Wednesday, March 3, 2004 | 11:21 a.m.
Los Angeles attorney and gambler Ernest Joseph Franceschi Jr. has sued MGM MIRAGE, accusing casino officials of ejecting him about a year ago after he won thousands of dollars at the company's New York-New York casino playing blackjack. Franceschi is requesting $74,000 in damages and is asking a judge to require the company to include a disclaimer in its California advertising warning gamblers that they can be barred for winning.
The complaint, filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court, says casino officials photographed Franceschi while he played high-stakes blackjack and circulated the photo to other Las Vegas casinos after he left the table with his winnings. When he returned later to resume playing, casino officials escorted him out of the property and said he was barred for life from MGM MIRAGE casinos, the suit said.
Franceschi said he was ejected from two other Las Vegas casinos the same day after sitting down to play blackjack.
His suit alleges invasion of privacy, defamation and violations of California's unfair business practices laws.
In an interview today, Franceschi said he was barred for being a "skillful" player and was never accused of cheating.
Counting cards or other means of skilled play isn't illegal, he said.
"The object of this lawsuit is pretty much to regulate their advertising and disclosures in Las Vegas," he said. "About 36 percent of visitors to Las Vegas come from California and (casinos) advertise heavily here. The casinos have an unpublished policy of barring skillful players. The implication is that winning players are welcome. Just the opposite is true."
MGM MIRAGE spokesman Alan Feldman said the company "will prevail on all the merits."
Feldman called the suit "a very creative way of hiding the fact that he doesn't want to play by the rules ... if you don't play by the rules, you'll be asked to leave."
He declined to discuss the details of the allegations. "We'll save all of that for court," he said.
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