Five former craps dealers at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Hotel and Casino allege their civil rights were violated when they were retaliated against and wrongfully terminated. 

The former casino employees — Necy Sundquist, Jie Xia, Mary Grace Abon, Susan Samons and Mariah Henry — filed the civil rights lawsuit Sept. 19 in U.S. District Court in Phoenix. 

The plaintiffs allege their retaliatory termination was based on race, gender, ethnicity and national origin. Three of the plaintiffs are Filipinas, one is Chinese and another is Native American, according to the lawsuit. 

The suit states the experienced dealers were wrongfully terminated by casino management, which initially accused them of colluding with gamblers to cheat at an electronic craps game called Roll to Win. 

The plaintiffs, who are represented by Phoenix law firm Burch & Cracchiolo, said at some point in fall 2022 Harrah’s determined it was losing an inordinate amount of money on Roll to Win and investigated, court records show. 

The plaintiffs ask the court to order Harrah’s to pay punitive and exemplary damages, plus reasonable attorney fees and costs. They have asked for a jury trial.  

Harrah’s reported plaintiffs and the other table games dealers they identified as colluding with gamblers to Ak-Chin Police Department and the FBI for possible criminal prosecution. 

“However, during the course of presenting evidence in support of the collusion theory, it was abandoned as no evidence of collusion or intentional wrongdoing was presented,” the lawsuit states. “Instead, the evidence at those [termination] hearings established that Harrah’s management had utterly failed in its duties to properly oversee the Roll to Win game. Harrah’s managers admitted that, although legally obligated by its Tribal State Gaming Compact with the state to train all employees on all games they were obligated to deal, Harrah’s had provided no training to the table games dealers on Roll to Win.” 

The lawsuit alleges Harrah’s surveillance department failed in its oversight responsibilities, not deeming the game worthy of scrutiny. 

“Likewise, the pit bosses charged with ensuring Roll to Win was properly operated did not pay attention to the game,” the lawsuit states. 

The game was discontinued at the casino and the five employees terminated when they were accused of failing to notify a pit boss “of a deviation from standard play.” 

Other white male English-speaking dealers born in the U.S. accused of the same behavior were not terminated, the suit states. 

“In an effort to avoid losing its management contract with Ak-Chin Indian Community, Harrah’s management decided to place the blame for the monetary losses on employees it deemed were least likely to protest or defend themselves,” the suit states. “Plaintiffs raised the issue that only non-white females were suspended from employment and subject to license revocation proceedings.”

Following a hearing, the Arizona Department of Gaming did not revoke any of the plaintiffs’ state gaming licenses and instead determined the problems with the Roll to Win game were the result of Harran’s failure to train plaintiffs and failure to properly supervise the game. 

The plaintiffs allege they had to fight to receive unemployment benefits from the Arizona Department of Economic Security based on their wrongful termination. Lost wages and emotional distress are alleged in the employees’ complaint. 

Four of the five plaintiffs — Jie, Samons, Necy and Abon — allege Harrah’s Surveillance Manager Mikel McBride “yelled at plaintiffs and threatened plaintiffs they would be terminated if they spoke to one another” while they were inside the interrogation room. They alleged that McBride attempted to coerce confessions during 30-minute interrogations, “invading their personal space and at times point in their faces.”