Players have filed a lawsuit against electronic table game supplier Interblock Luxury Gaming Products and the Isle Casino and Racing racino in Pompano Beach, Florida, over a popular Interblock electronic dice game’s house commissions.
The plaintiffs in the suit allege that the dice game takes too large a commission on certain winnings. The house takes a 5 percent commission on every dollar bet, but also rakes 5 percent of player winnings, and the commission rises to 10 percent on certain bets. The lawsuit asks the judge to order the casino to backtrack player club data to compute how much the casino allegedly overcharged on those bets.
“Players win and get excited, and they realize the house takes a commission, but they didn’t pay attention,” said plaintiff attorney Cristina M. Pierson in an interview with the Miami Herald. “But the key here is, it’s not a machine glitch. It’s not a case of a machine accidentally paying $40 million. The reason we caught it is that someone did the math.”
Pierson told the newspaper that her research shows that similar Interblock dice games in other casinos—including the seven Seminole casinos—have similar irregularities in payouts on certain bets. The lawsuit cannot include the sovereign tribe.
The suit specifically cites mistakes when players use the “buy” bet. Certain bets, for example, pay 2 to 1, or a total of $60 on a $20 bet. But the machines have been showing a $58 return, with $2 deducted from the player’s electronically logged total, rather than $1. The suit also notes a 7.5 percent commission on certain other bets.
Isle of Capri Casinos stated that its officials do not comment on pending litigation, but that the ETGs in question have been shut down pending the challenge to the payout structure.
