On Wednesday, a U.S. District Court judge in New Jersey dismissed Sam A. Antar’s lawsuit against BetMGM and other defendants. 

In his complaint, Antar alleged that BetMGM kept plying him with five-figure casino bonuses despite knowing he had a massive gambling problem. To wit, between May 2019 and January 2020, Antar said he gambled at least $29 million, mostly through BetMGM’s online casino. Antar’s addiction was so intense that it led to a pair of prison stints related to illegal investment schemes he’d concocted to help pay off his gambling debts.

Judge Madeline Cox Arleo’s Jan. 31 ruling ultimately came down to a matter of applicability. Antar’s attorney, Matthew Litt, argued that BetMGM’s alleged failure to take Antar’s gambling addiction into account violated New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act (CFA), while BetMGM argued that the Casino Control Act (CCA) superseded the CFA.

In dismissing the case, Cox Arleo ruled that “Plaintiff’s CFA claim is preempted by the CCA” and seemed to put the issue in the laps of lawmakers, writing, “Despite the inclusion of gambling addiction as a substance addiction disorder in the DSM 5, the New Jersey legislature, as the Court has already noted, has not yet seen fit to require casinos to prevent or stop inducing gambling from those that exhibit problem gambling behavior.”

Furthermore, she noted, “Defendants are correct that New Jersey courts have not yet recognized the existence of the type of negligence common law duty of care that Plaintiff seeks to impose on Defendants in this case. … Given that the New Jersey Supreme Court has not yet addressed whether such a duty exists, this Court ‘must be governed by a prediction of how the state’s highest court would decide were it confronted with the problem.’ … And the Third Circuit has already held, based on its prediction of how the New Jersey Supreme Court would decide the issue, that casinos do not owe such a duty to patrons.”

In regards to the CCA, Cox Arleo wrote that it “is notably silent on whether casinos or online gambling platforms may induce people who present with compulsive gambling behavior to patronize their businesses.”

Appeal to come quickly

The nephew of electronics huckster “Crazy Eddie” Antar (pictured above, at right) and the scion of one of the New York metropolitan area’s most notorious white-collar crime families, Sam A. Antar has 30 days to file an appeal Cox Arleo’s ruling.

To this end, his attorney, Litt, plans to move quickly to bring an argument before a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which is physically located in Philadelphia and serves Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Virgin Islands.

As for Cox Arleo’s ruling, Litt told US Bets he was “disappointed.”

“The New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act is exactly the mechanism by which the New Jersey Legislature protects the consumers of the state of New Jersey,” he added. “There’s absolutely no conflict between the CFA and CCA. At the moment, until we’re able to appeal, millions of New Jersey gamblers are now exposed to the predatory acts of casinos.”

Reached by phone Thursday, Antar referred to a recent high-profile criminal case in saying, “This case is far form over, and the fact that Scott Sibella, a former executive of MGM, recently pled guilty to a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act raises concern about individuals at MGM and their involvement in knowingly accepting illegal funds.”

BetMGM did not respond to a request for comment.

Photo: Sven Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images