Sam A. Antar’s attorney, Matthew Litt, filed a notice of appeal Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, asking that his client’s case against BetMGM, the Borgata, and various other defendants be reinstated.
In his civil complaint, Antar alleged that BetMGM kept trying to ply him with five-figure casino bonuses despite knowing he had a massive gambling problem. To wit, between May 2019 and January 2020, Antar said he gambled at least $29 million, mostly through BetMGM’s online casino. Antar’s addiction was so intense that it led to a pair of prison stints related to illegal investment schemes he’d concocted to help pay off his gambling debts.
In dismissing the lawsuit on Jan. 31, Judge Madeline Cox Arleo sided with the defendants, writing, “Despite the inclusion of gambling addiction as a substance addiction disorder in the DSM-5, the New Jersey legislature … has not yet seen fit to require casinos to prevent or stop inducing gambling from those that exhibit problem gambling behavior.”
