The Borgata in Atlantic Metropolis has settled a lawsuit introduced by poker participant Scott Robbins, in keeping with court docket filings. The Massachusetts native sued the on line casino in July after it banned him for all times for a casual comment he made about leaping out of the window.
Scott Robbins, pictured at a WPT occasion, stated he was happy with the settlement supplied by the Borgata. (Picture: 888 On line casino)
Robbins claimed his civil rights had been infringed by the ban. He additionally argued he had been slandered by on line casino employees once they allegedly instructed different poker gamers he had been barred “due to a suicide try.”
The lawsuit demanded $1.2 million in potential misplaced earnings from future Borgata poker tournaments and sponsorship offers. The sum the 2 events settled for has not been disclosed. However in a current publish on the TwoPlusTwo poker boards, Robbins indicated he was happy with the outcome.
The case has been voluntarily dismissed, in keeping with a current submitting to the US District Court docket for the District of New Jersey.
The participant instructed the discussion board he accepted the very best of three gives, claiming that the on line casino “desperately needed to settle as a result of they knew they might lose in court docket.”
“I simply needed to make some extent that they arbitrarily and irresponsibly banned me as a result of their worker misunderstood what I stated as a result of English wasn’t her first language,” he defined.
Crossed Wires
In keeping with the lawsuit, the incident happened in September 2019, when Robbins arrived on the on line casino to play within the WPT Borgata Poker Open Major Occasion. Earlier than he checked in, he gained a satellite tv for pc match for a seat within the occasion, price $3,500.
Later, when the worker on the entrance desk requested him whether or not he would like a room on a excessive or a low ground, he replied, “If I needed to leap from a low ground window, would I make it?”
Robbins denies he was making a “suicide joke,” as was extensively reported within the media. He says he was highlighting that there can be no distinction within the final result if he needed to leap from a excessive or low window within the occasion of a fireplace.
“Since I wouldn’t survive both, I assume it doesn’t matter what ground you give me,” he stated, in keeping with court docket filings.
Robbins stated there was laughter, and he believed the jocular context of the change was understood.
However shortly after arriving at his room, safety arrived to tell him he was a “suicide threat.” They urged him to endure psychiatric analysis earlier than he may return.
Psych Check No Joke
A bemused Robbins was transported to an area hospital the place he was rapidly given the all-clear, even laughing off the incident with the psychiatrist. He picked up the $1,157 tab for the ambulance and the $865 payment for the analysis from his personal pocket.
However when he bought again to the on line casino, he discovered he had been 86’d, not simply from the next day’s WPT occasion, however from all future Borgata tournaments.
Robbins claimed that subsequent rumors that unfold across the on line casino a couple of “suicide try” resulted within the lack of sponsorship curiosity.
The $1.2 million sought in damages was based mostly on the $417,325 in stay match earnings Robbins had grossed since 2018.
The Borgata’s abundance of warning could have been provoked by the suicide of an expert volleyball participant simply months earlier than. Cherry Hill, New Jersey resident Eric Zaun, 25, jumped to his loss of life from the twenty ninth ground of the on line casino on July 11, 2019.
