Players vs. Borgata in Lawsuit over Tournament Chip Scandal – Who will win?

Back in January, Christian Lusardi attempted one of the biggest cons in poker history when he introduced $800,000 worth of counterfeit chips into a Borgata Winter Open tournament. And even today, we’re still dealing with the reverberations of Lusardi’s misguided actions since a lawsuit has been leveled at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa.

Jacob Musterel, one of the 4,000-plus players who bought into the cancelled $2 million event at the Borgata, is behind the class-action lawsuit. He claims that the Borgata failed to provide proper supervision and security during the tournament. Musterel’s case even goes as far as to accuse the Borgata of “fraud” and demands that everybody’s buy-ins and travel costs be repaid.

Over $2 million in buy-ins have been frozen ever since the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) ordered the Borgata to cancel the tourney. The money will remain frozen until the NJDGE and police investigation into the cheating scandal is completed.

If we are to believe Musterel’s lawyer, Bruce LiCausi, this is a pretty airtight case. “In my 31 years in practice, I have to say this is one of the cleanest claims we’ve had.” LiCausi told the Press of Atlantic City. “Borgata holds itself as a respected provider of poker tournaments. They might say this is a learning experience for them, and while that’s laudable, it’s at the expense of the thousands who traveled to Atlantic City and entered this tournament under the expectation that it would be run properly.”

So is this really as easy of a case as LiCausi claims? Furthermore, did the Borgata really act so negligently that they should repay travel costs and other expenses beyond the buy-ins?

You never know what the truth is until all the facts have come in. But by most accounts, the Borgata shut the tournament down almost immediately after finding out about the counterfeit chips. Furthermore, Musterel’s accusation of fraud doesn’t really seem to hold much weight here. This implies that Borgata officials either worked with Lusardi to defraud the players (ridiculous), or they tried to sweep the matter under the rug. But it’s highly unlikely that the staff would think they could get away with turning a blind eye to $800k worth of fake chips.

Getting to the main point, should the Borgata have caught the counterfeit chips well before the tourney got down to the final 27 participants? If we can verifiably say ‘yes,’ and the reason why the chips weren’t caught is because of pure negligence, then Musterel and the players have a great chance of winning their lawsuit. And the Borgata will be anteing up far more money than just the buy-ins.

But it seems more likely that the Borgata are more victims of circumstance, in that Lusardi targeted the $2 million Winter Open tournament and carried out a plan which was ultimately foiled. Asking for travel costs to be covered seems like a stretch here because the courts may view airfare/gas money and a hotel stay as entertainment expenses. After all, the majority of those who participated in the $560 buy-in tourney are amateurs, not professionals who view poker as a full-time job.

Of course, anything can happen in a court of law once the facts start spilling out. So it’ll be interesting to see which side gets the better of this lawsuit.

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