Poker Pro Phil Ivey Still Locked in Legal Battle With Crockfords Casino

In October 2012 internationally-renowned Poker star Phil Ivey won £7.8 million at Crockfords Casino in London. However, when Phil wanted to cash out he was denied his money. This sparked a controversial debate in the media as well as a heated legal battle. The case still remains to be settled in court, but meanwhile some more interesting information has become available from the court papers.
 
Ivey was playing Punto Banco Baccarat at Crockfords, initially losing £500,000. At some point in the evening Ivey and his female companion, known only as Kelly, decided to raise the stakes, and went on a huge winning streak until they had amassed a staggering £7.8 million profit. Unfortunately for Ivey, the casino refused to pay out the winnings, claiming that he had discovered a flaw in the deck which he was using to gain an unfair advantage, thus breaking the casino rules.
 
Instead of paying Ivey the money he had won, the casino opted to pay him back the £1,000,000  he had originally staked and refused any further payments.
 
This was not a solution that satisfied Mr. Ivey and and he sued Crockfords in pursuit of the full £7.8 million. The statements he gave in relation to the court case were somewhat surprising. Ivey admitted that he was looking for flaws in the deck and that at some point he and his companion Kelly did indeed discover a deck that they exploited to give them an advantage.
 
Despite the fact that ‘Kelly’ had a history with similar cases and had been banned from various other London casinos for violations, Ivey still claims that it is not his fault the casino had used imperfect card decks and that if they allowed him to play, they should also pay out the winnings.
 
Personally I think Phil is right; it should be the casinos’ duty to keep their paraphernalia in good working order without flaws, and punishing the players for their own shortcomings hardly seems fair. A few years ago a similar court case was won by a Spanish Roulette player, who discovered a flaw in a Roulette wheel in one Madrid casino. As a result the player was banned from the casino, but the ban was removed after the player sued, with the court ruling that the casino is responsible for their own inventory and that player is not culpable.
 
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