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The Nevada Gambling Control Board has order the Palms Casino Resort to compensate poker player Michael DeVita $18,500 after he was prevented from playing in the Epic Poker tournament main event.
Organizers learned that DeVita was a registered sex offender. DeVita denied claims made by organizers that he had voluntarily elected to drop out of the main event.
Quadjacks.com, which first broke the story regarding the NGCB ruling, offered DeVita’s side of the story this past September.
DiVita claims he showed up to the Key West room of the Palms Casino Resort on Monday, September 5, the day right after winning his seat, to register for the Main Event. At the cage, he remembers being “stalled,” and finally receiving a phone call from Stephen Martin, the committee chairman.
According to DiVita, Martin informed him that, “It would be in the best interest of Epic Poker not to let you play.”
DiVita, though disheartened, says he has been used to this kind of popular stigma for the last 20 years (his conviction was in 1991), and he did not argue with Martin. He responded by telling Martin that as long as he was reimbursed the $20,000 he felt he was entitled to for winning the Pro/Am, then he would voluntarily withdraw from the tournament without objection.
Initially the Palms refused to refund DeVita the full $20,000 value of the seat he had won from the casino. They offered only to pay the player the original $1,500 buy-in for his super satellite entry, which led to a complaint being filed with the Nevada Gambling Control Board.
- Ace King, Gambling911.com
