Northeast
Atlantic City casinos not obliged to stop compulsive gamblers, judge determines
- U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Cox Arleo dismissed a lawsuit last Wednesday against the Borgata and its parent company by a self-professed problem gambler.
- Arleo ruled that casinos have no legal obligation to prevent gambling addicts from betting.
- New Jersey “pervasively regulates the responsibilities of casinos as they relate to compulsive gamblers,” Arleo wrote, but the state is “notably silent on whether casinos or online gambling platforms may induce people who present with compulsive gambling behavior to patronize their businesses.”
Atlantic City’s casinos have no legal obligation to stop compulsive gamblers from betting, a judge ruled, dismissing a lawsuit from a self-described problem gambler who accused the Borgata and its parent company, MGM Resorts International, of plying him with offers to gamble despite knowing about his addiction.
U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Cox Arleo dismissed a lawsuit on Jan. 31 by Sam Antar against the gambling companies, saying the voluminous rules and regulations governing gambling in New Jersey do not impose a legal duty upon casinos to cut off compulsive gamblers.
New Jersey casino law “pervasively regulates the responsibilities of casinos as they relate to compulsive gamblers, but is notably silent on whether casinos or online gambling platforms may induce people who present with compulsive gambling behavior to patronize their businesses,” the judge wrote in her decision.
ATLANTIC CITY CASINO SMOKING BAN ADVANCES IN NEW JERSEY LEGISLATURE
She also cited two previous New Jersey cases in which a compulsive gambler and a patron who claimed to have lost money gambling while drunk sued unsuccessfully.
Similar lawsuits have been dismissed in other states, including Indiana.
“The New Jersey Legislature … has not yet seen fit to require casinos to prevent or stop inducing gambling from those that exhibit problem gambling behavior,” Arleo wrote. “As a matter of law, (the) defendants do not owe a negligence common law duty of care to plaintiffs.”
Antar said the law needs to be changed, adding he plans to appeal the dismissal of the case.
“This is not just about me; this is about all the people across this country who have this addiction,” he said. “When are we as a country going to address this?”
The exterior of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa is photographed in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dec. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
New Jersey, like other states, has a program in which gamblers can voluntarily exclude themselves from in-person or online betting. The casinos must honor that list and have been fined by regulators for allowing self-excluded gamblers to place bets.
Antar, who has homes in New York and in Long Branch, New Jersey, gambled $30 million over 100,000 bets during nine months in 2019, according to his lawsuit, which does not specify how much he actually lost. Antar said he is not certain of the amount, and his lawyer, Matthew Litt, said it was “at least in the six figures.”
His lawsuit made some of the same claims that were raised — and rejected by a judge — in another person’s lawsuit targeting Atlantic City casinos. In 2008, a federal judge ruled against New York gambler Arelia Taveras who sued seven Atlantic City casinos that she said had a duty to stop her from gambling. She lost nearly $1 million over two years, including dayslong gambling binges.
“She spent money on the bona fide chance that she might win more money,” U.S. District Court Judge Renée Bumb wrote in a 2008 ruling. “In short, she gambled. The mere fact that defendants profited from her misfortune, while lamentable, does not establish a cognizable claim in the law.”
MGM cites that case among its numerous defenses to Antar’s litigation, and said it did not create or worsen a gambling problem in Antar or anyone else.
The company declined comment Monday.
Litt said his appeal will center on his contention that New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, designed to protest customers from “unconscionable” acts by companies, should apply in this case.
Antar is the nephew of Eddie Antar, who founded the Crazy Eddie electronics stores in the 1970s and 1980s. Eddie Antar defrauded investors out of more than $74 million, and died in 2016.
In 2013, Sam Antar was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for taking $225,000 in a fraudulent investment scheme. He was convicted and jailed in 2022 on theft by deception charges involving nearly $350,000.
In 2023, he admitted committing federal securities fraud for bilking investors, including friends stemming from that same case, served four months in jail and was ordered to pay restitution.
He is currently free under an intensive supervision program, and says he has been informally counseling young people with gambling problems.
“Who better than me to show them what this can become?” he said.
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NORWAY — The Select Board voted early this month to terminate its contract with the town’s auditor, citing slow response times and a lack of progress on the 2024 audit.
Norway has worked with Runyon Kersteen Ouellette, or RKO, for the past four years.
According to minutes from the April 2 meeting, the town has paid the firm more than $90,000, including a recent $40,000 payment.
“RKO has had extremely slow response times, upward of several weeks for answers to inquiries,” the minutes read.
The firm also had not provided a draft of the 2024 audit to the town.
At the meeting, Courtenay Dodds, the town’s deputy treasurer and finance officer, recommended ending RKO’s engagement for the 2025 and 2026 audits and hiring RHR Smith & Co. of Buxton.
The Office of the State Auditor reports that RHR Smith & Co. audits more than 175 municipalities in Maine.
Asked this week why the town ended its contract with RKO, Select Board Vice Chair Sarah Carter‑Hill wrote in an email, “From my understanding they were taking an incredibly long time to produce the 2024 audit, overcharging for services, and hadn’t started in 2025 so we have switched auditors to be more fiscally responsible and have timelier results.”
Police Chief Jeffery Campbell, who has also served as interim town manager, said the matter has been referred to the town attorney and declined to comment further.
RKO could not be reached for comment before publication.
State auditor records show RKO signed Norway’s 2021 audit Feb. 4, 2022; the 2022 audit March 26, 2023; and the 2023 audit June 4, 2024.
The auditor’s office, which receives completed municipal audits, also reports that RKO audits 24 municipalities in Maine. Of those, Brewer, Brunswick, Cumberland, Freeport and Long Island have filed their 2025 audits.
Twelve municipalities — Auburn, Bangor, Belgrade, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Gorham, Kennebunkport, South Portland, Saco, Winthrop, Yarmouth and York — have not yet filed their 2025 audits.
Norway, Augusta, Biddeford, Durham, Matinicus Isle Plantation and Monmouth have not filed audits for 2024 or 2025.
Orono is missing audits for 2022, 2023 and 2025.
The audits are available here.
Rideshare drivers would face more rigorous background checks and riders would get more ways to verify they’re in the right car under new rules proposed by Massachusetts regulators that they say would lead the nation for passenger and driver protection.
Other requirements under the Department of Public Utility’s proposal include children under 16 needing to be accompanied by an adult in a rideshare, annual driver training for things like safe driving and helping riders with disabilities and regular checks for whether rideshare vehicles have been recalled by their manufacturer, the agency said Friday.
Get more detail on the proposal here.
“Massachusetts has the opportunity to set the standard for safety and oversight of the [Transportation Network Companies] industry with these updated regulations,” said DPU Chair Jeremy McDiarmid in a statement. “The proposed changes reflect our top line goal of promoting passenger safety and ensuring driver fairness and dignity in the background check process.”
Uber and Lyft are among the five rideshare companies, which the DPU calls Transportation Network Companies, currently authorized to work in Massachusetts; more than 104,000 drivers are currently certified in the state, according to the agency.
The DPU already conducts background checks — it says it’s conducted more than 800,000 since 2017 — and issues civil penalties to the companies if they’re not in compliance with state law.
With the publication of the enhanced regulations, the public — including drivers and other stakeholders — have until July 2 to give feedback in writing, and the DPU will hold two hearings as well. Details on how to give feedback are available here.
It’s been a little over a year since New Hampshire police departments started signing agreements with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help enforce immigration law in the state.
ICE now has 15 local partnerships, which are encouraged by Gov. Kelly Ayotte, and these so-called 287g agreements have contributed to a notable uptick in arrests here. Immigration arrests have doubled in the last 15 months. Of 429 people arrested, local agencies made 51 of them.
What’s in for local police? In part, money. ICE offers at least $100,000 in stipends, and local police departments are using that money to pay for operating expenses.
We talk about this on this edition of the New Hampshire News Recap.
Also, the state’s youth detention center continues to make headlines. Authorities are investigating recent allegations of abuse against children at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. Lawmakers and advocates are also raising concerns about leadership of the center.
In other news, there’s good news for Franklin. In a bit of a comeback story, the city’s high school was just named the top high school in the state.
Guests:
- Lau Guzmán, NHPR reporter
- Annmarie Timmins, NHPR Youth and Education reporter
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