Three gamblers who sued Foxwoods Resorts Casino for illegally withhold their mini-baccarat winnings have been told by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that sovereign immunity protects the Indian casino from lawsuit.
The three judge court issued a summary upheld a lower court ruling that said that the court lacked jurisdiction because of the Mashantucket Pequot tribe’s immunity.
The three Chinese nationals, Cheung Yin Sun, Long Mei Fang and Zong Yang Li sued in the U.S. District Court of New Haven two years ago, claiming that the casino owned them over $1.1 million in winnings as well as a $1.6 million deposit. Sun is a well-known gambler whose nickname is “Queen of Sorts.”
The tribe claims that the players were cheating by using a method for recognizing cards by identifying marks on their backs. This practice is called “edge sorting.”
