Golden Nugget in Atlantic City forgets to shuffle cards, then sues gamblers who beat them

[Dan Druff]

http://deadspin.com/5936313/casino-f...won-15-million

A group of 14 people were huddled around a mini baccarat table at Atlantic City's Golden Nugget casino in August, when something strange started to happen. The same sequence of cards was dealt twice—then a third time, and a fourth, and so on. Gamblers aren't dumb: they upped their bets from the minimum $10, and kept upping it as the same card sequence kept coming and coming. By the end, after 41 consecutive winning hands, the gamblers were up a total of $1.5 million—and casino security was convinced they were witnessing a heist.

The winners were questioned—in one Brooklyn man's case, he was woken up in the middle of the night, physically restrained by security, and held in his room without food or water for eight hours while his belongings were searched. They found nothing and had to let him go.

The casino shortly found out what had happened, and it was much less sinister, if even more unbelievable. They had recently purchased a shipment of playing cards from a Missouri manufacturer, who was supposed to send the cards thoroughly shuffled. This shipment was defective: the cards were completely unshuffled, and the Golden Nugget had put them into play without checking them. The Golden Nugget is suing the card manufacturer, naturally—but they're also suing the gamblers, claiming they shouldn't have to pay out their winnings.

Says Benjamin Dash, the lawyer representing the gamblers:

"The Golden Nugget appealed to gamblers to come in and play games licensed and sanctioned by the state of New Jersey," he said. "My clients did exactly that, and then were denied their winnings. There is absolutely no law in New Jersey that would permit the Golden Nugget to declare the game illegal because it failed to provide shuffled cards."

But in a lawsuit filed against the 14 gamblers in July, that is exactly what the casino seeks, citing state gambling regulations requiring all casino games to offer fair odds - to both sides.

Believe it or not, this isn't the first time an Atlantic City casino has failed to shuffle its cards. In December, a dealer at the Trump Taj Mahal failed to turn on the shuffling machine, and played for 3.5 hours with unshuffled cards. In that case, the casino was fined and nine employees fired, but there was no attempt to withhold the gamblers' winnings.

But, then, the Golden Nugget wasn't Atlantic City's lowest-revenue casino in 2011 for no reason.

Terrible.

This would be like me playing you in poker, failing to protect my cards and always flashing what I have, and then suing the people who beat me as a result.

Just more evidence that casinos really, really, really hate when you have the odds in your favor, even if it's completely their fault.

[Hockey Guy]

This is every gamblers dream scenario. You'd think they'd check the tapes & realize the decks weren't shuffled before committing a kidnapping & unlawful confinement on one of the gamblers. I'm sure there will be a counter lawsuit.

[Dan Druff]

This is every gamblers dream scenario. You'd think they'd check the tapes & realize the decks weren't shuffled before committing a kidnapping & unlawful confinement on one of the gamblers. I'm sure there will be a counter lawsuit.

Unbelievable that they are doing this. This could turn into a PR nightmare.

I also can't believe they think they would win.

Casinos really do some stupid things sometimes. A lot of power trippers there, both in management and regular employees. They often think they're above the law.

I hope the Nugget suffers for this.

[Hockey Guy]

This is every gamblers dream scenario. You'd think they'd check the tapes & realize the decks weren't shuffled before committing a kidnapping & unlawful confinement on one of the gamblers. I'm sure there will be a counter lawsuit.

Unbelievable that they are doing this. This could turn into a PR nightmare.

I also can't believe they think they would win.

Casinos really do some stupid things sometimes. A lot of power trippers there, both in management and regular employees. They often think they're above the law.

I hope the Nugget suffers for this.

I can't see the guy they kidnapped not suing. Amazing arrogance shown by these people.

[shoeshine box]

Unbelievable that they are doing this. This could turn into a PR nightmare.

I also can't believe they think they would win.

Casinos really do some stupid things sometimes. A lot of power trippers there, both in management and regular employees. They often think they're above the law.

I hope the Nugget suffers for this.

I can't see the guy they kidnapped not suing. Amazing arrogance shown by these people.

Very wrong..alas GN will say they Detained the Man on their Property. I bet the guy settles out of court, we never know how much.. FYI, A Casino doe's Not have to Cash in your Checks(chips). They can detain you.. IDK for how long w/o calling L.E.....

It is so hard to Win $ at a Casino of any sort now a days.. They do Not want Winners..they do Not want to Own up to mistakes..They want your $$$... Only place worse is a Indian rez.....NEVER gamble or even go onto a REz if you do not have to. Truths.

[BedWetterBettor]

I had a somewhat similar error happen to me playing Blackjack a year ago. The dealer was among a bunch of new hires that worked the early morning shift (4AM-12PM) and for whatever reason, he put the shuffled cards into the BJ shoe facing up. I didn't say anything at first and thought he was playing around with me and the other guy sitting over at 3rd base.

But after he burned a card face up and said "Place your bets"... I went to work! You would think being able to see each card before it leaves the shoe would give you easy wins, however it didn't always work out. I had to surrender on a few 17s, 12s, and 13s knowing what the dealer already had in addition to the next card coming out. I only played out losing hands with the minimum bet to not to make it OBVIOUS.

I did hit a nice 5 hand win streak with bets from $100-$200, but that's when someone caught on and they stopped dealing the cards. They didn't make me give the money back or even back me off. They just said "We have to shuffle the cards because they are being dealt face up"

I couldn't protest and just said okay, then told them to save my spot and pretended I was going to the rest room. I quickly cashed out $750 ahead and went off premises to get breakfast.

[Rollo Tomasi]

the dealer must have been brain dead not to see the same cards being dealt every hand

[mulva]

"By the end, after 41 consecutive winning hands, the gamblers were up a total of $1.5 million—and casino security was convinced they were witnessing a heist."

41 consecutive winning hands...lol


i once won 15 hands in a row in bj

[JUSTIFIEDhomicide]

Two things: I can't believe 14 people were even in the golden nugget and when did this happen? At the beginning of the article it says they huddled around the table in August and paragraph later it says the lawsuit was filed in July??

[sd858duece]

Update:

http://news.yahoo.com/gamblers-unshu...--finance.html

[Shizzmoney]

Looks like this place also got another bad beat in court, in regards to poker tournament guarantees:

A New Jersey appeals court has revived a lawsuit by a Vermont man who traveled to an Atlantic City casino for a poker tournament that wound up being canceled.

Michael Bandler said in the lawsuit that he traveled to the Golden Nugget in early 2015 after seeing advertisements that the tournament would offer $150,000 in prize money.

The tournament started, but was canceled by the casino due to a low number of registered players. Bandler was given a small amount of prize money for winning one of the events. His lawsuit claims the casino’s advertising was misleading and violated state consumer fraud laws.

The casino argued the state Division of Gaming Enforcement has jurisdiction over casino advertising, preempting consumer fraud laws. The casino also argued the ad’s fine print said the tournament could be canceled at any time, and didn’t say the money was guaranteed.

A lower court dismissed the lawsuit but the appeals court reversed on Wednesday, with the panel writing that consumer fraud laws apply and that “the casino omitted stating it intended to pay $150,000 only so long as enough people signed up, and the only indirect reference to that intent was the disputed disclaimer in small print about official rules and the right to change or cancel the event.”

https://www.boston.com/news/local-ne...flow%3Atwitter