The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) will intervene in a lawsuit in which Wynn Resorts’ Encore Boston Harbor is accused of bilking blackjack players. The suit contends that the casino doesn’t explain to players that its blackjack odds are less favorable than is traditional at other casinos.
Previously the commissioners had agreed that taking sides in a similar case would be a bad look for them since it is their job to regulate the casino.
Now they have decided to file an amicus (friend of the court) brief in the 2019 class action lawsuit by New York gambler A. Richard Schuster against Wynn Resorts that claims the Encore “established rules of the game of blackjack to increase its statistical advantage and lower the lawful payouts owed to its customers.”
The lawsuit claims that the practice of paying out 6-to-5 odds when a player hits blackjack, instead of the traditional 3-to-2 odds, is a “steal.”
The suit declares, “Assuming an average wager of $50 per hand and 80 hands of blackjack per hour, Encore’s customers can expect to lose $35.60 per hour more than the losses they are already expected to incur in a fair blackjack game that complies with Massachusetts law.”
A previous investigation by the MGC determined that the same practice, by the MGM Springfield, did not violate Bay State law. A similar case on appeal is now before the state’s highest court, the Supreme Judicial Court, which is scheduled to hear arguments in April.
The justices have asked for an amicus brief from the commission on that case and so it has decided to give one to the court in the class action lawsuit too.
The commission’s executive director, Karen Wells, told the panel that it’s important to establish “that there is information out there publicly demonstrating the integrity of the game at the Massachusetts casinos,” and that the commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau “purposefully did not take enforcement action against either casino at the time these lawsuits were filed or since then.”
Commissioners added that it is in the best interests of the state to make it clear that the rules as practiced by Wynn are legal and to clarify that the rules process is conducted with integrity.
