Cantor Gaming defends itself from professional gambler’s lawsuit
Cantor Gaming is defending itself from a lawsuit filed by Randy Lund, a professional gambler and one of Cantor's account wagering clients.
Lund claims Cantor employees at the M Resort sports book allowed his friends to withdraw at least $186,000 from his account by authorizing illegal withdrawals in violation of their agreement.
"We don't know the exact amount," said Robert Nersesian, Lund's attorney and a partner in the Las Vegas law firm of Nersesian & Sankiewicz. "They have the records and Cantor has refused to turn them over. I'm furious that we've been forced to take this to litigation to get his money back."
Cantor Gaming officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.
According to the complaint filed Sept. 13 in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Cantor agreed to open an account allowing Lund to have money available for bets, primarily at the M Resort. Lund was to have sole ability to make withdrawals with a signature and bets could only be placed with the use of a password.
Lund admits he gave his friends Michael Campbell and Fabian Guzman his password and authorized them to place bets on his behalf at the M Resort. However, Lund said they weren't allowed to withdraw money from his account, and Cantor employees weren't authorized to let them.
"Campbell and Guzman were personal friends ... and considering his level of wagering placed bets at his direction as they enjoyed the notoriety and ambience offered by M Resort to persons who were making large bets," according to the seven-page complaint.
Court papers don't specify when the withdrawals were made or when Lund found out about them.
Neither Campbell nor Guzman, who are also named as defendants in the lawsuit, could be reached for comment Monday. Nersesian said his client has not filed a criminal complaint against them.
Whether the arrangement the three men shared broke Nevada law is unclear.
According to the lawsuit, Lund claims Campbell and Guzman were not paid to place bets. If Campbell and Guzman were compensated, they could be charged with misdemeanors under the state's messenger wagering law.
The Nevada Gaming Commission updated rules in 1998 prohibiting messenger betting, which makes it a violation of state law for a person to be paid to place a bet for anyone else at any state sports book.
In his lawsuit, Lund claimed that Cantor employees "became friendly" with Campbell and Guzman and for months allowed them to take money from his account without requiring his signature. In his lawsuit, Lund argues that Cantor staff and management knew the withdrawals were occurring and did nothing to prevent or stop them.
He also claimed that Cantor "arranged to remove a supervisor" from Nevada so he could not be questioned as part of the lawsuit.
Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at
csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.
