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Casino gamblers were also winners in court

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Two gamblers turned out to be even luckier in court than they were in cards after they challenged the ruling of the Elements Casino in Brantford over a poker game.

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Frederick Woolford, of London, and Douglas Dunbar, of Woodstock, discovered the rules of the pai gow poker game were much more involved than what was outlined on the play table in January 2019 — and a small claims court judge took the side of the bettors.

The men thought Woolford turned up a winning hand worth $10,750 and Dunbar, who placed what’s called an envy bet, won $750.

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The casino disagreed and paid Woolford $1,300 and Dunbar $50.

So, the men hired Brantford paralegal Jackie Struthers to take the matter to court.

“It was an exciting case,” says Struthers, who normally deals in a lot of landlord-tenant issues and other small claims court cases.

“As a paralegal, I’m often going up against lawyers but I’ve never gone up against a corporate casino before and the case was really interesting.

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“I think it definitely made the casino think twice about how things are worded.”

The judge’s decision came down to what was under the player’s cards – a printed tabletop guide to the winning hands in the game.

In pai gow, the player gets seven cards and makes up a best “high” poker hand with five cards and a low hand with the remaining cards.

Woolford put down a $10 bet on his hand and both he and Dunbar placed what’s called an envy bet – a $10 speculation that someone playing would have a big win.

Woolford got the 10, jack, queen, king and ace of clubs, plus the four of spades and a joker, or wild card.

The excited player thought his hand met the conditions printed on the table for a “royal flush with ace and queen suited,” with “suited” meaning in the same suit.

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Others at the table agreed that Woolford’s hand would pay 1,000 to one.

The dealer at the table was uncertain and called for a pit boss.

The pit boss was equally unsure and called for a manager, who called for a shift manager.

That top manager told Woolford his hand was only a royal flush. To get the 1,000:1 payout, Woolford was told he would need the royal flush in his high hand, plus the ace and queen in his low hand.

Woolford got a 125:1 payout and Dunbar got $50 for his envy bet.

In court, the bettors and a corporate lawyer for Elements Casino argued the difference between the word “with,” which was printed on the table, and the word “and,” which is what the casino insisted “with” meant.

A casino manager testified that she had to look up the official rules for pai gow poker, which she printed, She showed the plaintiffs that, according to the rules, the hand that pays 1,000:1 is a royal flush and ace queen suited.

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But the manager admitted the rules weren’t available to the bettors and were, in fact confidential.

An important piece of evidence was a photo taken by Dunbar, with the Brantford casino’s permission, of a pai gow table that – at some point after the dispute and before the trial – had been changed to say the 1000:1 payout is for a “royal flush + royal match.”

And Struthers pointed out to the judge that the previous tabletop had described another hand as a “7 card straight flush with joker” where the word “with” clearly meant “including” and not “as well as.”

“Both plaintiffs urge me to find that this change, from ‘with’ to ‘+’ reflects the realization of Elements that the use of ‘with’ was ambiguous and confusing,” deputy judge Richard Campbell said in the small claims court.

“The ambiguity here is real … the defendant was solely responsible for the wording of the chart.”

The judge ordered Elements Casino to pay Woolford the rest of his payout of $9,450 and Dunbar another $700.

A message for comment from the casino owner was not immediately returned.

SGamble@postmedia.com
@EXPSGamble

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