A number of lawsuits have been initiated against the casinos, but, to date, none has been resolved conclusively. The first lawsuit was filed by Chris Peters, a non-counter who was mistakenly asked to leave the Hilton Hotel. He claimed a violation of his civil rights (he is black) and the Hilton settled the case for $5,000.
The Hilton was also sued by Mark Estes, who was accused of spooking the casino with a confederate. Mark was beaten up and thrown in jail. Videotapes of that evening have since proven that he was merely observing the play of a friend, and it appears that his case may be settled favorably.
I initiated lawsuits against the Dunes, Sands, MGM, Marina and Hilton. Initially, we tried to have these suits heard in California Federal Court, since I was a California resident. We were not successful and the suits were thrown out.
We re-filed in Nevada Federal Court; Judge Foley dismissed two of them, but, “without prejudice;” we re-filed several in Nevada State Court, including the Hilton case. Frankly, I feel we failed in Nevada State Court because of poor legal work; the cases have since been reassigned to more competent counsel.
In New Jersey, Attorney Morris Goldings and I filed a claim against Resorts International with the New Jersey Control Commission after the January 30, 1979 barring. After lengthy hearings, the commission concluded that the casinos, according to New Jersey law, did have the right to exclude counters (Commissioner Al Merck dissented), but, they felt it was undesirable for the State of New Jersey to institute this policy. Thus, they established the “experiment” (described in detail in Chapter 13) which took place in December 1979. As I mentioned, the experiment was concluded after two weeks because casino profits were seriously eroded. The commission met and concluded that the exclusion policy should be continued until a computerized study of blackjack counting and its effect in Atlantic City was completed. They commissioned Econ. Inc. of Princeton, New Jersey to study the playing expectations of the average and Basic Strategy player and the card counter in Atlantic City.
The study, which was completed in the fall of 1980, simulated millions of blackjack hands. It was concluded from the study that, us- mg eight decks and cutting off four decks, the perfect Basic Strategy player has a .04% edge over the house; the conservative counter has a .25% edge.
At any rate, after the termination of the experiment, we filed an appeal with the Superior Court in Trenton, New Jersey. Our lengthy brief was submitted to them in March 1980. The commission applied for, and was granted, permission to provide the court with a brief stating their position on this issue.
In our brief, we petition the Superior Court for four remedies:
1. A reversal of the commission’s original decision.
2. A ruling that the Casino Control Act has abrogated the common law right to exclude patrons at will.
3. An order enjoining, restraining and prohibiting the commis. sion from approving any policy of exclusion_
o. An order enjoining, restraining and prohibiting all New Jersey casinos from excluding any patron from playing because of skill or the use of a counting strategy.
Attorney Goldings is optimistic. Walter Tyminski. the respected editor of Rouge Et Noir, the gambling newsletter, feels we have a 60% chance of winning the appeal.
The popular television show, 60 Minutes, recently did a story on this issue. We’re hoping the national TV exposure will garner public support against the arbitrary exclusion of skilled players. The 60 Minutes crew accompanied me to the Flamingo Hilton and the Holiday casinos where. recorded by hidden camera. I was prevented from playing. Harry Reasoner later returned to those casinos with the crew and attempted to get explanations from their management. As you might expect, their answers were vague and evasive.
Parenthetically, we also shot a blackjack match at VegasWorld. The owner offered a single deck game. $300 to $1,200, dealing five rounds. I played. with Harry Reasoner at the table while the crew filmed from the pit. At one point. I was down $6,000 of the $20,000 I’d brought with me and had visions of tapping out in front of 35 million viewers (there was only about a 59% chance of winning). But the cards turned and I won slightly more than $6,000.
Currently, the legal battle continues. As of this writing. casinos in Nevada and Atlantic City are still barring counters at will. Dozens of noncounters are also being barred in both states. If we win in New Jersey. we plan to try to extend to Nevada any legal precedents established.
Perhaps. some day. finally, skilled players will no longer be arbitrarily prevented from playing. and, rather than being viewed as quasi- criminals, will be looked upon with respect.