LANSING – A Detroit casino is not responsible for more than $6 million investors lost to a fraudster who gambled away their money playing blackjack, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.

MGM Grand Detroit is not responsible for the losses, even though the casino extended credit and perks to the gambler and could have done a credit check that would have shown his lack of a source of income and prior record of financial crimes, a three-judge panel said in a written opinion, released Wednesday.

The appeals court upheld an earlier ruling in Wayne County Circuit Court and rejected claims brought against MGM Grand in Detroit by a dozen investors who say they were swindled by Gino Accettola.

The investors loaned "substantial sums of money" to Accettola, beginning in 2014, which Accettola was supposed to invest in construction projects in Florida and Michigan, according to evidence in the case.

They later sued Accettola for fraud and obtained a judgment against him, and during the course of the lawsuit, Accettola admitted gambling away the money, playing blackjack at MGM.

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Accettola, 52, is now serving a seven- to 30-year prison sentence for financial crimes, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.

"This guy was treated like royalty with all my clients' stolen money," said Bingham Farms attorney Corey Silverstein, who represents the investors.

In the lawsuit, the investors alleged that MGM extended credit, known as "markers," to Accettola, and as part of that arrangement he signed a customer credit agreement that permitted MGM to conduct a background check on him.

"According to plaintiffs, a background check would have revealed that Accettola had no employment or other source for the millions he used to gamble at defendant's casino," the judges wrote in their opinion.

"It also would have revealed that he had a criminal history involving identity theft and larceny," among other crimes, and that he had served significant time in prison.

The suit alleged that MGM also "facilitated Accettola's gambling addiction by pampering him with free or discounted rooms at its hotels, as well as gifts and meals."

But the appeals court rejected all of those arguments, plus others.

The judges said the casino acted in good faith and in accordance with its normal business practices in dealing with Accettola and did not know the money he gambled was obtained by fraud.

The judges also rejected the investors' arguments that Accettola was such a poor blackjack player that he did not receive reasonable value for the credit the casino advanced him.

The judges agreed "Accettola was "a terrible gambler," and the casino enjoyed a greater edge when he was placing bets than it did with the typical blackjack player.

But that does not mean Accettola did not receive "reasonably equivalent value" from the casino for the bets he placed and the credit he received, the judges ruled.

"Requiring the casino to provide reasonably equivalent value that accounts for each gambler's individual skill level would place an untenable burden on casinos to identify poorly skilled players and either exclude them from their premises or restrict them to only those games at which they exhibited fair knowledge and good basic strategy."

Silverstein said Accettola was "like the worst gambler on the planet." Although "the casinos always have the edge on players ... this guy made it that much more."

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.