$12 million casino dispute: U.S. poker star Phil Ivey claims that a British casino owes him nearly $12 million after he played Punto Banco, a type of bacarat.
The casino, Crockfords, says that Ivey saw flaws in the cards and used that information to his advantage. It said that Ivey will not be paid, prompting the famed gambler to file a lawsuit in a U.K. court to settle the dispute, reported the Daily Mail.
The Mail reported that the cards were flawed due to a bad cutting process at a manufacturing plant. It means that the cards’ patterns were not symmetrical.
“By turning an asymmetrical card 180 degrees it is possible to identify what the value of the card is before it is revealed. You simply glance at the edges on the back of the card,” Willy Allison, a casino surveillance expert, told the paper. “Essentially, playing the turn has the same effect as marking the cards and gives players a huge house edge.”
Ivey, 36, was accompanied by a Chinese woman who was not identified, when he played at the casino for three nights in August.
Ivey said he had “no alternative” but to pursue legal action against the casino. His lawyer, Matthew Dowd, said Ivey regretted the decision to go to court.
Crockfords, part of the Genting Group, has not yet answered the claim in court. The company did not respond Tuesday to requests for comments on the case.
Ivey is one of the world’s most successful poker players and has won numerous World Series of Poker Championship bracelets.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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