ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — An Atlantic City casino is
suing a big-time gambler, claiming he won $9.6 million in a
card-cheating scheme in baccarat.
The Borgata Hotel Casino &
Spa filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Phillip Ivey Jr., considered
one of the best poker players in the world.
The lawsuit alleges
Ivey and an associate exploited a defect in cards made by a Kansas City
manufacturer that enabled them to sort and arrange good cards in
baccarat. The technique gave him an unfair advantage on four occasions
between April and October 2012, the casino asserted in its lawsuit.
The
casino claims the technique, called edge sorting, violates New Jersey
casino gambling regulations. Its senior vice president, Joe Lupo,
declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Ivey’s lawyer declined to comment on Friday.
The
lawsuit claims the cards, manufactured by Gemaco Inc., were defective
in that the pattern on the back of them was not uniform. The cards have
rows of small white circles designed to look like the tops of cut
diamonds, but the Borgata claims some of them were only a half diamond
or a quarter of one.
The company is also fighting a lawsuit from
another Atlantic City casino, the Golden Nugget, claiming the firm
provided unshuffled cards that led to gamblers beating the casino for
$1.5 million. Gemaco did not respond to a request for comment.
The
lawsuit claims that Ivey and his companion instructed a dealer to flip
cards in particular ways, depending on whether it was a desirable card
in baccarat. The numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9 are considered good cards. Bad
cards would be flipped in different directions, so that after several
hands of cards, the good ones were arranged in a certain manner — with
the irregular side of the card facing in a specific direction — that
Ivey could spot when they came out of the dealer chute.
The
lawsuit claims Ivey wanted the cards shuffled by an automatic shuffling
machine, which would not alter the way each card was aligned.
A
lawsuit filed in Britain’s High Court by the Malaysia-based Genting
Group, a major casino operator, makes a similar claim against Ivey. It
alleges Ivey and an accomplice amassed almost $12 million by cheating at
baccarat. In that case, Ivey has denied any misconduct.
Ivey has
won nine World Series of Poker bracelets. He compares himself on his
website to Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Muhammad Ali.
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Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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