New Jersey Casino Suing Gamblers Who Won $1.5 Million, Blames Unshuffled Decks of Cards

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A New Jersey casino has sued a group of gamblers who won $1.5 million after they allegedly realized the eight decks of cards used in a game of mini baccarat were not preshuffled.
The Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, N.J., filed suit against the gamblers and playing card company Gemaco after 14 players collectively won $1,536,700 in 41 winning hands.
As the same sequence of cards kept appearing April 30, the players increased their bets from $10 to $5,000, the casino alleged.
"The gamblers unlawfully took advantage of the Golden Nugget when they caught onto the pattern and ... by passing money to fellow gamblers in order to place bets in excess of posted betting limits," the casino said in a statement.
In a lawsuit filed in New Jersey Superior Court, the casino cited gambling regulations that state gaming odds must be fair for both sides.
The Golden Nugget is seeking a return of the $558,900 it paid out to several of the players and the nearly $1 million worth of chips.

Anthony Smedile/The Press of Atlantic City/AP Photo
The Golden Nugget Atlantic City hotel and... View Full Size


ap_golden_nugget_atlantic_city_hotel_casino_ll_120821_wg.jpg
Anthony Smedile/The Press of Atlantic City/AP Photo
The Golden Nugget Atlantic City hotel and casino is shown in this Jan. 11, 2012 photo.

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Benjamin Dash, attorney for the gamblers, said his clients, who did not know each other, were "playing the game lawfully."
After paying out a portion of the winnings, the casino managers became suspicious. Convinced they were watching a "sophisticated swindling and cheating scheme," they refused to cash in the remaining $1 million in chips.
No evidence of a scheme was found. On May 1, the Golden Nugget said it learned by "direct admission" from Gemaco's CEO that the decks used in the baccarat game were unshuffled, despite being touted as preshuffled, certified decks.
ABCNews.com was unable to reach Gemaco for comment.
Three of the gamblers filed a countersuit against the casino alleging they were discriminated against because of their Chinese heritage.
"All of the players were Asian [and] none of their chips were honored," Dash said. "In New Jersey, a chip is evidence of a debt."
After the win, Dash said, one of his clients was assaulted when he answered the door of his hotel room.
The man was pinned against a wall and his belongings were searched, Dash said. He was then held in a room without access to food, water or an interpreter, according to allegations in the countersuit, which identifies no particular assailant.
The Golden Nugget called the claims "completely false."
"[We] would never discriminate against anyone, including the Asian community," the casino said in a statement. "In fact, the Golden Nugget designed and built an Asian gaming area and restaurant to specifically attract Asian guests to the casino."
The case will be heard Aug. 31.
 

RX Local
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that would definitely suck to win a huge prize and then have it taken away on a technicality BUT in this case I think the gamblers had an idea they were cheating the system a bit ;)

-murph
 

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woah!!! I thought you guys were gamblers....

I have been to lots of casinos in the world and I can say taking advantage of a casino's carelessness is not cheating. If the casino did not shuffle the cards then how can you seriously blame the manufacturer of the cards man..come on!

The casino got caught with its pants down. Either pay the players or plead with them to take 50 cents on the dollar or something of the sort and let it be.
 

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Why is it the players fault? Dumbass dealer's fault.
 

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Why is it the players fault? Dumbass dealer's fault.

First off this happened months ago... second it was not the dealers fault. The dealer was not supposed to shuffle the cards as the cards come preshuffled... it is the manufacturers fault as well as the casinos fault for having preshuffled cards... the dealer had nothing to do with it.
 

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This is news to me. And I will confess, I dont know anything about the packaging of Baccarat cards. But from when I have played the game, the cards looked exactly like the ones the casino uses in every other game, Poker, BJ etc. None of them have ever come preshuffled or been shown to me to be preshuffled.

If they come from the manufacturer preshuffled then that is news to me.
 

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This is news to me. And I will confess, I dont know anything about the packaging of Baccarat cards. But from when I have played the game, the cards looked exactly like the ones the casino uses in every other game, Poker, BJ etc. None of them have ever come preshuffled or been shown to me to be preshuffled.

If they come from the manufacturer preshuffled then that is news to me.

I have been a dealer for 2 years and it was news to me as well. I asked around and people did confirm some casinos do this to save time.
 

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the gaming commission in NJ has set some unusually inefficient rules regarding
shuffling. i'm pretty sure that's why the casinos use preshuffled decks to get
around these rules. the original court ruling said the golden nugget had to pay
the gamblers. the reasoning was that even though there was an obvious pattern,
there was NO guarantee to the players that the pattern would continue and that
their bets were still at risk; therefore they must be paid. the GN has appealed
and is suing everyone in the hope that they can recover some or all their losses.
as i remember, the GN offered to pay the players in full if they dropped their
countersuits. since the players have incurred expenses defending themselves and
feel that they were slandered (the GN called them cheats initially)and their rights
were violated; the players were not prepared to drop the countersuits as they feel
that the GN has a LOT of financial downside from these countersuits.

THIS IS WHAT I FIND TRULY AMAZING!

if the patterns were that obvious that a group of mini baccarat players could
see it with enough confidence to increase their wagers from $10 to table max;
then how come not ONE of the suits (supervisors) reacted to this table and
unshuffled cards. it seems that if players are increasing their bets to such a
great degree that would send a warning sign large enough for the people
in charge to stop the shoe. in addition, there is survalience that is watching
every table through the eye in the sky looking for unusual activities and betting.
if this wasn't unusual then i don't know what they are there for. i mean WTF
were they doing or thinking. OBVIOUSLY ANY WITH AUTHORITY IN THE PIT OR IN
SECURITY WAS EITHER ASLEEP, BRAINDEAD, AND AT A MINIMUM DERELICT IN
THEIR JOB RESPONSIBILITIES. it seems like a few people should of lost their jobs
over this incident. protecting the house and the integrity of the game is certainly
part of their job description.
 

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Dear golden nugget,
Don't count on me visiting your casino!
Well maybe if you keep your non shuffling going... Hehehe jackpot
 

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The dealer would have to have known the players had figured out the deck and the supervisors would have known by the number of fills needed to keep paying these guys. I wonder if the dealer and supervisor were in on it? They almost had to be in on it. I also wonder if the players were smart enough to lose a few hands on purpose. Golden Nugget has now placed themselves in an unenviable position with no way out and have pissed off their biggest and best customers. Very poor management !
 

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If I am the gamblers (defendants) in this case, let this case go to trial. They probably don't lose at trial. Average juror is going to say fuck the casino.
 

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If I am the gamblers (defendants) in this case, let this case go to trial. They probably don't lose at trial. Average juror is going to say fuck the casino.
Good point but sure the casino(s) have deeper pockets and wouldn't put it past them to find a way to put some of it in the jurors' shallow pockets!
 

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great idea to not shuffle, saves at least a minute
and then to not notice the table bleeding money
casinos sweat green chips normally
 

schmuck
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if the dealer (s) and supervisor (s) had any chance of being involved, the
golden nugget would of filed criminal charges against them a long
time ago. it really is amazing that this beatdown went on for as long
as it did and for so much money, especially with these casinos sweating
any decent sized action let alone all the action that occurred at this table.
i can imagine the meeting the next day when the supervisors and
survalience explained this outcome to the casino manager. then
the follow up meeting where the casino manager explains this to
his bosses. if the mob ran the golden nugget, casino employees
would either be missing by now or in deep hiding.

as far as using pre-shuffled decks, my understanding that the
shuffling process is regulated and very detailed in new jersey.
 

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if the dealer (s) and supervisor (s) had any chance of being involved, the
golden nugget would of filed criminal charges against them a long
time ago. it really is amazing that this beatdown went on for as long
as it did and for so much money, especially with these casinos sweating
any decent sized action let alone all the action that occurred at this table.
i can imagine the meeting the next day when the supervisors and
survalience explained this outcome to the casino manager. then
the follow up meeting where the casino manager explains this to
his bosses. if the mob ran the golden nugget, casino employees
would either be missing by now or in deep hiding.

as far as using pre-shuffled decks, my understanding that the
shuffling process is regulated and very detailed in new jersey.
There is no way the dealer(s) and supervisor(s) did not know something was going on. Now, if they called it in and the shift boss did nothing - well, management looks awful stupid/incompetent - which is possible or maybe the shift boss was knocking off a nice piece upstairs.
 

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[h=1]Casino to Gamblers: You Owe Us $1.5M[/h][h=2]Golden Nugget casino says mini-baccarat cards were unshuffled[/h]
getimage.aspx

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff



Posted Mar 21, 2015 4:47 PM CDT

http://www.newser.com/story/204347/casino-to-gamblers-you-owe-us-15m.html

(Newser) – So you failed to unshuffle the deck—why is that our problem? That's essentially what a group of 14 gamblers are arguing in an effort to retain $1.5 million they won at an Atlantic City casino in 2012, the AP reports. They filed a motion yesterday in an attempt to persuade a judge to reverse her ruling favoring the casino. Back in 2012, these gamblers were playing mini-baccarat at the Golden Nugget when they realized the card decks were unshuffled (the manufacturer had failed to pre-shuffle them). So the players increased their bets from $10 to $5,000 and won 41 hands in a row. The casino only let them cash out $558,900, and sued to get back that amount and legally retain the rest, Consumerist reports.
To no one's surprise, the attorney for the casino's parent company supports the judge's February ruling: "The trial judge considered the law and made a very thoughtful and correct decision," he tells the AP. "We see no reason why she would change her mind." The judge hasn't indicated how she'll decide, but the players say her ruling could upset other gamblers: "By ordering the patrons to return the monies that were paid out by (the Golden Nugget) nearly three years after the game ended sends incredible conditional messages to the public: A win isn't necessarily a win," they say in the filing. Meanwhile, Atlantic City is suffering hard times: Four casinos closed last year and the city itself may face bankruptcy over plummeting tax revenues, Reuters reports.
 

hacheman@therx.com
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Why is it the players fault? Dumbass dealer's fault.

NEVER the player's fault in my opinion, even with 'bad lines' put up.

If I make a wager with any of you guys and give you 3 extra points because I wasn't aware the line had moved, then that's my fault & problem, not yours...
 

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