Friday, Nov. 18, 2011 | 11:09 a.m.
Nevada casino sports book operator Joseph Asher has hit competitor Cantor Gaming with a counterclaim in its lawsuit over competition in the industry.
Cantor in August sued Asher, a former Cantor Gaming managing director, charging Asher had breached noncompete and confidentiality obligations as he built up his Las Vegas-based Brandywine Bookmaking and Lucky’s Race and Sports Book chains.
In a counterclaim filed this week in Clark County District Court, attorneys for Asher said the lawsuit — filed four years after Asher’s departure from Cantor — was obviously meant to block Asher’s deal to sell Brandywine and Lucky’s to British bookmaking giant William Hill PLC for $15.7 million.
William Hill promises to be a formidable competitor to Cantor as it’s also buying the Leroy’s sports betting chain owned by American Wagering Inc.
In their counterclaim, attorneys for Asher called the Cantor lawsuit a “belated and meritless attempt to damage Asher’s reputation and harass and distract him.”
The attorneys at the Las Vegas law firm Santoro, Driggs, Walch, Kearney, Holley & Thompson also charged the lawsuit was filed to “thwart the sale of Brandywine to William Hill for illegitimate competitive reasons and cause William Hill to reconsider its decision to have Asher serve as the CEO of its United States gaming business following its entry into the United States gaming market.”
Cantor, in the August lawsuit, complained that after his departure from Cantor in March 2007, Asher had used information and connections developed at Cantor to open sports books to Cantor’s detriment.
Cantor, in the suit, said it now fears Asher will attempt to divert similar business opportunities to William Hill.
But Asher’s attorneys said that during his time as an investor in Cantor Gaming and as a Cantor Gaming executive, Cantor was interested only in developing mobile betting systems and was not interested in running race and sports books.
“Cantor, only after it terminated Asher, changed its business plan to pursue race and sports betting opportunities in Nevada,” the counterclaim says.
The counterclaim says Asher’s departure from Cantor was preceded by disputes between he and Cantor Gaming CEO Lee Amaitis.
“Asher was subjected to vitriolic tirades from his direct supervisor, Amaitis, about matters related to regulatory compliance when Amaitis was unwilling to follow certain recommendations of Cantor’s compliance committee, of which Asher was a member,” the counterclaim says.
Cantor attorneys have not yet responded to these allegations. No trial date has been scheduled in the lawsuit.
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