A year-long legal battle finally comes to an end
The 6-year lawsuit between poker superstar Phil Ivey and Borgata Casino now seems to be finally over. Ivey relieved the casino at baccarat of $ 10 million.
NJ Online Gambling reported on Wednesday morning that Ivey and Borgata had reached an agreement. As customary in such cases, no further details are known.
The story started in 2020
Phil Ivey won the money in 2012 with Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun at baccarat, under the prior agreed conditions with all parties. At that point, the managers at Borgota Casino did not yet realize that the two had a pretty big advantage over the Borgata. This is precisely why Borgata filed a lawsuit in 2014. There was a huge lawsuit that should continue to this day and kept the poker world in suspense.
The Mac VerStandig gambling lawyer was only surprised that it had been taking so long for both sides to agree and had expected a much earlier settlement.
“It is not surprising that the dispute was resolved, particularly in the appeal process, in which both parties had the opportunity to express their displeasure, and may have noticed that the costs of continuing could outweigh the profit,” said VerStandig. “Quiet minds would normally have recognized this earlier, but it is not surprising that everything happened in the end.”
A legal back and forth
In the beginning, it seemed like Ivey was going out of this thing as a clear loser. In 2016, the presiding judge sentenced him to pay out 10 million won from baccarat and craps. Of course, Ivey appealed straight away, and speculation was already underway that he might lose tens of millions of dollars to Borgata if the process continued to develop negatively.
Not long after this verdict, the Borgata achieved another success that was granted to access Ivey’s fortune in Nevada. Of course, the casino immediately exercised this right, which resulted in the profits Phil Ivey won at the $50,000 Poker Players Championship in the same year being immediately seized. A total of $124,410. The search for Ivey’s assets in New Jersey proved unsuccessful because the only thing that was found is a bank account with no funds. Before now, Ivey moved most of his poker activities abroad, so the Borgata had no access to them.
Even if everything looked like Ivey was going out of the game as a clear loser, he celebrated minor partial successes behind the scenes. As with poker, he was never disturbed and did his thing.
The appeal process seemed to go far better for Ivey than the trial in the first instance, and after the setback in Phil Ivey’s fortune in New Jersey, Borgata Casino probably realized that even if you won the trial in the end, you wouldn’t go out as a winner. Since the process could drag on for years to come, causing high legal and court costs, in the end, it has probably led to the two parties agreeing on a settlement.
Since Borgata must have struggled with more disadvantages than advantages, the agreement probably didn’t cost Ivey a big sum of money and he ended up being the one who won the lawsuit.
