A casino is suing a group of gamblers who won $1.5million in a game of mini-baccarat after a deck of unshuffled cards landed 41 winning hands in a row.
The Golden Nugget Atlantic City is refusing to pay the players their winnings even though they broke no rules.
It claims the game was illegal because the cards were unshuffled, despite a promise from their manufacturer that they would be pre-shuffled and ready to use.
The fiasco took place during a low-stakes version of the popular card game where players are dealt hands while trying to predict if they will beat the banker.
But when the 14 players kept seeing the same sequence of cards dealt, over and over and over again, their eyes grew wide and their bets grew bigger, growing from $10 a hand to $5,000.
They became surrounded by casino security guards and management who were convinced they had cheated but unable to prove how.
The April 30 incident was the latest instance of unshuffled cards causing big headaches for an Atlantic City casino.
In December, the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort used unshuffled mini-baccarat cards for 3 1/2 hours before realizing something was wrong.
That episode led to a $91,000 fine against the casino, which fired nine people it said were involved.
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