James Grosjean - suing the casinos
James Grosjean was inducted in the
Blackjack Hall of Fame, in 2006 and remains to this point in time the
group's youngest member. He was a ruthless exponent of card counting as
well as dealer hole card and shuffle tracking techniques. His insights
were shared with the wider public in his book Beyond Counting -
considered by some to be the advantage player's bible.
Despite Grosjean's successes at the blackjack tables, he is perhaps better known
for his successes in the court room, winning landmark lawsuits against casinos
and their security agencies.
Sinking Griffin Investigations
In response to the enormous success of players like Grosjean,
Hyland and the MIT Blackjack Team, casinos began relying more and more on
security agencies to help identify advantage and limit the damage they could do
at the blackjack tables. One such agency was Griffin Investigations.
Founded by Robert R. Beverly Griffin in 1967, Griffin
Investigations grew to become one of the largest, most sophisticated and feared
security consultancies in the advantage play world. Their so called
'Griffin Books' included detailed profiles of known advantage players and once
you were in that book your playing days at major casinos were numbered.
They also developed sophisticated facial recognition systems that allowed
casinos to be on the front foot as soon as a known advantage player entered the
premises.
It was Griffin Investigations who eventually brought an end
to the MIT Blackjack Team's run of success.
Following constant harassment Grosjean filed a defamation
lawsuit against the agency in 2005. The court found in favor of Grosjean
and the resulting damages award was enough to push Griffin Investigations to
file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was shortly after this decision, not
surprisingly celebrated by the blackjack playing community, that Grosjean was
nominated at accepted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame.
His success in the courts wasn't limited to his famous win
over the Griffin agency either. He also successfully sued Caesar's Palace
after their security illegally detained him following an altercation at the
blackjack tables. And when he was assaulted by Imperial Palace security
before even reaching one of their tables, the resulting lawsuit earned him a
damages payout of $399,000.
Casinos eventually learned the hard way that rough-house
tactics just weren't going to work with this guy.
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