A New Jersey man’s try to redeem almost $60,000 price of on line casino chips from a shuttered Atlantic Metropolis on line casino has led to disappointment, as a state appeals court docket decided the chips have been by no means meant to be in circulation.
Keith Hawkins, who purchased the 389 chips for $59,500 by way of a web-based public sale in 2022, had hoped to redeem them by way of the New Jersey State Treasury Division’s Unclaimed Property Administration (UPA). The chips have been from the now-defunct Playboy Lodge and On line casino, which operated briefly between 1981 and 1984 in Atlantic Metropolis. However each the UPA and the state’s appellate court docket finally deemed the chips invalid for redemption, in response to USA Right now.
Origins of the Chips Increase Purple Flags
Whereas Hawkins claimed he was unaware of the chips’ backstory, an investigation by the New Jersey State Police uncovered a troubling historical past. Following the on line casino’s closure in 1984, funds had been deposited with the UPA to honor legit excellent chips issued in the course of the on line casino’s operation. Nevertheless, the chips Hawkins acquired weren’t a part of that batch.
In keeping with court docket paperwork, the Playboy On line casino had employed a third-party agency to destroy all remaining unissued chips after its closure. However “a former worker of the corporate pilfered a number of containers of unused chips ‘someday round 1990’ and put them in a financial institution deposit field,” the ruling acknowledged. That very same worker, whose id was withheld, later filed for chapter and deserted the deposit field. The financial institution finally drilled open the field in 2010 and took possession of its contents.
Twelve years later, in 2022, these very chips made their technique to a public public sale, the place Hawkins unknowingly bought them.
Court docket Cites Longstanding Authorized Precedents
After his declare was rejected by the UPA in June 2023, Hawkins challenged the choice in court docket, arguing that the company lacked enough proof and acted “arbitrarily and capriciously.” However the appellate panel remained unconvinced, ruling on April 1 that Hawkins had no authorized foundation to obtain a payout.
“We’re happy that the proof within the document helps UPA’s conclusion that the chips introduced by claimant have been ‘unissued Playboy gaming chips that have been to be destroyed’ and, due to this fact, ‘ineligible for redemption,’” the court docket mentioned in its opinion.
The judges referred to an earlier 1991 authorized precedent, noting that solely chips really issued by the on line casino to its patrons throughout its transient tenure might be honored beneath UPA coverage.
Playboy On line casino’s Checkered Historical past
The Playboy Lodge and On line casino, as soon as backed by Hugh Hefner, was a short-lived enterprise in Atlantic Metropolis’s gaming panorama. After its three-year run led to 1984, Donald Trump acquired the property for $64 million. It underwent a collection of rebrandings — first because the Trump Regency and later as Trump’s World Honest — earlier than lastly closing in 1999.
The Playboy model had tried to increase its on line casino empire throughout that period, with properties in Las Vegas, London, and the Bahamas, all of which have since closed.
Following its Atlantic Metropolis closure, the Playboy On line casino transferred funds to the state’s UPA to make sure that legit claims might be paid. On the identical time, all chips not already in circulation have been ordered to be destroyed — a step that, had it been totally carried out, would have prevented the controversy surrounding Hawkins’ declare.
A Expensive Mistake Rooted in Misconduct
Whereas Hawkins insists he had no thought the chips he bought have been a part of a batch that had been stolen many years earlier, the court docket maintained that their illicit origin rendered them non-redeemable.
Including one other twist to the unusual saga, it was revealed that related Playboy chips had surfaced in 2008 throughout development in Mississippi. Hundreds have been found beneath a concrete slab close to the corporate’s outdated workplaces. Although most ended up as novelty gadgets on public sale platforms like eBay, these chips — very like Hawkins’ — have been additionally by no means eligible for money redemption.
