Borgata Responds To Phil Ivey "Cheating" Counterargument

Between April and July 2012, Phil Ivey won around $10 million playing Baccarat over four separate visits to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in New Jersey. By the time Ivey returned for a fifth visit on October 7, however, the news of his Crockfords “edge sorting” controversy had hit the news, and the Borgata subsequently accused Ivey of using a similar technique to win the money at their establishment.
As a result, Borgata later instigated a $9.8 million lawsuit against Ivey to recover their lost money, citing a number of accusations, including Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing, Breach of Contract, and Fraud.
Earlier this month, Ivey’s law team at Jacobs & Barbone P.Athen moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that simply looking at the cards did not constitute cheating, and that even if it did only the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement could pursue the violation and not the Borgata. In addition, Ivey’s lawyers argued that the six months statute of limitations on the incident had long since expired.
In the latest news, Borgata’s parent company Marina District Development Company, LLC, has moved to counter Ivey’s motion for dismissal by firstly denying the statutes of limitations for “cheating” had already expired, and arguing that the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement policed casinos and did not have the authority to order casino patrons to making restitution to casinos.
In terms of cheating, Borgata’s attorney Jeremy Klausner cited a case involving the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, which recently won its lawsuit to reclaim more than $1 million from a group of mini-baccarat players who successfully took advantage of an unshuffled pack of cards. Ironically, Louis Barbone, the Golden Nugget’s victorious attorney who managed to convince the court the game was not “fair”, is now the very same attorney currently representing Phil Ivey.
Phil Ivey will be hoping Barbone gets a similarly impressive result this time around, too, with millions of dollars at stake, as well as a potential stretch behind bars for Ivey. As Klausner’s latest filing, explains:
“Borgata specifically alleges acts involving gambling that are chargeable under state law and carry a prison sentence of more than one year. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 5:12-113, it is a crime to “knowingly by..fraud or fraudulent scheme..or device..win or attempt to win money..in connection to casino gaming.”
Such cases involving sums of more than $75,000 carry a potential jail sentence of between 5 and 10 years.