Judge Sides With Casino Over Gamblers In $1.5 Million Mini-Baccarat DisputePlayers Must Return Money And Hand Back Chips |
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It’s the saga that seemingly never ends.
Court rulings over the years have gone back and forth between siding with the Golden Nugget Atlantic City or a group of gamblers who in 2012 won $1.5 million at mini-baccarat after noticing that the cards weren’t shuffled.
The latest court decision, which happened last week, went in favor of the casino. State Superior Court Judge Donna Taylor said that the 14 gamblers must return the $500,000 they were paid and return the $1 million in casino chips they still have.
The most recent event in the saga prior to last week’s ruling came when New Jersey gaming regulators said in September that the 2012 game did not violate any laws or rules in the Garden State. The gamblers won 41 straight hands, increasing their bets to $5,000 a hand, after noticing the game was defective. There was no cheating or collusion, regulators stressed.
The casino said at the time that it disagreed with the regulators’ opinion, but that it didn’t matter because it has no binding authority. The courts should decide the matter, the company said. And the court did end up disagreeing with the gaming regulators.
“The dealer did not pre-shuffle the cards immediately prior to the commencement of play, and the cards were not pre-shuffled in accordance with any regulation,” the Judge Taylor wrote in her decision. “Thus, a literal reading of the regulations … entails that the game violated the (Casino Control) Act, and consequently was not authorized.”
The Golden Nugget expects the decision to be appealed, according to the Associated Press.
The casino has already settled its legal dispute with the card manufacturer.
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