An unwarranted lawsuit
The Stones Gambling Hall has filed a motion to dismiss a pending civil lawsuit it faces over the cheating scandal involving Mike Postle.
The gambling facility believes it holds zero liability in this case and says there was no evidence of any cheating provided. In a statement issued Wednesday, it maintained:
Stones is confident that it will prevail in this unwarranted lawsuit.”
Mark Mao, an attorney for parent company King’s Casino LLC, filed the motion for dismissal.
Stones has been facing claims of libel, negligence, and fraud over Mike Postle’s poker cheating scandal. It has cited numerous grounds for the dismissal of the suit. The lawsuit liability is $10m, with the 25 plaintiffs alleging they lost money to Postle as a result of his deceitful play.
Reasons for filing the dismissal notice
One of the main arguments Stones makes is that it did not have any incentive to cater to Postle’s cheating, and that it had no stake at all in the matter. The venue solely hosts the poker games. It is then up to the patrons to decide how to play their hands.
Stones also contends that if cheating had, in fact, taken place, damages cannot be provided for. It argues that there is no possible means to determine which players would have won, and how much they would have raked in, if cheating hadn’t occurred.
Plaintiffs plan to fight back
The motion to dismiss also goes after the party behind the lawsuit, stating:
This lawsuit reflects the oldest complaint of gamblers — that their lack of success means they were cheated.”
Stones also notes the reputational damage it has suffered as a result of the cheating allegations. It says it is surprising that the plaintiffs are suing instead of seeking to work together to prevent further cases of cheating during poker games.
Maurice “Mac” VerStandig, the plaintiffs’ attorney, has stated that they plan to fight this motion to dismiss. He said, “I find it regrettable that they have elected to portray my clients as sore or otherwise frustrated losers.”
The next hearing for the suit will be taking place on April 16.
An ongoing cheating scandal
The person at the center of the cheating allegations is Mike Postle. He allegedly cheated some of his opponents out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by using live streams of the games.
The Stones Gambling Hall was live-streaming its cash games. Allegations point towards Postle having some sort of device or potential accomplices that allowed him to know the hole cards of his opponents. The alleged cheating took place between July 2018 and September 2019.
Postle has been named as part of the $10-million suit. He is supposedly planning to represent himself in all legal matters. He will have until March 24 to respond to the lawsuit. Numerous attempts to contact Postle have been unsuccessful.