{"id":186701,"date":"2021-09-23T12:56:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T19:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=186701"},"modified":"2021-09-23T15:15:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T22:15:55","slug":"borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins\/","title":{"rendered":"Borgata Settles $1.2M Lawsuit With Poker’s Robbins Over \u2018Suicide Risk\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Borgata<\/a> in Atlantic City has settled a lawsuit brought by poker player Scott Robbins<\/a>, according to court filings. The Massachusetts native sued the casino in July after it banned him for life for an off-the-cuff remark he made about jumping out of the window.<\/p>\n

\"Scott
Scott Robbins, pictured at a WPT event, said he was satisfied with the settlement offered by the Borgata. (Image: 888 Casino)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Robbins claimed his civil rights had been infringed by the ban. He also argued he had been slandered by casino staff when they allegedly told other poker players he had been barred \u201cbecause of a suicide attempt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The lawsuit demanded $1.2 million in potential lost earnings from future Borgata poker tournaments and sponsorship deals. The sum the two parties settled for has not been disclosed. But in a recent post on the TwoPlusTwo poker forums, Robbins indicated he was satisfied with the result.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The case has been voluntarily dismissed, according to a recent filing to the US District Court for the District of New Jersey.<\/p>\n

The player told the forum he accepted the best of three offers, claiming that the casino \u201cdesperately wanted to settle because they knew they would lose in court.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to make a point that they arbitrarily and irresponsibly banned me because their employee misunderstood what I said because English wasn\u2019t her first language,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Crossed Wires<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to the lawsuit, the incident took place in September 2019, when Robbins arrived at the casino to play in the WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event. Before he checked in, he won a satellite tournament for a seat in the event, worth $3,500.<\/p>\n

Later, when the employee at the front desk asked him whether he would prefer a room on a high or a low floor, he replied, \u201cIf I had to jump from a low floor window, would I make it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Robbins denies he was making a \u201csuicide joke,\u201d as was widely reported in the media. He says he was highlighting that there would be no difference in the outcome if he had to jump from a high or low window in the event of a fire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cSince I wouldn\u2019t survive either, I guess it doesn\u2019t matter what floor you give me,\u201d he said, according to court filings.<\/p>\n

Robbins said there was laughter, and he believed the jocular context of the exchange was understood.<\/p>\n

But shortly after arriving at his room, security arrived to inform him he was a \u201csuicide risk.\u201d They urged him to undergo psychiatric evaluation before he could return.<\/p>\n

Psych Test No Joke<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A bemused Robbins was transported to a local hospital where he was quickly given the all-clear, even laughing off the incident with the psychiatrist. He picked up the $1,157 tab for the ambulance and the $865 fee for the evaluation from his own pocket.<\/p>\n

But when he got back to the casino, he found he had been 86\u2019d, not just from the following day\u2019s WPT event, but from all future Borgata tournaments.<\/p>\n

Robbins claimed that subsequent rumors that spread around the casino about a \u201csuicide attempt\u201d resulted in the loss of sponsorship interest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The $1.2 million sought in damages was based on the $417,325 in live tournament earnings Robbins had grossed since 2018.<\/p>\n

The Borgata\u2019s abundance of caution may have been provoked by the suicide of a professional volleyball player just months before. Cherry Hill, New Jersey resident Eric Zaun, 25, jumped to his death from the 29th<\/sup>\u00a0floor of the casino on July 11, 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Borgata in Atlantic City has settled a lawsuit brought by poker player Scott Robbins, according to court filings. The Massachusetts native sued the casino in July after it banned him for life for an off-the-cuff remark he made about jumping out of the window. Robbins claimed his civil rights had been infringed by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":186702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBorgata Settles $1.2 Million Lawsuit with Poker Player Scott Robbins<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Poker player Scott Robbins gets out of court payout from Borgata after \u201csuicide joke\u201d ban, which he said infringed his civil rights.\" \/>\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\/borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Borgata Settles $1.2 Million Lawsuit with Poker Player Scott Robbins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Poker player Scott Robbins gets out of court payout from Borgata after \u201csuicide joke\u201d ban, which he said infringed his civil rights.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins\/\" \/>\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=\"2021-09-23T19:56:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-23T22:15:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/scott.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1276\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"978\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins\/\",\"name\":\"Borgata Settles $1.2 Million Lawsuit with Poker Player Scott Robbins\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/scott.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-23T19:56:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-23T22:15:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Poker player Scott Robbins gets out of court payout from Borgata after \u201csuicide joke\u201d ban, which he said infringed his civil rights.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/borgata-settles-1-2-million-lawsuit-with-poker-player-scott-robbins\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/scott.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/scott.jpg\",\"width\":1276,\"height\":978,\"caption\":\"Scott Robbins, pictured at a WPT event, said he was satisfied with the settlement offered by the Borgata. 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