Blackjack Player Offended by Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort Policy

The 30 year old Rana Chevalier and her family are frequent visitors to the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant, Michigan as they like to visit, play blackjack and have a good time. Rana, her sister Jennifer Kashat and their 58 year old mother Nidhal Kashat decided to visit the casino on the 7th of December and have a night out as usual but this time around the family had an unpleasant experience and felt that they were discriminated.

The three women were seated at a blackjack table and were in the middle of game having fun and speaking their native language of Chaldean, since they were Chaldean Catholics. The pit boss approached them from behind and forbid them from speaking in their native language stating that only English communication was allowed at the table. Rana stated that they way the information was conveyed was offending and she immediately countered by telling the pit boss that no one had the authority to tell them what they could or could not speak.

Casinos have strict policy of what is allowed and not allowed at the table because casinos are often targets by scam artists and players who are looking to pull a fast one. To avoid issues like this, casinos have strict policies to enforce and ensure there is no room for cheating at the table.

Erik Rodriguez, the Interim Public Relations Director for the casino stated that the ‘only English’ rule at the table had been in place for a number of years and that the staff was only following policy which is common in the majority of casinos located in the United States.

In a statement, Rodriguez said

It’s not about any disrespect or anything racially motivated. Those are just the standards we have at the table to protect the game. The dealers are taught and trained to handle it as politely and appropriately as possible

Rodriguez also confirmed that the casino had no restriction on what languages can be spoken within their premises, they insisted for ‘only English’ to be spoken while a game was in process.

Rana stated that she and her family had spoken Chaldean at the casino in the past and even had casino employees compliment them for the way they speak and never had an encounter like this before. Rana was upset at how aggressive the pit boss was towards them and has vowed to take their business elsewhere and never return to the casino.