Players claim that casino
refuses to pay winnings
~ Casino claims they are known cheats ~
PELICAN--A father and son team suspected of counting cards in a blackjack game at Hollywood Casino wants the casino to hand over the US $18,000 they said they won on Thursday, January 11. The casino is refusing to pay out the sum as it sticks to its claim that they were card-counting.
Admitting that they have been accused of cheating before in Las Vegas casinos, Sandy Blauvet and his son Charles said this had never occurred in St. Maarten and they maintained that they were not cheats.
The men also claimed that they had been assaulted by casino security personnel and thrown off the premises after they were told to quit their game. They were asked by casino management to leave without their money until the surveillance tapes of the game were reviewed.
Casino Manager Linda Racz refuted this claim of abuse and told The Daily Herald the two men had become enraged when asked to leave.
“We discovered them cheating and asked them to stop playing,” Racz said, but would not explain in detail how they had cheated. She declined to comment on this until the police finished their investigation.
The two men and their family, who were staying at Atrium, returned to Fort Worth, Texas, over the weekend without collecting any money from the casino.
Sandy Blauvet, his wife, son and daughter Summer flew into St. Maarten on Wednesday, January 10. The elder Blauvet told this newspaper he had brought his family to the island for a vacation and to experience the place where he and his wife had honeymooned 35 years ago.
A day after their arrival, the father and son went to the casino around 11:00pm and in about 45 minutes, betting US $400 to US $500 a hand, they had won about US $18,000 in chips. Soon after they were ordered to stop playing and were told they had to take a voucher for their winnings and return the next day after the surveillance tapes were reviewed.
Sandy Blauvet said he and his son had been attacked by two security guards when they protested. One guard put him in an arm lock and bruised his arm in the encounter while the other knocked his son Charles to the floor.
The Blauvets claimed they had asked for the police to be called and after a while two security guards accompanied them to the Philipsburg police station where they tried to file a complaint. According to the two men, the police refused to take a statement until the tapes were reviewed to ensure that the complaint was valid.
The Blauvets returned to the casino on Friday to collect their winnings. Once again, this was refused and they claimed they had been attacked again and thrown out the door.
“No excess force was used [on either day]. I believe police can confirm this. It was nothing like what they said happened,” the casino manager said. After the Blauvets were told that the casino was not going to pay, they became aggressive and started screaming to stop other people from playing, Racz explained. The police were called and on arrival took the men away.
When the men returned on Friday, they were accompanied by two police detectives, she said. “We advised them to seek legal counsel. We know that they have a record of this kind of activities in the Caribbean. It will be part of the police investigation. This is information through the casino network in the Caribbean.”
Racz refused to say that gambling cheats were commonplace or an everyday occurrence, but she said that cheating occurred in St. Maarten. “We [the casinos] can be a target. Some cheaters think we are a little bit backward. We are not stupid. We are capable and don’t tolerate this. It has happened in the past. We have to protect ourselves.”
The evidence in the case of the Blauvets will be passed on to the casino control department for further investigation. “We are going to recommend or ask permission to bar these two men from all casinos in the Caribbean,” Racz stated.
St Maarten vacation rental
