A former employee of the now-defunct Legendz Sports online sportsbook is suing Caesars after they allowed him to compete in World Series of Poker Circuit events, win a seat into the Global Casino Championship, and then banned him for his part in the Legendz debacle.
You bust out the vision board, cover it with pictures of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) – gold rings, bracelets and all. You post it at the foot of the bed so you can see it before you close your lids, and when they open again.
You take out the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) schedule and circle your events. Your plan is a simple one. Win a gold ring and qualify for the WSOP Global Casino Championship and your shot at the bracelet.
You don’t win the ring, but you do cash 12-times, earning over $100,000, and secure your $10,000 package in the big event, after finishing 39th on the leaderboard.
Boom!
You wake up a few days later, wink at your vision board, and there’s a letter in the mail from Caesars. You open it, expecting to read about your trip of a lifetime. Instead, it’s a letter explaining how they have banned you from the big event for a legal infringement that took place four years ago.
You feel like you’ve just eaten a tea bag.
And that’s precisely (sort of) what happened to Robert Anthony Lay, and he’s a little pissed about it, so much so he’s suing them for $75,000 in damages.
The Ban
According to a PokerNews article, Caesars banned Lay after learning he was one of the 34 people and 23 companies arrested in April 2013 in connection with Legendz Sports, an online sports betting brand offering action to US customers from Costa Rica and Panama.
Lay served his time and in January 2017 decided to put his vision board and gold-ring/bracelet conquest idea into motion.
According to Lay’s lawyer, Mac VerStanding, Caesars allowed Lay to compete on their properties in WSOPC events up and down the country, before banning him from the Global Casino Championships so they could save money on travel expenses and the seat.
“We look forward to litigating this matter in the courts,” VerStanding told PokerNews.
Lay is suing Caesars for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices, leading with the complaint that Caesars willingly took thousands of pounds in rake from Lay when it suited them, and gave him no inclination that his previous ‘record’ was an issue.
124 entrants made their way to North Carolina to compete in the Global Casino Championship (minus Lay). Sean Yu won the bracelet and first prize of $296,941.
PokerNews reached out to Caesars for comment.
It was the first they had heard of the lawsuit.
