Phil Ivey Denied Motion to Delay Borgata Judgment Payment

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Phil Ivey has endured a ton of ups and downs in his poker career but there may be fewer losses that are going to hurt more than the one he’s about to pay to the Borgata in Atlantic City. Last week, a NJ District Court judge ruled that Ivey must pay his $10.1 million judgment to the Borgata and denied a stay of the judgment. While it is possible that Ivey and his legal team could appeal again, for now he looks to be on the hook for the equivalent of one-third of his lifetime tournaments earnings.

Ivey Failed to Prove Case

Ivey and accomplice Cheung Yin Sun were in a U.S. District Court last week appealing their $10.1 million judgment levied against them in connection to the now infamous edge-sorting scandal from 2012.

Ivey and his partner won the sum playing Baccarat but the casino discovered that Ivey was using edge sorting to earn the wins. There was a flaw on the playing cards issued by Gemaco, allowing Ivey and his partner to identify the values of cards, and they modified their play according to give themselves an advantage over the casino.

The pair were looking to gain a stay of the judgment as the Borgata was arguing that Ivey was now more than capable of paying his debt since he was playing in high stakes live poker events yet again. Ivey has won over $2 million in events in 2018, and the casino argued that Ivey can pay his debts.

Ivey and Sun’s legal team argued that paying the debt would have a devastating impact and cause irreparable harm. However, Judge Noel Hillman was not impressed and subsequently denied the stay.

According to Hillman, that neither Sun or Ivey have proven that paying the $10 million judgment would “threaten the existence of their business.” He continued saying that without the evidence that their businesses would be negatively impacted, their stay was denied.

With the decision, Ivey has the option of filing one final appeal, but with his track record, there is little to no chance that he will be successful. Ivey had a similar case in London and lost that as well. However, in that case, the casino had not paid him over $10 million in winnings, and so Ivey did not have to come up with anything out of his own pocket.

Does Ivey Have the Money To Pay Up?

According to his motion to stay the judgment, Ivey claims that paying the judgment will make it impossible for him to continue playing poker at the level he’s accustomed to. What’s interesting about that statement is that it is rumored that Ivey is worth north of $100 million.

If that’s the case, then it seems farcical that paying the debt would hurt him irreparably. Granted, that would be about 10% of his net worth, but it is far cry from making him destitute.

That is unless Ivey is hurting for funds. We all know that high stakes poker players often have to have investors in order to play regularly with most players having between 10 to 30% of their own action. In addition, we know that Ivey has tendencies for high stakes gambling outside of poker, so is his net worth really at the insane levels claimed or significantly less?

It’s safe to assume that even if Ivey’s net worth is significantly impacted by paying this judgment, he will not have any problems getting into any poker game he wishes to play. When Ivey is on his game, he is considered by many to be the greatest of all time. As such, Judge Hillman was accurate in his determination that Ivey will have no problem continuing his “business” after paying off the Borgata.