An appeals court issued a mixed ruling earlier this month for Laurie Tsao, a blackjack player on the MIT team portrayed in the movie 21. Tsao had previously been identified as an advantage player by Ceasars Entertainment personnel and warned that as a banned player she had been trespassing. According to Nevada law, casinos are allowed to escort advantage players out with a warning. If they refuse to leave or return afterward, they may be arrested for misdemeanor.
However, Ceasars continued to send Tsao targeted offers for free rooms and the NCAA basketball tournament in Las Vegas, leading Tsao back to Ceasars where she was detained and arrested. The trespassing charges were eventually dropped, but Tsao filed a civil complaint against Ceasars and the police officer who carried out the arrest for false arrest and defamation. While the appeals panel did uphold the ruling that the false arrest had defamed Tsao, the lower court’s ruling against Ceasars was dismissed.
