Roulette Player Struck in Eye by Rogue Ball Sues Vegas Casino

A roulette player is suing the Gold Coast casino hotel in Las Vegas for $15K in damages. Las Vegas resident Dalease Brown claims she was struck in the eye by a rogue roulette ball that popped out of its wheel because the dealer rolled it “in a negligent and unsafe speed/matter.”

Most roulette balls weigh between 17 and 18 grams and measure just over three-quarters of an inch. (Image: ChatGPT)

The incident allegedly occurred at the off-Strip Boyd Gaming property on Oct. 28, 2021. The suit was filed on Sept. 25, 2023, in Clark County’s eighth judicial district court.

The marble ball ricocheted from the roulette wheel and violently struck Plaintiff in her left eye at a high rate of speed, severely injuring Plaintiff,” her lawsuit reads, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the first to report the story.

Brown’s suit claims she suffered “severe” eye pain and “permanent” damage to her vision.

The Ol’ Eye Ball

Though rare, Casino.org was able to find two other (relatively) recent cases involving eye injuries from rogue roulette balls.

In 2015, Washington, DC resident Leander Stocks sued the Cordish Companies, the owner of the Maryland Live casino, after being hit in the eye there with an errant roulette ball two years earlier.

Stocks sought $300K in the suit, which claimed the croupier had been negligent and that a security guard inflicted battery by administering eyedrops “without warning or consent,” after which Stocks suffered a concussion when he “became disoriented, fell forward, hit his head against a door, and lost consciousness.”

When that case went to trial, the casino owners and employees were cleared of all wrongdoing.

In 2012, New Orleans resident Hung Nguyen sued Harrah’s New Orleans Casino for a similar injury, according to the Louisiana Record.

The newspaper didn’t follow up with the outcome of that lawsuit, however, and there is no published record of it online.

Corey Levitan joined Casino.org in 2022 after a long career covering Las Vegas. He currently covers entertainment, dining and gaming news in Las Vegas.

Corey spent six years covering the Vegas Strip for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where he also wrote the most popular humor column in the city’s history. (For “Fear and Loafing,” he tried out 176 Vegas jobs, including poker player, blackjack dealer and Follie Bergere dancer.)

Corey has won more than 100 local, state and national awards for his journalism, which has also appeared in Rolling Stone, New York Magazine and the New York Post.

Corey is a New York native whose hobbies include playing guitar, trying to be a better husband, and arguing with strangers on Facebook.

Contact Corey at corey@casino.org.

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