"Lucky Chances" mauls a patron then seeks protection

This video certainly appears that a patron who wasn't resisting was mauled by "Lucky Chances" employees.





Casino Sues To Keep Videos Of Patron Fights Off YouTube

COLMA, Calif. -- Representatives for a Colma card room have filed an unusual lawsuit in an attempt to stop people from posting internet videos that show people fighting at the gambling establishment.

The suit was filed over cell phone video of several fights that happened inside the Lucky Chances Casino. The exposure the videos have received on YouTube has hurt its business, according to and the casino owners.

One of the videos posted on YouTube under the name "Casino Fight 555" shows a man in a black suit wrestling with a patron at one of the card tables. Another clip titled "Casino Fight 333" shows a skirmish breaking out in one of the larger card rooms.

Company representatives wouldn't talk to KTVU about the legal action. But in the suit, the owners of Lucky Chances said the video paints their business in a negative light as a "disorderly and unsafe" place.

KTVU spoke with a regular patron outside the card room who didn't want to be identified. He said many frequent visitors like him have already seen this video.

“The way money changes hands and the way people come in here when they really can't afford to, I'm surprised this doesn't happen a lot more often,” said the man. “Anyone coming to this place is not going to be deterred by something like that, I'll tell ya."

Other patrons KTVU spoke with agreed.

“It doesn't look good,” said Joe Liu, who was visiting the card room while vacationing from Columbus, Ohio. “But I don't know who's right, or who's wrong.”

KTVU also showed the video to Golden Gate University law professor Michael Zampirini.

“My first impression is that it's not somebody taping the fight. It's someone taping the security camera taping the fight,” said Zampirini.

In the upper left-hand corner of the video, time-code is visible on the screen. In the suit, Lucky Chances claimed the people who posted this video on YouTube without their consent were essentially stealing from them.

And in an era of ubiquitous cell phone cameras and hand-held recorders, Zampirini said there will be many more lawsuits like this.

This is a big area of internet law and privacy,” said Zampirini. “If you're used to taking out your phone and just filming whatever's there, you may be filming without the authority to do so.”

A YouTube spokesperson told KTVU over the phone that they would reveal the identities of the people who posted the video if a judge ordered them to do so.