The Michigan Appeals Court this week ruled that a Detroit casino should not be held liable for more than $6 million investors lost to the “worst gambler on the planet.”
The state Court of Appeals upheld an earlier ruling and rejected a claim brought against MGM Grand Detroit by a group of investors who said that they had been scammed by a casino patron and that the gambling venue should be held responsible for the losses they had suffered.
According to court papers, the dozen investors who brought the lawsuit against MGM Grand loaned “substantial amounts of money” to Gino Accettola, beginning in 2014, which he was supposed to invest in various construction projects in Michigan and Florida.
Instead of ploughing the money into development schemes, Accetola gambled it away playing blackjack at MGM Grand. Upon founding out that they were being scammed by Accetola, the investors sued him for fraud and the court sided with them.
The fraudulent developer admitted to gambling away the money he had obtained from the investors and is currently serving a seven- to 30-year sentence for financial crimes.
The investors then sued MGM Grand Detroit, saying that the casino should, too, be held responsible for their losses. In their lawsuit, the swindled investors argued that instead of checking on Accettola and preventing him from spending away money that wasn’t his, it encouraged him to carry on with his gambling at its blackjack tables.
Worst Gambler in the World
At MGM Grand, Accettola was extended credit and different perks, including gifts and free meals as well as free and discounted rooms at hotels owned by the casino’s parent company MGM Resorts International.
The group of defrauded investors argued in their lawsuit that the casino treated Accettola “like royalty” with all of their stolen money and that it should have conducted a background check on their patron that would have revealed he “had no employment or other source for the millions he used to gamble” at MGM Grand.
A background check on Accettola would have also revealed that he had criminal history that involved identity theft and larceny. The lawsuit against MGM Grand went on that the casino “facilitated Accettola’s gambling addiction” by pampering him with different comps and perks.
The Michigan Appeals Court rejected all of the arguments leveled by the investors, among a number of others, and ruled that the casino acted in good faith and in accordance with its customary business practices. Judges also noted that MGM Grand should not be held liable for the losses incurred by the gambling fraudster.
In addition, the Appeals Court rejected a claim that Accettola was such a poor gambler that he failed to receive reasonable value for the credit he was extended by the casino.
Judges said that while the stealing MGM Grand patron was a “terrible gambler” and the casino had a much greater edge when he was placing bets at its blackjack tables than it did with better skilled blackjack players, this did not necessarily mean that he did not get “reasonably equivalent value” from the casino for his bets and the credit he was extended.
The investors’ attorney, Corey Silverstein, told judges that Accettola was “like the worst gambler on the planet” and that while casinos always have the edge on patrons, “this guy made it that much more.”
Source: Court: MGM Grand Detroit not liable for ‘terrible gambler’ losing investors’ money
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