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Discrimination case?
June 21, 2014 at 5:56 am
I am a guy that plays trivia at bars and restaurants. I have been playing trivia at the same places the past couple years. Needless to say, I am somewhat adept at it and win a lot. Now the trivia company's owner which is hired by the restaurant/bars to perform a service, told me that I win too much and to not attend the events. Naturally, I refused to listen to him because I felt he was totally wrong to ask me not to come.
A feud developed and I continued to go to trivia nights at the various locales. The owners and managers of the establishments have did not have any issues with me playing. So my question is, is it lawful for the trivia company's owner and employees to refuse to allow me to particpate at these trivia events?
Is their decision arbitrary and discrminatory and can I take legal action if they refuse to let me participate?
Note, I do not break any rules or equipment, am not unruly, and do not cheat.
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RE: Discrimination case?
June 21, 2014 at 7:36 am
They are well within their right to ask you not to participate in the same way casinos will refuse entry to people who win too much. Regardless of whether you are cheating or not, it's their business.
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RE: Discrimination case?
June 21, 2014 at 9:00 am
Time for you to challenge the Eggheads and get some real cash!
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RE: Discrimination case?
June 21, 2014 at 9:19 am
I think it makes sense. They are getting paid to attract business. If the same person constantly wins there is a good chance that people may quit coming. Just a guess, I'm not there to assess the crowds.
Also, aren't you getting a little bored. The bar cash is probably nice, but have you ever thought of seeking out better competition?
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RE: Discrimination case?
June 21, 2014 at 9:34 am
The trivia company should just make a rule that if you've won X amount of times in a certain period you are no longer eligible to win for a certain period. For instance if you win 3 times in 2014, you're no longer eligible to win for the rest of the year.
Yes you are being discriminated against, but not in a way that as far as I know is illegal. Being knowledgeable is not a protected class.
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RE: Discrimination case?
June 21, 2014 at 9:51 am
While I am not sure how applicable the casino analogy is, I have a relative that works at one in a native American owned facility and they do ask the 'excessively' lucky to leave. Usually, folks that win a big payout on a slot machine are not hassled, management watches winners at Blackjack closely. Someone getting $50 to 60,000 ahead after many hands on that came will be under intense scrutiny.
It's their building, they can ask anyone to leave at any time. Since the facility is on tribal land, management can (and has) fired employees for not being tribal members, which is racial discrimination, and there is no recourse as there would be outside the tribal governance.
As for the OP, I can see the organizers having some concern how it looks to the majority of folks attracted to the business by the promotion. Their better recourse might be to rotate games of mental skill with other games emphasizing luck or physical skill, or the ability to eat 850 cocktail wieners at one sitting.
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RE: Discrimination case?
June 21, 2014 at 12:28 pm
(June 21, 2014 at 9:19 am)Cato Wrote: I think it makes sense. They are getting paid to attract business. If the same person constantly wins there is a good chance that people may quit coming. Just a guess, I'm not there to assess the crowds.
This is probably the concern, though I'm not sure it would actually go that way. I used to play free poker at bars for cash prizes - the same handful of people (including myself) won better than 90% of the games but the same donkeys would come back night after night even though they never won. There were incentives for participation though - even if you were terrible, if you played enough, you earned a spot in a tournament where top prize was a seat in a WSOP event.
These sort of operations aren't exactly huge money makers for the bar - in my experience, a lot of the players spent very little on food or drinks. It's not surprising at all that the OPs trivia game would seek to spread the wins around to keep player interest. It's hard to get games in to a bar and keep them there (the bar pays a contracted amount for the entertainment company to run the game and hopefully bring in new business).
In any case, it's perfectly legal for them to exclude anyone they want for any reason, except those protected by law.
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RE: Discrimination case?
June 21, 2014 at 12:57 pm
My best friend owns Tasty Trivia in Orlando, FL, and I asked him about this.
He makes a certain percentage of bar tabs over a certain amount. If one person were to win over and over at one location or followed him around to multiple locations and won constantly, it would absolutely affect his attendance, which affects the amount of money he makes. He would do two things: he would politely ask the person as an aside to cut back a bit. The second thing he would do is to challenge his FB/Twitter followers to beat this guy, and try to use it as a positive thing.
The bottom line, Hobie, is that the person who runs the trivia night at your bar is a businessman, and not likely raking in the dough. You are playing his game. He can make up whatever rules he wants to protect his ability to make money. He's given you an opportunity to win some cash, and you have. Do the guy a favor and tone it back a bit. Go to another trivia night at a different bar, and win some money there. The guy's not an asshole.
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RE: Discrimination case?
June 21, 2014 at 1:05 pm
(June 21, 2014 at 12:57 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote: My best friend owns Tasty Trivia in Orlando, FL, and I asked him about this.
He makes a certain percentage of bar tabs over a certain amount.
Interesting - the agreements I know of around here are either a fixed amount per game, or are dependent on the number of players.
Your friend's arrangement is much smarter.
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RE: Discrimination case?
June 21, 2014 at 1:18 pm
The dude's a genius. He is now doing trivia nights 6 nights a week, has an employee so he can do multiple events per night, and he is in the running for Best of Orlando's Best trivia night. He's now making enough where he was able to quit his job.
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