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Published by the Indiana Office of Court Services

Donovan v. Grand Victoria Casino & Resort, L.P., No. 49S02-1003-CV-00124, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., Sept. 30, 2010)

October 7, 2010 Filed Under: Civil Tagged With: B. Dickson, F. Sullivan, Supreme

SULLIVAN, J.
An owner of an Indiana business has long had the absolute right to exclude a visitor or customer, subject only to applicable civil rights laws. This long-standing common law right of private property owners extends to the operator of a riverboat casino that wishes to exclude a patron for employing strategies designed to give the patron a statistical advantage over the casino. The Riverboat Gambling Act, which gives the Indiana Gaming Commission exclusive authority to set the rules of licensed casino games, does not abrogate this common law right.
Shepard, C.J., and Boehm, J., concur.
DICKSON, J., dissents with separate opinion:
I disagree with the Court’s foundational premise that gambling casinos are entitled to the same common law right of arbitrary exclusion as possessed by proprietors of conventional businesses at common law.  The privilege of operating a casino exists in Indiana only by recent special enactments of the Indiana General Assembly, and such operation is dependent upon specific authorization and comprehensive regulation of the Indiana Gaming Commission.
Rucker, J., not participating.

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