raid (multiple states in the country seem to feel this way). Gross over-reactions by law enforcement endorsed by legislatures at the mercy of business interests seem commonplace, and average gamblers unfortunately witness their fair share of this tendency. The Eisenberg case undoubtedly opens up a far-reaching debate spanning many areas of thought, strong indication that something is seriously wrong.
According to Associated Press, the state has maintained since Eisenberg was fined in 2011 that “the fine clearly exists both to punish and deter thefts within casinos.”
For more news and information on what’s happening in Pennsylvania, check its page.
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