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Monday, May 24, 2010

Ind. Courts - "Gov. Daniels rooting for card counter in lawsuit against casino"

Lesley Stedman Weidenbener reports today in the Louisville Courier Journal:

Gov. Mitch Daniels acknowledged in a commencement speech Saturday that he's rooting for a self-described card counter to win his lawsuit against a casino that banned him for the practice.

But the governor said Monday he has no plans to ask state regulators to step in.

The Indiana Supreme Court is currently considering whether the Grand Victoria Resort and Casino in Rising Sun acted appropriately when it banned Thomas P. Donovan because he was counting cards, a method of tracking what has been played to better predict whether a high or low card might be the next one dealt.

The practice is not against the game's rules or against state law, but the casino argues it has a common law right to refuse business to any individual customer -- as long as it isn't engaging in discrimination.

Daniels told graduating seniors at Franklin College on Saturday that he hopes Donovan wins.

"Donovan's sin in the casino's eyes is not that he is inordinately lucky, it's that he's inordinately smart," Daniels said. "He has taught himself to count the cards as they are played, then constantly and quickly to calculate the odds on his winning the next hand. In a game where luck still plays a large part, Donovan has through hard work learned to improve his chances."

The speech marked Daniels' first public comments about the case, which the casino industry is watching closely.

A trial court initially dismissed the case in favor of the casino but the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed, saying that Grand Victoria did not have the right to ban Donovan from the game. The Indiana Supreme Court heard arguments in the case last month, and a ruling is expected sometime this year.

Since Donovan filed his lawsuit, several casinos have asked the Indiana Gaming Commission to give them the authority to exclude players suspected of counting cards. But the commission has delayed action on those requests as it waits for the outcome of the court case, Yelton said.

Daniels said Monday that he won't ask the commission to write a rule to permit card counting.

"If the commission on its own decides to have a look at it, I wouldn't discourage them from doing that," he said.

Here is an ILB entry on the April 7, 2010 oral argument before the Supreme Court.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 24, 2010 01:28 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts