Poker Pro Ivey Loses Appeal Over $9.6 Million Cheating Claim

(Bloomberg) -- Professional poker player Phil Ivey lost an appeal over whether he cheated when he used a card technique to win 7.7 million pounds ($9.6 million) at a form of baccarat, judges said.

Ivey, a 10-time winner of the World Series of Poker bracelet, "achieved his winnings through manipulating" the odds in his favor at a Genting Bhd. casino, Judge Mary Arden said in the ruling handed down in London Thursday.

Ivey, whose original claim failed in 2014, won the money playing Punto Banco at Crockfords casino in London in 2012. He admitted using a technique called edge sorting, which involves arranging cards to take advantage of slight design differences or flaws to give a player a better idea of high and low-value cards. He said it was a legitimate tactic to gain an advantage over the casino.

Losing for a second time didn't make the legal reasoning any clearer to the American poker player.

"This decision makes no sense," Ivey, who will seek to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, said in a statement. "The trial judge said that I was not dishonest and the three appeal judges agreed but somehow the decision has gone against me. Can someone tell me how you can have honest cheating?"

Malaysia's Genting is Asia Pacific's largest casino operator with a market capitalization of about $28.1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It's developing a new resort set to open in Las Vegas in 2018-19.

The ruling "vindicates the steps that Crockfords has taken in this matter," Paul Willcock, Genting U.K. president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. "Crockfords has acted fairly and honestly at all times and we are therefore pleased that the Court of Appeal has held that the decision not to pay out to Mr. Ivey was the correct one."

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges17@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser