Phil Ivey Loses Appeal In London Gambling Case10-Time Bracelet Winner Could Appeal To UK Supreme Court |
|
Phil Ivey’s court appeal to recover £7.8 million he won playing high-stakes baccarat at a London casino in 2012 was unsuccessful thanks to a judge’s ruling Thursday.
In April, the court reserved judgement, delaying a decision until the fall. Ivey and playing partner Cheung Yin Sun utilized a controversial technique called “edge sorting” to gain an edge against Crockfords Casino.
Unlike a similar case involving Atlantic City’s Borgata casino, Crockfords found out about the edge sorting prior to paying out the gamblers. It then decided to keep their winnings.
A judge in 2014 said that what Ivey and Sun did at Crockfords was cheating. That ruling stood after this week’s court decision, but Ivey and his team said they’re confused by it.
“This decision makes no sense to me,” Ivey said. "The trial judge said that I was not dishonest and the three appeal judges agreed but somehow the decision has gone against me. Can someone tell me how you can have honest cheating? I’d like to add that I am very grateful to Lady Justice Sharp who decided that the trial judge was ‘wrong’ to decide that I had cheated.”
Ivey and Sun never touched the cards in use, but edge sorting involves asking the dealer to arrange the cards a certain way to make the manufacturing defects on the backs more visible, all so they could get an idea of the value of the card.
Mathematically, players with this first card knowledge have an overall advantage of about 6.765 percent over the house. The casino argued that any player advantage is against the rules.
Like in New Jersey, there were no criminal charges from the tainted baccarat sessions.
Ivey’s lawyer, Matthew Dowd of Archerfield Partners LLP, said in a statement: “The Court of Appeal’s decision leaves the law totally unclear as to what constitutes cheating at gambling. Four judges have looked at this issue now and none of them have been able to agree on the correct interpretation of section 42 of the Gambling Act. It essential that the law is clarified and in light of today’s decision we are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.”
Ivey admitted to the court that he’s an “advantage player.”
The London ruling comes just days after a court in New Jersey said that Ivey breached his contract with Borgata by winning $10 million playing baccarat. Borgata paid Ivey the money before realizing edge sorting had happened, so it’s trying to recover at least some of the winnings.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
