Man claims Ohio casino caused robbery of $35,000

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A man who was robbed at home of more than $35,000 in gambling winnings sued the Ohio casino where he won the money, arguing a cashier should have issued him a check instead of cash.

Police said 29-year-old David Hayes was robbed at gunpoint of the stack of $100 bills when two armed men woke him at home hours after he left the Hollywood Casino Columbus with his winnings Oct. 21.

Hayes filed suit against the casino’s operator, contending that he asked for a check when he cashed out his blackjack winnings but was given cash instead.

And he claims the clerk wrote down his identification information, including his address, on a piece of paper, and held it up for him to confirm, making it “visible to anyone in the vicinity,” The Columbus Dispatch reported Thursday.

The casino, in a filing this month, said Hayes’ losses were due to his own negligence and “unforeseeable misconduct by third parties over whom (the casino) had no control.”

Hayes said the cashier gave him 358 $100 bills in a manila folder that she stapled shut, telling him that he should take future winnings in the form of a check. He claims that when he said he wanted a check, she told him it was too late. A casino security guard then escorted him to his car.

Hayes was robbed hours later by two armed men who entered his house through an unlocked back door. In the lawsuit, Hayes claims the men asked for “the money you won tonight.”

Two men were arrested and charged after one of them began bragging about the robbery, said Joseph Landusky, one of Hayes’ attorneys. They were scheduled for trial next week. A third man was being sought.