Ind. to rule on casino's duty to customers

NASHVILLE, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The Indiana Supreme Court said it will rule on whether to review a Tennessee woman's allegation a casino had a duty to stop her from losing about $1 million.

Jenny Kephardt, 54, of Nashville, who lost her inheritance to Caesar's Indiana during the course of a year, maintains the casino knew of her gambling addiction and was out to take advantage of her to get her money, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal reported Saturday.

The fact that the Indiana court is willing to hear the case means there must be something about it that distinguishes it from similar cases in which the casinos have won, Joseph M. Kelly, a law professor at the State University of New York in Buffalo, said.

The casino has argued it did not have a duty to save Kephart from herself and she could have asked the casino to bar her entrance. Kephart said that did not occur to her because she had reasoned, in a way typical of those with gambling addictions, that she would have to keep betting for the opportunity to win back her money, the newspaper reported.

"(Casinos) are in a world of their own, making their own rules. I hope we get to court to expose and change these practices." Kephart's attorney said on her instructions.

In March, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 for the casino, saying it was not obligated to protect Kephart from the casino's temptations of marketing and hosting, and that Kephart should have avoided the casino due to her "her proclivity towards compulsive gambling."