- Phil Ivey appeared in the High Court in London last week—he is suing Genting Casinos for non-payment of money he won at Punto Banco in August 2012.
- Ivey submitted to the court that he was not cheating by using the edge sorting advantage.
- “I consider all the strategies I use to be lawful and I would never cheat in a casino. It is not in my nature to cheat and nor would I risk my reputation by acting unlawfully in any manner,” he stated.
Phil Ivey appeared in the High Court in London last week—he is suing Genting Casinos for non-payment of money he won at Punto Banco in August 2012.
Ivey has admitted that he used a technique known as “edge sorting” to give himself an advantage over the casino which resulted in him winning £7.8 million (US $ 12.1 million). The casino accused him of cheating and refused to pay.
In the US, the Borgata Casino is suing Ivey for $9.6 million for using the same technique.
“I Would Never Cheat”
Ivey submitted to the court that he was not cheating by using the edge sorting advantage.
“I consider all the strategies I use to be lawful and I would never cheat in a casino. It is not in my nature to cheat and nor would I risk my reputation by acting unlawfully in any manner,” he stated.
“My integrity is infinitely more important to me than a big win, which is why I have brought these proceedings to demonstrate that I have been unjustly treated,” Ivey further explained.
Genting agrees that Ivey won the money—the only issue that the court must resolve is whether Ivey’s actions were legal or not.
Adversarial Environment
Playing in a casino “is a cat and mouse environment, it is an adversarial environment,” Ivey’s lawyer Richard Spearman told the court.
Ivey explained that he used a “variety of strategies whilst playing in casinos. No system is fail-safe and each time I play I risk failing to execute the strategy properly – some of these are very complex or difficult to execute – which usually results in me losing a lot of money.”
“I consider that I would not be doing my job very well if I did not seek to use to my benefit weaknesses that I identify in the way that casinos set up or offer particular casino games,” he added.
The case is expected to conclude next week. The case brought by the Borgata will not end until sometime next year.
Phil Ivey explains his position in an interview with James Brown on 60 Minutes Sports—the show will be broadcast on Showtime on October 7.
