Genting Group, a casino giant in Europe, as accused poker super-star Phil Ivey of cheating while playing baccarat. Genting Group alleges that Ivey won millions at baccarat but did so by cheating.
Genting Group is based in Malaysia and in court documents that were filed with Britain’s High Court they allege Ivey, along with an accomplice, employed a scam in order to amass nearly $11.9 million (of 7.8 million pounds). This is said to have happened last summer. It was also alleged that the game in which this took place occurred during the time period Aug. 20-21 at took place at Crockfords, which is one of oldest London casinos.
The news of this dispute went public in April when Phil Ivey filed his own claim in the High Court against Genting Group. Ivey’s attorneys state that the casino has refused to pay out the money Ivey won while playing a variant of baccarat at Crockfords. Crockfords is owned by Genting Group.
On May 14, the casino made its response to the court saying that Ivey had cheated and that any winnings were now invalid as they were “based on illegal acts.” Generally, Phil Ivey avoids the media, but May 15 he put out a statement denying any misconduct or cheating.
The casino group went on to say in their court papers that these illegal acts gave Ivey a significant advantage during the play of the games. It said that Ivey used improper means as a way of determining if the first card dealt would be a strong or weak card.
The game being played was Punto Banco Baccarat. In court papers, Punto Banco Baccarat is described as being played with six or eight decks of playing cards that are placed inside a dealing shoe. The aim of the game, played with two or three cards, is to get as close to nine as possible. In the game, the players are able to bet that they will win, of the bank will win, or the hand will result in a tie.
Court papers indicate Ivey and the accomplice were able to find a shoe that had decks of cards that had uneven designs. It is alleged that the two were then able to get the dealer to turn the open cards in one direction or another thus revealing some form of design flaw that Ivey used to win the hands.
The Genting Group owns Resorts World New York, which is located at the Aqueduct Race Track, as well as the Resorts World Sentosa which is in Singapore. Last March, Genting Group said that it plans to build a $2 to $7 billion facility called Resorts World Las Vegas that will be on the Vegas Strip where Echelon project now sits.
Ivey, who is 37, has stated that while he dislikes having to take a casino to court, it seems to be the only way to get the matter resolved. In his poker career, he has won an estimated $14 million or more. More details should be forthcoming soon.