The Supreme Court of the UK has granted Phil Ivey with a hearing of his high-stakes baccarat case.
As Casino Guardian has previously reported, while playing at the Crockfords Casino London in August 2012, the player won about £7.7 million. At this time, Ivey and a playing partner managed to spot a certain manufacturing defect on the back of the playing cards thanks to which they managed to get an advantage on the casino. After being accused in cheating, Phile Ivey claimed that he had never touched the flawed cards and had never taken his “edge sorting” strategy as cheating.
The Crockfords Casino London, which is currently owned by one of the biggest and most powerful casino operators on a global scale – Genting Casinos – refused to pay Ivey his winnings and since then has succeeded in remaining on the winning side during the court battles with the player. First, in October 2014, Ivey lost a court decision, and then, at the beginning of November 2016, he lost an appeal.
The Genting Casinos brand currently runs more than 40 casinos in the UK. Crockfords Casino London explained that the technique used by Ivey, the so-called edge-sorting, was not a legitimate strategy, and the player had taken advantage of the situation to make a gain.
The US player commented on the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case, saying that the ruling of the Court of Appeal in November had not been logical to him. He reminded that during the original trial, the judge ruled that Ivey had not been dishonest at the time of the game, which had also been confirmed by all three Appeal Court judges. Still, the decision of the court had been against the player.
Ivey explained that he was very glad with the fact that he had got a permission by the Supreme Court to try to prove he was right. The player also added he was impatient to see what the decision of the Supreme Court would be.
As explained by the official representative of Phil Ivey, the UK Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal for civil cases in the country and hears cases only when they are associated with issues of general public importance.
- Author
Harry Evans
