GNS In The News
Landmark Video Poker Lawsuit SettledCLIF LeBLANC, Staff Writer The 6-year-old federal lawsuit that helped topple the video poker industry ended Thursday in a settlement with the one-time king of electronic gambling. As the second trial of Greenville's Fred Collins was about to go to the jury, three former gamblers who had sued him, claiming his business had ruined their lives, settled for an undisclosed amount of money. Of 63 video poker operators accused of running illegal gambling operations, Collins was the only defendant who went to trial. The others also settled secretly. Both sides were tight-lipped after the sudden agreement ended the weeklong second trial. But opposing lawyers agreed the settlement was for financial reasons - for Collins the cost of the case: for the gamblers enough money to reimburse their $20,000 losses in Collins' poker machines and their lawyers' fees. Collins and the three ex-gamblers left the Columbia courtroom before trial Judge Joe Anderson announced, "I'm delighted this last case has been brought to an end." Settlement talks had been under way for months, said Larry Richter, one of the gamblers' attorneys. The handwritten, five-page settlement provided, "the right equation," Richter said. Two of Collins' lawyers, Jim Bannister and George Koenig, agreed it was because of the expense of the case. Yet neither Bannister nor Koenig answered when asked if Collins settled for fear the jury would find against their client and possibly declare him a racketeer. If found to be a racketeer, Collins could lose gaming licenses in other states. The two lawyers also would not explain why Collins settled Wednesday after fighting the suit since it was filed in 1997. In June, after a three-week trial, the case was declared a mistrial. Collins presented his entire case in a second trial this week. The settlement was reached moments before Collins' legal team was to make its closing statement to the two-man, six-woman jury. Three jurors contacted by The State declined comment. The rest left the courthouse without talking to reporters. Anderson stressed that the settlement was a private agreement between the sides and that he did not endorse it. Court-sanctioned settlements must be public under court rules adopted in November. The judge's dismissal order after Wednesday's settlement is his 191st in the complicated case that once included 63 of the state's biggest video poker operators. Initially, about 50 gamblers claimed video poker had ruined their lives because, while video gaming was legal, many operators ran their businesses illegally. The suit accused them of illegally luring players with high-stakes jackpots and winnings greater than the $125 per day payout cap set by law in 1993. The gamblers contended Collins and the others intentionally skirted the law and became rich because of it. The suit claimed Collins and the others had violated the state unfair trade practices law and the federal racketeering law. If the jury had found enough evidence to declare Collins a racketeer, it could cost him machine licenses in Montana and North Carolina, Bannister said. Collins also is reported to have machines in West Virginia and perhaps Georgia. At its peak in South Carolina, Collins' company employed 400 workers and had about 4,000 machines across the state. On the stand, Collins testified he had strict policies that banned paying gamblers more than $125. He provided jurors with copies of his contracts, notices of the policy and vouchers from winners saying they were not paid more than $125. Attorneys for the gamblers countered that the policies were Collins' way of winking at the law while he kept the real tallies "off the books." "No one is going to put thousands of dollars in to get $125," attorney Carl Solomon said in summarizing the gamblers' case. "Everything they write down is a lie." Video poker grew into a $3 billion industry with enough political muscle to help defeat then-Gov. David Beasley, who at first supported electronic gambling then vowed to shut it down. After years of victories in the court and the Legislature, the tide turned against video poker, and the state Supreme Court shut it down July 1, 2000. Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664 or cleblanc@thestate.com. Reprinted from The State newspaper |
