Sam A. Antar’s legal battle against BetMGM remains ongoing as the prosecutor filed his problem gambling case with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case against BetMGM will be taken to the Court of Appeals after it was thrown out by New Jersey District Court judge Madeline Cox Arleo earlier this year.
Antar claimed that he wagered almost $30m across 2019 and 2020 after allegedly being solicited to play at Borgata Casino and on the operator’s online casino sites, despite VIP hosts supposedly being aware he was a problem gambler.
The prosecutor named VIP Account Managers Quinton Hogan and Jerry Liang in his complaint, suggesting they plied him with bonuses and encouraged him to keep depositing on-site despite showing several “fundamental and visible symptoms of problem gambling”.
Antar’s initial complaint also referred to games as being purposefully rigged to time out when he was close to a big win.
Arleo threw the case out in February, concluding that the state’s Consumer Fraud Act did not apply in this case, with the New Jersey Casino Control Act considered as the proper legislation for this issue.
The judge also mentioned that casinos in New Jersey have no obligation to stop problem gamblers from wagering with money they don’t have.
Taking the suit to the Court of Appeals, Antar finds Arleo’s decision to be incorrect, contesting the notion that the CCA supersedes the CFA in the state.
Antar’s appeal also questions whether the Casino Control Commission has authority on this matter given that the issue at hand is not a regulatory violation.
The brief offers other cases where CCA overrode the CFA in casino-related matters, noting the law prevailed, “because the matter implicated an aspect of gambling that the CCC had used its authority to regulate.”
Antar’s suit against BetMGM has been going on for years, with BetMGM filing a motion to dismiss his claims alongside Borgata, Entain and MGM Resorts in 2022.
BetMGM pointed out Antar’s legal issues beyond this lawsuit early in the motion, suggesting the civil action was an attempt to find money to pay restitution for acts of fraud he has committed. Antar is currently serving a three-year sentence for felon financial fraud.
The motion declared: “Antar intends to take money from BetMGM based upon his false representations in this lawsuit, to repay himself for the court-ordered restitution that he must pay to the victims of his fraud crimes, whose money he has taken to repay other victims in a rolling Ponzi scheme.”