Louisiana Casinos Accused of Short Changing Customers
Caesars Entertainment the parent company of three casinos operating in Louisiana has been named in a class action lawsuit that alleges the company has taken "perhaps millions of dollars" from winners that it was not entitled to take. The case which was filed in U.S. District Court in Shreveport alleges that winners have been underpaid when they have cashed a voucher generated by a slot machine and then redeemed at a kiosk.
The suit suggests the policy in place, which is to "round down to the nearest dollar" has defrauded an incredible number of guests who have visited Caesars' Properties since 2012. Just for clarities sake we could not confirm whether or not there was signage in place that informed kiosk users that their winnings would be rounded down to the nearest dollar.
According to the Caesars' website their properties welcome some 115 million guests to their properties every year. The suit alleges that bettors would leave credits on slot machines that were not enough for another spin but were not included as part of the total winnings for that voucher. So it is plausible that even if the amount of cash rounded down was small per voucher the sheer volume of vouchers printed and cashed would certainly create a large sum of money.
An example given on the Casino.org website explained the scenario like this . A player cashes out with $100.50 on the machine. The voucher printed is for $100.00. This kind of rounding down is alleged to have happened on millions of transactions since 2012.
According to Casino.org and at least one Shreveport television station attempts were made to contact Caesars' about the case but so far there has been no comment from the company or its representatives.
The suit was filed in Shreveport because the original lawsuit against Caesars' was brought in Bossier City. The original suit was in fact filed against the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City. According to TV station KTBS the original plaintiff is listed as Mike Young of Shreveport. The TV station is reporting that Mr. Young has retained the services of Sternberg, Naccari, and White a law firm based in New Orleans.
This is not the only such lawsuit of its kind currently in litigation. A similar lawsuit has been filed against the parent company of Beau Rivage in Biloxi Mississippi. That suit filed the Mississippi Southern District Federal Court was filed last month. MGM Resorts International is the operator of the Beau Rivage Property.
It should be noted that during the COVID pandemic many casinos sought to minimize the use of coins for healthy and safety reasons and because that coins had become in short supply.
It should also be noted that many of the Las Vegas based casinos strive for coin free operation as well. Although the two lawsuits are filed in casinos based in Louisiana and Mississippi respectively the issue with change is not confined to those two properties.
Many of the Las Vegas casinos offer guests an option of donating "remaining or loose credits" to a charity of their choosing or if they want exact change they need to visit an in-person cashier.
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