Wynn Resorts’ legal team in Massachusetts has secured a significant victory, concluding a lawsuit that has spanned over half a decade. The United States First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that Wynn’s casino in Everett, near Boston, did not violate state gaming laws or engage in deceptive business practices. Circuit Judge Lara Montecalvo, writing the unanimous opinion for the three-judge appellate panel, dismissed plaintiff A. Richard Schuster’s allegations against Wynn MA, LLC.
Wayne Dennison, an attorney at Brown Rudnick who led Wynn Resorts’ defense alongside colleague Josh Dunn, remarked that the decision affirmed previous rulings from other courts which found Wynn’s gaming practices entirely lawful.
Schuster had contested Encore Boston Harbor’s practice of not fully paying out slot machine vouchers, arguing that it violated Massachusetts’ consumer protection statutes. When a player finishes with a slot machine, they receive a ticket, known as “ticket in, ticket out,” or “TITOs,” which can be redeemed at the casino cage or a self-service kiosk. However, these kiosks, referred to as ticket redemption units or TRUs, do not dispense coins and round the amount down, issuing cash for the whole dollar amount and a subsequent ticket for the remaining change to be redeemed at the casino cage. Schuster contended that this practice violated the casino’s internal controls and gaming regulations set by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, an argument the federal courts ultimately rejected.
Originally, Schuster’s 2019 complaint dealt with Encore Boston Harbor running 6:5 blackjack games instead of the more favorable 3:2 odds, which had been common in Las Vegas until recently. He claimed that Wynn failed to adequately inform players that most of its blackjack tables utilized the 6:5 payout structure, which significantly alters the house edge to the detriment of even skilled players. Despite these allegations, an investigation by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau found that the Wynn casino was in compliance with regulatory standards. Consequently, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in favor of Wynn, prompting Schuster to shift his focus to the slot redemption process.
Wynn successfully moved this subsequent case to federal court, where the U.S. Massachusetts District Court granted a summary judgment in favor of Wynn in February 2023. Schuster appealed, but his attempts to remand the case to state court proved unsuccessful. After federal appellate court hearings in January, the court issued its judgment on Monday, further supporting Wynn’s practices.
The U.S. appeals court concluded that Encore’s ticket redemption practices are standard within the gaming industry and compliant with federal and state laws. They deemed Schuster’s allegations “fatally flawed,” emphasizing that the business practices in question did not prevent the plaintiff from redeeming the change voucher at the cage or continuing to play using the remaining ticket amount. The appellate judges clarified that Massachusetts’ gaming laws do not restrict the definition of “funds” solely to bills and coins, but include vouchers, thereby validating the TRU process.
Schuster’s legal defeat leaves the U.S. Supreme Court as his only remaining venue for appeal, although the chances of the nation’s highest court accepting the case are slim.
