{"id":126603,"date":"2020-02-11T11:47:44","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T19:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=126603"},"modified":"2020-02-11T12:16:53","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T20:16:53","slug":"mgm-grand-detroit-acted-in-good-faith-as-player-gambled-away-6m-from-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-grand-detroit-acted-in-good-faith-as-player-gambled-away-6m-from-investors\/","title":{"rendered":"MGM Grand Detroit Acted in ‘Good Faith’ As Player Gambled Away $6M from Investors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The MGM Grand Detroit has escaped paying over $6 million to a dozen investors who lost their money to an “admitted” fraudster who repeatedly and unsuccessfully played at the casino\u2019s blackjack tables, according to a recent Michigan Court of Appeals\u2019<\/a> ruling.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Michigan Appeals Court has ruled Gino Accettola’s $6 million losses at MGM Grand Detroit will not lead to the casino reimbursing his investors. (Image: Michigan Department of Corrections)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Detroit Free Press<\/em> reported the MGM Grand gave credit — known as markers — and perks to the gambler identified as Gino Accettola, now 52. The casino also failed to check his credit, even though he did not have a regular salary and was found guilty of financial crimes, the report said, citing the court decision from judges Jane M. Beckering, Mark J. Cavanagh, and Cynthia Diane Stephens.<\/p>\n

\u201cSubstantial sums of money\u201d were given to Accettola by the investors some five years ago. He promised to invest the money in construction projects in Florida and Michigan.<\/p>\n

When [the] plaintiffs learned there were no such construction projects, they sued Accettola in 2016 for fraud and similar claims, and obtained a judgment against him. While attempting to collect, [the] plaintiffs learned that Accettola did not have any assets or lawful income, and Accettola admitted in an affidavit that he had gambled away the money [the] plaintiffs gave him at [the] defendant\u2019s casino,\u201d the judges\u2019 ruling said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAccording to [the] plaintiffs, a background check would have revealed that Accettola had no employment or other source for the millions he used to gamble at [the] defendant’s casino,\u201d the trio of judges wrote in the opinion. \u201cIt also would have revealed that he had a criminal history involving identity theft and larceny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, MGM also gave Accettola free or discounted rooms at hotels and he was given complimentary gifts and meals. \u201cRecords submitted by [the] plaintiffs show that Accettola was an inveterate gambler who had frequented [the] defendant\u2019s casino several times a week for years before any of the plaintiffs gave him any funds to invest,\u201d the judges\u2019 ruling added.<\/p>\n

Even though the appellate judges said Accettola was \u201ca terrible gambler,\u201d the MGM Grand had acted in \u201cgood faith\u201d and followed \u201cstandard business practices.\u201d The judges further said the hotel simply did not know the gambled money was earned through fraud, the news report said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no evidence that [the] defendant had, or should have had, knowledge of Accettola\u2019s financial situation at the time he gambled, or should have known the alleged source of the funds with which he gambled,\u201d the appellate judges argued. \u201cWe conclude that [the] plaintiffs have failed to show that [the] defendant\u2019s casino was not acting in good faith when it acted in accordance with its normal course of business as a casino.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Attorney Corey Silverstein, who represents the investors, told the Free Press,<\/em> \u201cThis guy was treated like royalty with all my clients’ stolen money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legal Theory Rejected by Michigan Judges<\/h2>\n

The appellate judges further rejected a legal theory that would have required the casino to consider Accettola\u2019s weak skills at gambling.<\/p>\n

\u201cRequiring the casino to provide reasonably equivalent value that accounts for each gambler’s individual skill level would place an untenable burden on casinos to identify poorly skilled players and either exclude them from their premises or restrict them to only those games at which they exhibited fair knowledge and good basic strategy,\u201d the judges said.<\/p>\n

It was further alleged in a different court case that Accettola had a lavish lifestyle, according to the Macomb Daily<\/em>. Accettola is currently in prison after getting sentenced for seven to 30 years.<\/p>\n

The Michigan Gaming Control Board has placed Accettola on its Exclusion of Persons List, which prohibits some disgraced players from entering the three licensed casinos in Detroit.<\/p>\n

MGM Grand Detroit Court Cases<\/h2>\n

The MGM Grand Detroit was involved in earlier legal issues. Last August, in a separate case, MGM Grand Detroit officials argued in legal filings that uncollected player gaming debts<\/a> shouldn\u2019t be taxed by the state government.<\/p>\n

Also, a Michigan teacher who blew $31,000 of school money on penny slots at the MGM Grand Detroit was sentenced in 2018 to probation. The teacher pleaded no contest to embezzling money from student activities at a Macomb Township<\/a> school.<\/p>\n

Lydia Johnson was a Spanish teacher at Dakota High School and must repay $30,000 to the Chippewa Valley school district. WXYZ-TV says she also must get help for a gambling problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The MGM Grand Detroit has escaped paying over $6 million to a dozen investors who lost their money to an “admitted” fraudster who repeatedly and unsuccessfully played at the casino\u2019s blackjack tables, according to a recent Michigan Court of Appeals\u2019 ruling. The Detroit Free Press reported the MGM Grand gave credit — known as markers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":126609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMGM Grand Detroit Acted in Good Faith As Player Lost $6M from Investors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The MGM Grand Detroit has escaped paying over $6 million to investors who lost their money to a fraudster.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-grand-detroit-acted-in-good-faith-as-player-gambled-away-6m-from-investors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MGM Grand Detroit Acted in Good Faith As Player Lost $6M from Investors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The MGM Grand Detroit has escaped paying over $6 million to investors who lost their money to a fraudster.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-grand-detroit-acted-in-good-faith-as-player-gambled-away-6m-from-investors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-11T19:47:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-11T20:16:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Gino_Accettola.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" 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