Lawyers for poker great Phil Ivey (pictured) say their client didn’t cheat Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa out of $9.6m and they want all such claims tossed out of court. In a motion filed in federal court on Wednesday, Ivey’s legal reps dispute the Borgata’s assertion that Ivey’s ‘edge sorting’ technique constituted cheating, chalking Ivey’s windfall down to his ”extraordinary powers of observation” and “exquisite power of discernment,” and thus “each and every penny of [Ivey’s] winnings was the result of sheer skill.”
For anyone in the dark, the Borgata has accused Ivey and a female companion of exploiting minute errors in how a pack of cards was cut by their manufacturer, which allowed Ivey to identify high-value cards in the punto banco version of baccarat. Ivey is further accused of abusing his status as a high-roller to convince the Borgata dealer to turn these high-value cards around so that their design flaws would be evident when they came out of the automated card shuffler Ivey insisted on using. Ivey has been accused of similar tactics by London’s Crockfords Casino, which has refused to pay the £7.8m Ivey claims to be owed.
The gist of Ivey’s legal motion is that the Borgata was under no obligation to cater to his whims, but did so due to their desire to retain a high-value player. Ivey also never touched the cards in question and merely asking a dealer to reorient the cards isn’t illegal. Further, the motion points out that the disputed activity took place two years ago, well beyond the six-month statute of limitations by which a casino is supposed to alert the state Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) of suspected chicanery. Finally, the motion says the courts should not be handling a question of what constitutes a legal casino activity, which is the sole responsibility of the DGE.
Meanwhile, the manufacturer of those playing cards has filed its own motion seeking to remove its name from the Borgata’s angry list. Missouri-based Gemaco Inc. argues that the alleged flaws in its card-cutting were “latent and not ascertainable … on reasonable inspection.” Gemaco also notes that it “did not change or modify the product” in question and that the Borgata’s damages were caused “by other persons [over] whom this defendant had no control.” Gemaco’s parent company, GemGroup, was recently acquired by casino equipment suppliers Gaming Partners International Corp (GPI) for $19.75m.
