Poker pro Phil Ivey has fought long and hard to keep his winnings of $9.6 million which he won in 2011 playing four sessions of baccarat with Cheng Yin Sun at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City. The MGM owned Borgata filed a lawsuit against Ivey back in 2012 after it came to light that Ivey had purposely requested for a card counting machine to be used and wanted only an 8 deck shoe of purple cards from Gemaco to be used.

Borgata Goes After Gemaco

The Borgata claimed that the Gemaco cards were defective which helped Ivey and Sun to resort commit fraud by resorting to an illegal card technique known as edge sorting to beat the house. The Borgata wanted Ivey to pay back his winnings along with legal fees amounting to over $10 million overall. Ivey disputed those claims of fraud but did admit to using edge sorting which he claimed was not cheating but the use of advanced skills.

The case has gone back and forth for a number of years and in late 2016, Judge Noel Hillman cleared Ivey of fraud but still did not limit his liability in the case. Since then the Borgata has turned its attention on the Kansas based manufacturer claiming that it should also be held responsible for reimbursing the $9.6 million in losses as defective sets of cards allowed Ivey to manipulate and take advantage of the house.

Gemaco Denies Defective Cards Allegations

Gemaco refuted those allegations in August and accused Borgata of pursuing damages since it was struggling to recover the money from Ivey. The company said that casino law allowed 1/32 of an inch in a cards playing surface to be imperfect and based on these measurements, the sets of cards used by Ivey and Sun had no problems. Gemaco also reminded Borgata that it had signed an agreement in 2011 which limited its liability from gaming related issues. The company also tried to ridicule Borgata’s appeal stating that the casino must know that it is impossible for any company to manufacture a set of perfect cards.

Borgata responded to Gemaco’s filing by sending in a 34 page report once again highlighting the fact that if the cards were not defective, Ivey and Sun could not have won $9.6 million. The Borgata also made it clear that it did not matter how much Gemaco paid as long as Ivey, Sun and Gemaco combined to pay back the $9.6 million in losses.

Phil Ivey will continue to keep his money as long as Borgata and Gemaco battle it out. A presiding judge has ruled that no decision can be made in Ivey’s case until the Borgata and Gemaco sort out their issues and a final decision is made. Gemaco has also pointed out that Ivey’s partner Sun has claimed that she had the skills to find defects in any set of cards irrespective of their manufacturer – which effectively means that Gemaco’s involvement in the case is not a deciding factor.

Tags: atlantic city, Baccarat, Borgata Casino, card counting, edge sorting, Gemaco, Phil Ivey

This entry was posted on Monday, October 2nd, 2017 at 6:12 am and is filed under Poker Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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