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Matthew Eisenberg was a twenty six year old casino dealer at the Rivers Casino in Pennsylvania who made a bad decision. Eisenberg apparently did not feel as though his salary as a blackjack dealer was sufficient so he decided to take $1 and $5 chips from the table to fill his own pockets. The casino found out about Eisenberg when they saw his tips growing to larger amounts. they then decided to watch his activity at the gaming tables and found that he was using sleight of hand to steal the chips one at a time. The footage showed the dealer taking chips on one hundred and eight different occasions.
Eisenberg was arrested after officials discovered his actions and he then appeared in court in front of Judge Joseph K. Williams III. At first, it seemed as though Eisenberg was let off easy. He accepted restitution and a year’s probation. It was when the judge sentenced him to a $75,000 fine for theft that Eisenberg felt he was unfairly punished.
The $75,000 fine is part of a law that was created to keep players from trying to cheat the casino. This was the first time a fine of this amount was handed down to a casino cheater. Michael Santicola is Eisenberg’s attorney and he commented on the fine by stating:
“It shocks the conscience that we would have a legislature that would write a law that puts the casino above every other business, above a church, above a senior citizen’s home, above you, above me.” Santicola then said that the penalty was cruel and unusual punishment and it would be hard for Eisenberg to get his life in order.
The District Attorney, Stephen Zappala, had a difference of opinion. He felt the fine was perfectly acceptable and state that the crime ‘fits the statute as written’.
2011-07-22
