- U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo last Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by self-proclaimed problem gamblers against Borgata and its parent company.
- Alleo ruled that casinos have no legal obligation to prevent addicted gamblers from gambling.
- Arleo said New Jersey “broadly regulates casino liability related to compulsive gamblers,” but the state does not allow “casinos or online gambling platforms to attract people who engage in compulsive gambling behavior to patronize their business.” “They are particularly silent on whether there is a possibility of induction.”
Atlantic City casinos have no legal obligation to stop compulsive gamblers from betting, a judge says after accusing Borgata and its parent company, MGM Resorts International, of knowingly soliciting gambling offers. The court ruled to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a self-proclaimed problem gambler. About his addiction.
U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo said on January 31 that New Jersey’s extensive rules and regulations governing gambling do not impose a legal obligation on casinos to remove compulsive gamblers. – Dismissed Mr. Antar’s lawsuit against the gambling company.
New Jersey’s casino law “extensively regulates the liability of casinos related to compulsive gamblers, but does not allow casinos or online gambling platforms to induce people with compulsive gambling behavior to patronize their business.” is particularly silent as to whether that is possible,” the judge wrote in his decision. .
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She also cited two previous New Jersey lawsuits brought by a compulsive gambler and a patron who claimed to have lost money gambling while intoxicated, but lost.
Similar lawsuits have been dismissed in other states, including Indiana.
“The New Jersey Legislature does not yet believe it is appropriate to require casinos to prevent or cease inviting gambling to casinos that exhibit problematic gambling activity,” Arleo wrote. “As a matter of law, the defendant owes no common law duty of care to the plaintiff in respect of negligence.”
Antal said the law needs to be changed, adding that he plans to appeal the dismissal of the case.
“This is not just about me. It’s about everyone across this country who suffers from this addiction,” he said. “When are we going to address this issue as a country?”
Exterior of Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa photographed on December 28, 2023 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
New Jersey, like other states, has a program that allows gamblers to voluntarily opt out of in-person or online gambling. Casinos have to respect that list and have been fined by regulators for allowing self-excluded gamblers to bet.
According to the complaint, Antar, who has homes in New York and Long Branch, New Jersey, bet $30 million on 100,000 bets over a nine-month period in 2019, but it was not disclosed how much he actually lost. do not have. Mr. Antar said he was unsure of the amount, but his lawyer, Matthew Litt, said it was “at least six figures.”
His lawsuit raised some of the same claims raised in another person’s lawsuit targeting Atlantic City casinos and dismissed by a judge. In 2008, a federal judge ruled against New York gambler A’Lelia Taveras in her lawsuit against seven Atlantic City casinos, claiming they were obligated to stop gambling. She lost nearly $1 million over two years, including a multi-day gambling binge.
“She spent money on a genuine opportunity to win more money,” U.S. District Judge Renee Bamb wrote in a 2008 ruling. “In short, she was gambling. The mere fact that the defendant profited from her misfortune, while deplorable, does not establish a legally admissible claim. .”
MGM cited the incident as one of a number of defenses to Antar’s lawsuit, saying it did not cause or exacerbate gambling problems in Antar or other areas.
The company declined to comment on Monday.
Litt said his appeal will center on the argument that New Jersey’s consumer fraud law, which is designed to protect customers against “unconscionable” conduct by businesses, should apply to the case. Stated.
Anter is the nephew of Eddie Anter, who founded Crazy Eddie Electronics Store in the 1970s and 1980s. Eddie Antar defrauded investors of more than $74 million and died in 2016.
In 2013, Sam Antar was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for accepting $225,000 in a fraudulent investment scheme. He was convicted and jailed in 2022 for fraud of nearly $350,000.
In 2023, he pleaded guilty to federal securities fraud stemming from the same incident, defrauding investors, including friends, and was sentenced to four months in prison and ordered to pay restitution. .
He is now free under an intensive supervision program and informally provides counseling to young people with gambling problems.
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“Who better than me to show them what this is going to look like?” he said.
