Created by businessman Kirk Kerkorian during the year 2000, the MGM Resorts International group operates prestigious casino hotels mainly in the United States but also elsewhere in the world.
He has just been named in a lawsuit filed in the federal court of the southern district of the state of Mississippi.
In this case, the plaintiff is a gambler who claims that this group steals millions of dollars each year from unsuspecting customers through coupon exchange kiosks.
Machines that no longer deliver pennies
During the international Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, MGM Resorts International and other casino operators have sought to reduce the number of transactions made on coupon redemption kiosks. This is the official reason why these kiosks no longer issue pennies.
As a result, when a $21.53 ticket, for example, is inserted into such a machine inside an MGM Resorts International group casino, it dispenses only $21 in bills plus a 53-cent voucher to be redeemed with the cashier. Most of the time, this change is not claimed, which is largely in the operator’s favor.
At least that’s what plaintiff Leane Scherer thinks, claiming that casinos are recouping millions of dollars in profits via this sort of disguised tax on the pennies in players’ coupons.
This is why she is now seeking damages, a resolution of the class action as well as legal fees and court costs from MGM Resorts International. The latter did not wish to comment officially on this case.
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No indication set up by MGM Resorts International
At a casino operated by MGM Resorts International, the only way to redeem your coupon in full is at the cashier. The only problem is that the players are not informed of this anywhere. So this is a scam, according to Leane Scherer.
The plaintiff acknowledges that land-based U.S. casinos may have faced a coin shortage due to the international health crisis. Therefore, limiting the penny giveaway to the cashier alone was surely unavoidable, as the operators assert. The problem is that MGM Resorts International should have informed its customers.
At the Wynn Las Vegas hotel-casino, for example, there has been a sticker placed on the coupon redemption kiosks since mid-2020 that indicates that no pennies will be issued there. In order to receive any, you must go to the cashier.
Following a gaming session at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Bilox
Leane Scherer’s lawsuit was filed in Mississippi because she went to the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Bilox, which is operated by MGM Resorts International. However, on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, when she inserted an $18.19 coupon into a coupon redemption kiosk, she received only $18 plus a $0.19 ticket.
Because she did not know what to do with the latter, she threw it away before leaving the establishment. In contrast, at other casinos in Biloxi that are not operated by the group, one receives the exact amount of one’s voucher by using the kiosks.
