Gambling addict’s $20 million lawsuit against Atlantic City casinos

Ex-lawyer and gambling addict Arelia Taveras has filed a $20 million lawsuit in a plea of negligence by several Atlantic City casinos and one in Las Vegas, all of whom she holds responsible for failing to notice and put a stop to her increasingly compulsive gambling behaviour.

Arelia Taveras was, in her former life, a successful lawyer.  With 400 clients, she made TV appearances, participated in radio debates and published a book.  Taveras was a prosperous young woman, receiving a respectable $500,000 each year and used visits to the casinos as a means to relieve the stresses and pressures of a seven day a week work load.  Taveras quickly became well known at the Atlantic City casinos, received top limousine driven treatment and was even permitted to carry her dog, Sasha, to the casino tables in her purse.  However, over time, this stress relieving leisure activity soon rapidly escalated into a full addiction.

 Likening gambling addiction to that of cocaine use, “only worse”, Taveras has admitted that this habit has cost her over $1 million; her apartment; her parents’ house and her right to continue legal practice.  In addition, a debt of $58,000 dollars to the IRS remains unpaid.  While experts have referred to her case as hard to prove, they have stated “it will provide an unusually detailed insight into the life of a problem gambler.” In an attempt to justify her allegations of negligence, Taveras has filed a suit against the Resort Atlantic City, Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino, Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, the Tropicana Casino Resort, the Showboat Casino Hotel, Bally's Atlantic City and the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. 

All the casinos deny any wrong doing.  Trump Casinos, The Tropicana, Show Boat and Bally’s Atlantic City casino have already been dismissed on technical grounds, while more specific allegations have left the MGM resort under investigation. 

Taveras is representing herself in court in an attempt to prove that the casinos couldn’t fail to have noticed her problem after remaining at the casinos for days at a time and finally collapsing due to exhaustion.  During these long gambling stints, Taveras has revealed how she gambled obsessively without stopping to sleep, eat or even clean her teeth.  Instead she lived on orange juice and snicker bars provided by the staff and even carried disposable wipes in her bag so she could wipe her teeth clean whilst still seated at the table.

Joe Corbo, President of the Casino Association of New Jersey explained that casino staff are extensively trained in spotting and preventing problem gamblers from escalating out of control, referring such gamblers to help groups and blacklisting them from casinos.  It seems, however, that such measures were not put in place for Taveras, although it has been reported that on one occasion after a 5 day stint at a casino, Taveras was told by the dealer to go home after it became apparent she was too tired to concentrate on her cards.

While she has already undergone a stint of intensive therapy to combat her gambling addiction, Taveras faces further problems.  In a desperate drive to fund her uncontrollable habit, Taveras dipped into her clients’ accounts. Having already been disbarred in June, Taveras now faces criminal charges and is doing all she can to work out a restitution agreement and avoid a prison term.