Gambler wins legal battle against Star – he didn’t cheat
A Star casino gambler has won a legal battle against the giant after it accused him of cheating.
Experienced gambler Mark Timothy Grant and his friend, Nathan Trent Anderson, were banned by The Star Entertainment Queensland Ltd (Star) in March 2018 after accusing him of cheating at a game Pontoon, also known as Spanish Blackjack.
Grant, who is known to exploit sloppy dealers and flaws in games, sought a review of the exclusion notices by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) in 2020.
QCAT ruled in favour of the accused, setting aside the notices and finding "no grounds exist" for the exclusion to Star’s Brisbane and Gold Coast premises.
Star claim3ed the pair were edge sorting, which is illegal under the Casino Control Act and involves looking at cards for manufacture defects that can be present on specific card numbers in a deck.
"Star contends … the behaviours it has identified, including collusion and edge-sorting are behaviours which when viewed objectively are dishonest in nature and affect or have the potential to affect the integrity of gaming," the judgement said.
"[Star's] opinion is that Mr Grant and Mr Anderson used an error or a fault in the gaming equipment to obtain a benefit."
Grant refers to himself as an "advantage player" and argued his game style was "not a threat to casinos where the staff are competent, and the games are operated correctly".
"He submits that advantage play is not cheating or dishonest," the judgement said.
In the judgement Grant denied "edge-sorting" and said it was impossible in Pontoon "because players do not touch the cards".
"Mr Grant said that he is a very competitive player, and he will take into account all legally and publicly available information and that he is allowed to make assumptions about what card is coming next," the judgement said.
"He noticed that the cards were asymmetrical and [said] he is free to speculate on what the next card is, just like any other player at the table who has that information, but at no time did he know exactly what the next card was."
The manufacturer of the cards knows there are anomalies with the cards, but they are "within a contractually specified tolerance of up to 0.3mm".
The judgement rules that in Grant’s case, Star knew of the anomaly and allowed them to be used.
"I find that the conduct of Mr Grant or Mr Anderson did not involve any form of dishonesty, involving lying, cheating, stealing or fraud by the ordinary meaning of the word, or that they were not honest," the judgement said.
"Noting an asymmetrical back on a card is of no use unless one knows what lies beneath," the judgement said.
"A range of skills must be applied by Mr Grant to make his guess."
The court ordered all exclusion notices to be revoked.
Irit Jackson, 18th August 2022
