Atlantic City Casinos Face Price-Fixing Antitrust Suit

Several casino-hotel operators, including MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Inc., are being sued for allegedly conspiring to manipulate room prices in Atlantic City through the use of algorithms, reported Bloomberg. 

A proposed class action was filed on Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging that a scheme beginning in 2018 violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

Two New Jersey residents, the plaintiffs, claimed that they paid higher-than-normal room prices due to the defendant’s use of a pricing algorithm platform created by the Rainmaker Group. They allege that the prices were “supra-competitive.”

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According to the complaint, the corporate defendants and their hotels (including Harrah’s Atlantic City, Bally’s Atlantic City, and Borgata) utilized Cendyn’s platform to increase their room rates beyond what would have been possible in a competitive market.

A second antitrust conspiracy case has been filed this year against casino-hotel operators who use a shared pricing platform. Caesars, MGM, and other defendants are seeking dismissal of a similar lawsuit filed in January regarding price-fixing of room rates in Las Vegas.