Tag: lawsuit

Wynn Successful Sues Fund Manager over Owed Money

Posted on by Grant Mahon
  • Wynn Macau successfully wins case for $4.3 million in Malaysia
  • The guilty party will have to pay out the owed money, plus interest
  • Meanwhile Wynn and Genting are getting closer to a court battle due to begin on January 29

Wynn Macau Ltd. has successfully concluded a court case against a fund manager who owed the company money. The guilty party had been paid in the form of a credit, which Wynn has now successfully recuperated in court.

Wynn Settles Legal Challenge in Malaysia

In a rare turn of events, Wynn Macau Ltd. managed to win a court case against an individual, identified as Paul Poh Yang Hong, who owed the company money in the form of a line of credit. Based on the active legislation in the country, gambling contracts are not legally binding, and this is precisely what made the case interesting.

However, Wynn specified that it wasn’t looking to collect gaming proceedings, but rather – honor a credit agreement, which proved to be the winning argument in court. The sum of the contract was substantial with the individual previously requesting HKD40 million credit from Wynn, which was granted.

Since then, the fund manager had still to honor HKD33 million in due payments, prompting Wynn Macau Ltd to launch a lawsuit in 2017. The news was also reported by Reuters, which fleshed out details of the case.

Judge S. Nantha Balan from the Kuala Lumpur court has ruled that Poh will have to pay the outstanding amount to Wynn Macau, plus interest.

The decision is not final as Poh can still appeal, although Wynn’s attorney Vincent Law believes that the case constituted an important victory for the gaming industry.

Malaysia and Wynn, Tied into a Legal Pickle

Interestingly enough Wynn’s U.S. subsidiary, Wynn Resorts Ltd. is tied up with Malaysia in another way. Last year, Wynn filed a complaint against Malaysia-based Genting Berhad over a property built at the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip.

Genting Denies Wynn Copyright Claims, Prepares for Court

According to the complaint, Genting was intentionally copying Wynn and Encore Towers’ design in a bid to syphon off customers from its own property. Genting has since dismissed the statement, issuing their official statement at the end of 2018.

Moving into 2019, none of the parties has seemed prepared to relent. Genting’s World Resorts Las Vegas is estimated at $4 billion, making a hiatus or cacellation of construction work not an option.

Meanwhile, Wynn continues to maintain that the claims made in its unlawful competition lawsuit dated December 21 very much apply. However, Genting has since said that the allegations were “baseless”.

Here’s what Genting SVP PR and Development Michael Levoff had to say, cited by Review Journal:

Genting (Resorts World’s parent company) remains confident that once all of the relevant facts are presented the company will defeat Wynn’s baseless claims.

The two parties are expected to meet in court in Nevada on January 29. In so many ways, Wynn continues to be legally bound to Malaysia, and not always in a good way.

Grant Mahon

Grant is the self-professed casino madman and reporter that brought this eclectic team of dedicated and talented writers together from around the world to proudly build an humble empire of authentic casino news.

Genting Denies Wynn Copyright Claims, Prepares for Court

Posted on by George Hansen
  • Genting Berhard denies wrongdoing, responding to Wynn Resorts’ claims that the company had copied its design for an upcoming integrated resort property in Las Vegas
  • The company has presented visual proof and pushes ahead with construction while preparing to meet Genting in court
  • Massachusetts wraps up probe against former CEO Steve Wynn

Embroiled in a dispute over copyrights, the impasse between Genting Berhard and Wynn Resorts remains unchanged. Genting Berhard has denied wrongdoing or attempting to copy the design of Wynn in the newly-constructed Resorts World Las Vegas LLC integrated resort.

Genting Berhard Says It Didn’t Copy Wynn Resorts’ Design

In December, Wynn Resorts lodged a lawsuit against Genting Berhard’s Resorts World Las Vegas LLC and its property under construction in Las Vegas. The $4-billion project developed by Genting’s subsidiary is due to arrive late in 2020, located in the vicinity of an already existing Wynn property.

Last week, Genting filed their official rebuttal of Wynn Resorts’ demands to halt construction and overhaul the exterior design of the property. In their filing dated December 21, 2018, Wynn Resorts said that the property had “a substantially similar architectural design and trade dress.”

Wynn Wins Temporary Extension on Report Confidentiality

On the other hand, Genting has been set against the position outlined by the plaintiff. According to the company, the Resorts World Las Vegas will not resemble its neighbor, with Genting laying down the following argument:

[Wynn’s position] is predicated on speculative extrapolation regarding the appearance of the Defendant’s unfinished resort and casino, which is still in an early stage of construction with nearly two years left to go before opening.

Genting’s answer said that the final property would look “dramatically different” than Wynn’s own property. Furthermore, Genting said that the design would in no way suggest to a customer that they are entering a Wynn-owned property.

Based on Genting’s position, so far there has been no substantial evidence that proves, within reason, that the company’s subsidiary was actively trying to copy the design of its main competitor. Genting will push ahead with its integrated resort construction plans while at the same time gearing up to face Wynn in court if need be.

Genting even included a “pictorial representation” of the completed Resorts World Las Vegas (RWLV) resort and casino in order to assuage fears that the company was intentionally copying the design of the plaintiff.

Genting’s position is well-presented, which means that they are fully-prepared to take action in court. Wynn Resorts has been embroiled in a sex scandal, investigated by Massachusetts that has now finally come to an end. Nevertheless, no public information is available yet, as the state’s investigators have agreed to honor a request from Steve Wynn, the former CEO of the company.

A public release of the report might give grounds to opponents of Mr. Wynn to pursue legal recourse against him, the position read.

George Hansen

Taking a liking to the occasional bout of slots, George used to moonlight as a roulette dealer, giving him a unique perspective into the casino world. From there he continued his journalist education and has been with us ever since a star-aligned graduation brought him and our team together.

$250 Million Casino Proposed for Pope County

Posted on by Kat Orlov

It was recently announced that a Mississippi-based casino plans to build a $250 million complex in Pope County, something that has been subject to an almost equal measure of opposition and support. In a letter submitted to the Arkansas Racing Commission by the Gulfside Casino Partnership, outgoing Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson declared his support for casino gaming in the region. Gulfside, during their announcement, revealed that it has plans to build a $250 million resort casino if approved by the state’s gaming regulator – this would be done in three phases and would be completed in mid-2020. This comes just a little over a month after voters in Arkansas approved Issue 4 (currently referred to as Amendment 100) which allowed for expanded casino operations at Southland and Oaklawn as well as new casinos in Pope and Jefferson Counties.

According to Terry Green, the co-owner of Gulfside Casino Partnership, the $250 million casino project will be great for the casino will be great for the county as it will create over 1,5000 new jobs and generated millions of dollars in tax revenue once it goes live. This will greatly improve infrastructure and overall quality of life in the state.

So far, most local elected officials have been the biggest opposers of the proposed casino. Last Friday, Pope County Judge-elect Ben Cross who will be taking office today (January 1, 2019) said he was opposed to the casino being built in the county.

“It is with great discouragement and dismay to have learned of the actions of the current county judge in regards to the casino issue. To have a lame duck official act in total disregard to the express wishes of the residents of Pope County is appalling and a complete affront to our representative democracy,” Cross said in a statement.

Support from the Outgoing Mayor

On his last day in office, Russellville Mayor Randy Horton expressed his support for the proposal to build the 600-room hotel and casino in Pope County despite the strong opposition from some the residents as well as an ongoing lawsuit over another official’s support for the project. Randy Horton who lost his reelection bid joins outgoing County Judge Jim Ed Gibson in supporting the Gulfside Casino partnership which happens to have ties to a group that operates a casino on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

During his election campaign, Mr. Horton largely dodged making a statement in regards to where he stood on the issue of the casino amendment. This presents a very interesting dynamic since Richard Harris, who defeated Horton in the election, is opposed to the casino plans. Furthermore, the residents of Pope County largely voted against the constitutional amendment expanding gambling but it was statewide approval that counted in the long run.

As per the terms of the amendment, only approval from a county judge or mayor – depending on the location that the casino developer will choose – is required for the casino application to be approved in Jefferson of Pope County.

 

Kat Orlov

Newcomer Kat is our newcomer poker aficionado whos skill not only lives on the table but flourishes on the site as through her many sources she never fails to be the first to hear of any important or exciting poker news around the world.

PokerStars Cleared from $870m Lawsuit in Kentucky

Posted on by Kat Orlov
  • Kentucky’s $870m lawsuit against PokerStars drops in Court of Appeals
  • PokerStars is cleared of guilt
  • Kentucky may yet pursue the case in the state’s Supreme Court

The Star’s Group subsidiary PokerStars has won a court case in Kentucky, with the state’s Court of Appeals dropping a $870-million lawsuit against it. Originating a decade ago, PokerStars is not yet in the clear, with the state likely to press on in the Kentucky Supreme Court. Nevertheless, it’s an important signal that the card room has a fighting chance to avoid what it considers an unfair ruling.

PokerStars in the Past – Pre-UIEGA Times

Poker wasn’t always heavily regulated against back in the past. At the onset of the industry, not many people knew what to expect nor how to address the issue. With some lawmakers not being even remotely familiar with Internet and its workings, the industry had gone unnoticed for a long while.

PokerStars was spreading, adding states and customers easily and many players from the U.S. gladly placed money on the card room and competed across multiple events. PokerStars wasn’t the only operator at the time either, with Full Tilt Poker, among others, making a landscape full of vibrant competition.

Fighting Terror and Poker at the Same Time

Then the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 struck ensuring that money transfers towards poker and iGaming operators were made illegal. UIEGA wasn’t a stand-alone piece of legislation, passed along with the SAFE Port Act, in a desperate move to slam the industry. At the time, respected news outlet the Economist wrote that the provisions of the legislation were “hastily tacked onto the end of unrelated legislation.”

It was Steve Bashear, the former governor, who made sure to gather all the support he could in a bid to crack down on over a hundred U.S.-facing domains, including PokerStars. What ensued was chaos, of course.

Mr. Bashear led the fight on a note that struck home with his supporters, pronouncing himself in a fight against an unregulated criminal world and citing the significance of the SAFE Port Act as a fight against terrorism on home turf.

The Long-Drawn Process

His rhetoric struck home and the legal troubles began. The case took a long while to launch, making it to a federal court in 2015, following years of bickering in the legal system. Kentucky claimed that PokerStars has inflicted damages on the state between 2006 and 2011, which the card room vehemently denied.

Kentucky’s main argument was that players have lost significant money playing at the cardroom, but then again – no such players were summoned as witnesses. It was finally on December 21, 2018 that the Court of Appeals struck down the case, offering the plaintiff a chance to proceed to the state’s Supreme Court if it wants to.

Like Father, Unlike Son

This is an interesting time to do so as Kentucky’s Attorney General, Andy Beshear, is the son of the same Steve Beshear who fought poker operators en masse. His son, though, is quite prepared to see the benefits of embracing the industry and inviting PokerStars as an official operator in the state.

Weighed down by the mounting pension fund debt, Kentucky has a lot to win from bringing a conscientious tax payer such as PokerStars on board. This is precisely what Beshear Jr. wants to achieve in what appears to be an interesting twist of events.
And yet, a battle in Kentucky’s Supreme Court could be looming.

Kat Orlov

Newcomer Kat is our newcomer poker aficionado whos skill not only lives on the table but flourishes on the site as through her many sources she never fails to be the first to hear of any important or exciting poker news around the world.

Wynn Sues Genting Vegas for Copyright Infringement and More

Posted on by Sophia Rojas

In the iGaming industry, everyone copies from everyone. However, Wynn Resorts Ltd is prepared to challenge this in court, filing a lawsuit in Nevada and going after Genting Vegas.

Genting Vegas in Legal Waters with Wynn Resorts

Wynn Resorts Ltd. is going after Genting Vegas arguing against the latter’s latest design decision that have clearly borrowed from the layout of Wynn, the plaintiff has stated. Headquarter in Malaysia, Genting is known for its exquisite designing practices, but this is the first time that the company has faced copyright infringement lawsuit.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a daily newspaper, Wynn Resorts Ltd. is seeking “exemplary and punitive damages”, as Genting have knowingly and intentionally violated the copyright of Wynn Resorts. The company is now targeting Genting across four specific areas, including:

  • State trademark dilution
  • Copyright infringement
  • Federal trade dress infringement
  • Unfair competition

Understandably, the cost of such a lawsuit could easily go beyond anything reasonable, as the projects themselves are worth billions of dollars. In the case of Resorts World Las Vegas LLC (the Genting property), the facilities are worth $4 billion and the project comes with 3,000 rooms spread across 87 acres and with a scheduled opening in 2020.

In this case, the devil is in the detail, as Genting has copied elements from the design that are the trademark of Wynn captured by properties in multiple locations.

The architectural design embodied in defendant’s Resorts World Las Vegas hotel and casino is substantially similar to plaintiff’s registered copyrighted architectural work, and therefore defendant is violating plaintiff’s copyrights in addition to plaintiff’s registered and common law trade dress.

As per the lawsuit, Wynn is seeking not to shut down the project, but make sure that it uses legal recourse to ensure that any materials that are its own trademark will be stripped from Genting’s property. This could cause quite the financial damage to the company, as most of the materials have already been pre-purchased and paid for.

According to Mark Lemley, Stanford University director of science and technology program, architects are allowed to “copy” their designs and for a trademark claim to be successful, Wynn will have to prove that Genting was intentionally trying to mislead customers to think they are entering a different brand’s authority.

Former Steve Wynn partner Kazuo Okada has agreed to a $2.6 billion settlement to give the go-ahead to the sale of his share in the company.

Wynn has been actively and meanly protecting their own designs. Recently, though, the company was embroiled in what seemed a design theft, with one of Steve Wynn’s partners, Kazuo Okada, receiving payment worth $4.2 billion for the company reportedly using his author designs without a permission. Mr. Okada also agreed to a $2.6 billion most recently to allow the sale of his share in the company.

A lawsuit that makes a claim on the authenticity and originally of the design is also very difficult to fight in court and it’s one of the least common cases there. Architectural copyright is no joke and Wynn are right to protect the company’s distinct signature style.

However, assuming an overbearing approach can backfire in the long-term and cause more legal woe than the company originally intended to create. Besides, Wynn Resorts already have enough on their plate.

Sophia Rojas

Growing up around law firms, Sophia keeps our team of reporters atop any legislative developments to follow up with a welcomed dose of positive news as our house trivia nut!