A US casino is suing 14 gamblers after eight card decks had not been shuffled¹ properly, resulting in winnings of more than $1.5m.

 

Golden Nugget Atlantic City Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey², is refusing to pay the gamblers their winnings as it maintains the game was illegal.

 

The 14 gamblers realized eight decks of playing cards had not been shuffled and were repeating their sequences. In light of this they increased their bets from $10 to $5,000, winning 41 consecutive³（连贯的） hands of baccarat.

 

As the group continued to win increasingly more substantial amounts of money casino security began to suspect the individuals of cheating.

 

Security teams arrived, but were unable to establish how the wins were being achieved.

 

The casino eventually paid out just under $600,000 but refused to cash $977,000, which remain in chips.

 

The casino maintains that state gambling⁴ regulations require all casino games to be fair – to both sides.

 

The lawsuit⁵ against the gamblers maintains that although both sides began the game thinking it was balanced, the gamblers consecutive wins, and the increasing amount they had bet, indicates knowledge that the game was skewed（曲解的） against the casino.

 

However, Benjamin Dash, a lawyer representing the gamblers, has countered his clients did nothing wrong therefore still deserve to be paid the remainder of their winnings.

 

He said his clients "were denied their winnings. There is absolutely no law in New Jersey that would permit the Golden Nugget to declare the game illegal because it failed to provide shuffled cards."

 

This is not the first case of unshuffled cards to happen in Atlantic City.

 

In December the Trump⁶ Taj Mahal Casino Resort, also in Atlanta, failed to preshuffled their cards, using the decks of cards for over three hours before it uncovered its mistake. The incident resulted in a $91,000 fine for the casino.

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