MGM Springfield Accused Of Reducing Blackjack Payouts To Players

MGM Springfield is in hot water as it faces a lawsuit from blackjack players who played at the casino and felt they did not get a fair deal. A class action lawsuit has been filed by these players who claim that that the casino paid less than what state regulations required it to. This lawsuit is very similar to the one filed against Wynn Resorts’ Encore Boston Harbor casino. 

The lawsuit is pretty concerning and Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission has said the commission will be monitoring the lawsuit and will decide whether it needs to take additional steps. 

MGM Springfield is denying all allegations and has stated that it has strictly followed state gaming regulations on its payouts. MGM Springfield spokesman Saverio Mancini said that the company is confident that the lawsuit will be found to have no merit at all.

The contents of lawsuit claim that MGM Springfield paid out customers at odds of six to five when they won via blackjack, which is when the cards dealt to them totaled 21. Massachusetts law requires that players dealt a blackjack be paid at odds of three to two. State regulations state that winning bets pay out one to one unless they win via blackjack. This is when they are paid out at odds of three to two or odds of six to five. Regulations require that these odds be posted at each blackjack table.

Encore Response

The Massachusetts gaming watchdog recently had to deal with the same issue with the Encore Boston casino. The commission investigated the casino and the Enforcement Bureau sent out a memo in July regarding the result which included an explanation on the two different Blackjack variations as well as pictures of the odds written on the blackjack table.

The investigations also went into the other accusations made against the casino. There were claims that it failed to refund slot credits. Accordingly, the gaming commission discovered that the machines only gave out credits in the form of bills not coins. 

This meant that winners would be able to redeem credits in cash but will have to get another redemption ticket for the change. To get their full credit, players will need to go to cage where they can redeem any of their tickets for the appropriate coinage. This was resolved by having Encore place explanatory signs on its machines. However, these issues are not part of the MGM Springfield lawsuit, which focuses mainly on blackjack payouts.