Every day gamblers risk harm to both life and limb as they gather by the side of a roulette table and place their bets, almost oblivious to the ever present danger that the roulette ball might accidentally become airborne and strike them straight in the face.
Well, slight exaggeration, but accidents do happen as one hapless punter discovered whilst on a visit to the Maryland Live! Casino. In this case, the tale of carelessness and misfortune begins at around midnight on December 15, 2013, when a series of calamities eventually led to Leander Stocks losing consciousness and being treated for a concussion. Firstly, Stocks was near the roulette wheel when a casino employee accused of negligence caused the roulette ball to become airborne and strike him at “high velocity” just above his left eye. In an attempt to soothe the man’s discomfort, a security guard subsequently took Stocks to a private room where without consent he placed “unidentified liquid drops” in his eye. Recounting the incident, Leander Stocks said that he then experienced “immediate blurred vision, increased pain and discomfort in the affected area, overwhelming disorientation and pronounced loss of physical coordination.” Straight after, Stocks apparently “became disoriented, fell forward, hit his head against a door, and lost consciousness”, and as a result had to be taken to an emergency room where he was subsequently treated for a concussion. Ever since, Leander Stocks says he has suffered “bouts of blurred vision, occasional loss of coordination and regular episodes of post-traumatic headaches,” and is now suing the casino’s owner, The Cordish Cos, for $300,000, or two counts of negligence and battery costing $150,000 a piece. While unusual, incidents such as these are not unheard of and casinos regularly have lawsuits filed against them each year, with some of the incidents more bizarre than others. In May, for instance, Diana Bellerose brought a lawsuit against the Seminole Hard Rock Casino for accidentally dropping a poker-chip box on her head resulting, as she claims, in “disfigurement, disability, hospitalization and lost earnings”.