Borgata Wants Ivey To Pay $5.4M in Expected Losses

In October, Phil Ivey lost a lawsuit against the Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City in which he argued he was entitled to keep the $9.6 million he won playing baccarat at the venue in 2012. Following his unsuccessful claim, Ivey now faces the prospect on not only paying back the money he won, but also $249,000 for the comps he and his accomplice Cheng Yin Sun enjoyed, as well as a further $5.4 million for the loss in expected earnings the venue calculated it was owed.
Ivey and Sun won the money four years ago, but the Borgata only filed a lawsuit against Ivey in 2014 after it learned that Ivey had used a similar edge-sorting technique to win £7.8 million while playing baccarat at London’s Crockfords Club. While Ivey has been cleared of cheating in both cases, his actions were nevertheless still deemed beyond that which is expected of legitimate play, and therefore taken to represent a breach of contract.
U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman has subsequently given the Borgata 20 days in which to provide a figure for how much it was seeking to recoup, after which Ivey and Sun will have an additional 20 days to issue their response. As matters currently stand, Ivey could be facing a huge bill of up to $16 million, although it is likely that the casino has provided a high end figure in order to increase its chances of reaching a satisfactory settlement. Commenting on the present situation, Joseph Corbo stated:
“The immediate focus is upon concluding whether in fact Borgata has been damaged, and what if any possible award of damages will result.”
In the meantime, both parties are claiming victories from the current ruling. On the one hand, Borgata’s general counsel, Joseph Corbo, has stated that Judge Hillman’s decision validated his client’s claims that the casino had been harmed by Ivey and Sun’s actions, while on the other side, Ivey said he felt vindicated that the judge decided that he hadn’t committed fraud.