Golden Nugget Forced To Pay $1.5m Baccarat Winners

On April 30th, the story broke about 14 mini-baccarat players who won $1.5 milion at the Golden Nugget Atlantic City casino, but were denied their winnings after the casino discovered the card manufacturing company had failed to provide a shuffled deck.
After upping their stakes from $10 to $5,000 a hand and winning 41 consecutive hands, nine of the players were able to cash out $558,900 before the casino pieced the puzzle together and prevented the others from doing likewise with their $977,800 worth of chips. In addition, the Golden Nugget Atlantic City then tried to recover the cash from the first group of players by launching a lawsuit, but now Judge James Isman has ruled against the casino, which he said held responsibility for ensuring the deck was properly shuffled.
Consequently, the judge has ordered the casino to allow the players to cash out their remaining chips, whilst adding: “I don’t consider this to be a rigged game. There is no proof that the players obtained those chips unlawfully.’
Predictably, Judge Isman’s ruling drew an angry response from the casino who labelled the decision “an ambush” and vowed to launch an appeal. Nevertheless, before long the casino pulled back from its initial belligerent stance after Tilman Fertitta, the Texas billionaire who owns the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, overruled his lawyers and agreed to honour the court’s decision. Explaining his position, Tilman Fertitta stated:
“Even though we can appeal the court’s ruling and take full advantage of the appellate process and legal system, and tie the matter up in litigation for a number of years, the Golden Nugget is a people business, and is prepared to allow the gamblers — most of whom continue to gamble at Golden Nugget — to realize the gambler’s dream of beating the house.”
It would now appear the Golden Nugget will try and recover the money from  Gemaco, Inc, the card manufacturer which provided the defective cards, and which has already admitted its fault in the matter.