I know what you are thinking: if those guys in Oceans 11 can do it, why couldn’t I? Cheating a casino is as tempting as the apple tree in the garden of Eden, especially if you are proven to know how to count cards and think ahead. Many have tried, but little have succeeded to rob a casino blind. The house will bring you down just as it did the folks on our list. It is worth mentioning that the maximum prison sentence PLUS a fine can be granted to you if it is proven you have cheated at gambling. Are those thrills of trying juicy enough to make up the time?
Student Megan McCann taking bet365 to court
You know that feeling when you are on your studies and think that a little horse betting can help you get a bit more money you need for the student life you otherwise can’t afford? Well, Megan McCann from Northern Ireland is not that kind of a student. She placed a total of 25,000 pounds on horses via bet365 and won over 1 million in return. The bet365, however, decided not to pay up and have refunded the original bet of 25k. As a reason they stated that the money was placed by the third-party, which is a breach of the agreement in their house.
Even though he wasn’t a student, Charles Bukowski really made the horse bets popular among the new generations. Beware, not only that the house always wins, but they are likely to win the lawsuits as well. Online gambling operators, such as 500freeslots.com, are very clever when they need to make the case. This lawsuit against casino started tackling this issue in public, however, by the looks of things, they will always find a catch.
The most famous gambling court case in history (Phil Ivey vs Crockfords)
Phillip Ivey, the UK professional gambler, is facing charges after the Crockfords Club sued him for cheating and winning 7.7 million pounds in a game of baccarat (Punto Banco). The Supreme Court has decided that ‘edge-sorting’ technique was illegitimate and considers it cheating, even though the main defence of Phillip, our gambler, was that his intentions were not dishonest and he claimed he was using his intelligence to implement this strategy and win the house.
The hearing at the supreme court considered whether dishonesty was a necessary element of the offence of cheating. This case was important regarding the gambling legislation since if the edge-sorting technique was justified, a lot of casinos worldwide could easily find themselves in big trouble.
Pauline McKee vs Isle Hotel Casino
Pauline McKee is an old grannie based in Illinois, who has won nearly 40 million pounds playing slots at the Isle Hotel Casino in Iowa. Unfortunately, the casino had to inform her it was nothing but a glitch. McKee took upon herself to sue the casino, however, the Supreme Court has ultimately ruled in the favour of the casino anyways, since the Miss Kitty slot machine that has announced this jackpot only pays up to 10 pounds, as described in the rules of the game. The Isle Hotel was close to becoming one of the casinos on the scandals in gambling list, but luckily for them, the suit was very straight-forward.
Safa Abdulla Al Geabury vs Ritz Club
Speaking of scandals, Safa Abdulla Al Geabury is a claimed billionaire based in Switzerland, who was gambling at the famous Ritz club in London. To continue the night of big stakes in 2015, he wrote a check worth 2 million pounds and went to right-on losing. The Ritz, on the other hand, had a problem cashing the check, thus the businessman was left in debt towards the casino. Al Geabury tried to get his way out of the debt by claiming he was a renewed gambling addict and that he wasn’t supposed to be allowed to gamble by Ritz in the first place. The judge didn’t buy this story, and he was ordered to pay up to the full amount of the depth. In the end, he has failed to do so and ended up 10 months in prison instead. Another casino cheats story ended up badly for the self-called Swiss billionaire.
Bruno Venturi vs Surrey-based online casino EuroBet
This case is significant as it is the rare case tackling the online gambling world. Bruno Venturi was a 41-year-old Italian who has hit the jackpot worth 650,000 pounds at the EuroBet casino, after making an 18-pound bet at a Sixty Seconds lottery game in 2009. Even though he has celebrated his victory, the casino refused to pay-up the money he won, claiming that the jackpot was a result of a software glitch.
Outraged, Bruno decided to take his case all the way up to the High Court that has ruled in favour of the casino, since glitches are covered in their & Conditions. Message to take out of this case: casino gamble is not always a gamble for the money, and the house always has itself covered.
Christian Hainz vs Two Swiss Casinos
Gambling is one of the strangest addictions, especially if you are so lucky that every now and then get out of a casino with pockets full of dollar bills. Christian Hainz was a gambler with a serious addiction, who has invested over 2.5 million pounds in two casinos owned by Casinos Austria in the period of 1997-2000. In 2004, he has sued the two casinos claiming that the staff knew rather well of his condition, yet the casino took advantage of him (he has visited the casinos over 100 times in the gambling period). This is a rare case where the individual has won the suit over the casino, and he was reimbursed with half a million pounds as result.
If you have a condition and have to play the gambling games, instead of wasting all your paychecks and get lost in the pile of debts, why wouldn’t you play free spins slots instead? You can play the games for free, or use the bonuses to spin without limits, without wondering can casinos control slot machines or not.
Good luck with that: People vs Casinos
Even though films about thieves and robbers going full mastermind crime on the Vegas casinos can be attractive and daring, going against casino scams can do no good. If you decide to cheat by counting cards or using fake casino chips, the least that can happen is to be added to a Las Vegas black book and never be welcomed to gamble again. Worst case scenario – the casino sues your ass. In all the lawsuit stories of gamblers VS casinos, the only way to get out of the punishment is if you genuinely are a diagnosed addict. Even in that case, you will need a strong story in order to convince the judge that’s not just a BS.
Sports gambling law is also not on your side. The laws under which casinos operate are their field, and no one can play on that playground better than the houses themselves. Were you thinking of cheating or going up against a casino? You’d might wanna think about it again.
