Connecticut Card Counter Sues Horseshoe Baltimore Casino Over Detention

A man from Connecticut, Jordan Kerr, has sued Horseshoe Baltimore Casino and Caesars Entertainment, its parent company, for $3 million. 

Advantage Player Seeks $3M in Damages from Horseshoe Casino

Kerr claims casino security held him against his will during an October incident. The lawsuit first filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court now sits in Maryland’s federal District Court.

Kerr, a skilled blackjack player who calls himself an “advantage player,” says casino staff kept him in a back room when he did not show his ID, reported The Baltimore Banner. This happened just after midnight on October 18, 2024. Kerr had decided to leave the casino after losing several hands of blackjack.

Based on Kerr’s complaint, a casino supervisor came up to him at the table and asked to see his driver’s license. When he chose not to show it and started to leave, he says security staff surrounded him and told him they were holding him. Security workers threatened to arrest him and use force unless he went with them to a back room.

Kerr claims they kept him for about 15 minutes while casino employees said they were waiting for Baltimore City Police to arrive. However, no officers showed up, and Kerr reports they let him go after reading him the casino’s trespass policy. The lawsuit argues that this holding amounted to false imprisonment and battery causing him mental anguish, worry, and other harm.

Kerr Accuses Baltimore Casino of Rights Violation 

Card counting is a legal tactic that skilled players use to get an edge in statistics, but casinos do not like it and can kick out anyone they catch doing it. Kerr has worked on this method for more than 10 years and is famous among gamblers. He says he did not break any laws that would justify being held, and he wants someone to answer for what he calls a violation of his rights.

This is not Kerr’s first time in court over this kind of thing. Back in 2018, he made a deal outside of court with a casino in New Orleans, which Caesars Entertainment also owns, about a similar situation.

Lawyers representing Horseshoe Baltimore and Caesars Entertainment have asked the court to throw out the case. They claim Kerr’s accusations lack legal merit and want him to cover their legal costs. The casino has chosen not to speak about the situation.

Horseshoe Baltimore, which started operating in 2014, has experienced a drop in earnings and employee numbers over the past few years.