The VIP casino patron, who got the Singaporean court’s favour not to pay his baccarat debt of AU$43 million to a gambling venue in Australia, will now have to explain the reasons for his unwillingness to appear before an Australian court to finally sort the matter out.
As Casino Guardian reported at the beginning of the month, a Brisbane judge has overruled the bid of Dr Wong Yew Choy to set aside the legal action started by The Star Entertainment against him. The Brisbane-based casino operator is seeking to finally get the money owed by the high-roller for his gambling losses generated in 2018 at The Star Gold Coast casino.
At the time he decided that The Star Casino has the right to take its legal claims against the VIP gambler to a local court, Justice Thomas Bradley from the Queensland Supreme Court said he was not persuaded that greenlighting the proceedings will have the desired effect for the gambling operator. He further noted he was not satisfied with the situation and said he was not sure that the move would bring the desired effect for the casino operator following the conclusion of the Singapore proceedings.
Previously, the Singapore International Commercial Court decided that The Star Entertainment had no legal grounds to claim the money owed by the high-roller gambler. A judge then explained that the casino’s claims violated Section 5(2) of the Civil Law Act, which prohibits the recovery of gambling debts.
The High-Roller Gambler Stopped the Cheque’s Payment Once He Got Back to Singapore
As previously reported by Casino Guardian, Dr Wong had been first taken to Singapore’s High Court by The Star Entertainment in February 2019 after he left the company’s Queensland casino without paying his debt of AU$43 million that was generated in the period from July 26th, 2018 and August 2nd, 2018.
The Brisbane-based casino operator is trying to recover the value of a dishonoured cheque that was signed by Dr Wong to settle his debt with the casino under a cheque cashing facility agreement. It was not determined by SICC whether the casino operator had the legal rights claimed or whether it had proved the alleged facts to establish its claims against the player.
According to allegations, the Singaporean high-roller casino player generated a net debt of about AU$43.2 million within seven days at the casino. After signing a blank cheque to cover his expenses at the casino, he returned home only to stop the payment of the cheque and then applied to set aside the lawsuit that The Star Entertainment filed against him.
As mentioned above, the legal claims of the Australian casino were overruled by the Singaporean court only because they contradicted Section 5(2) of the Civil Law Act that barred the gambling operator to address any Singaporean court on the issue.
Now, as a result of the judge’s ruling, Dr Wong will have to appear in court and plead a defence to the essence of the claims made by The Star Entertainment for a second time in Australia because the Singapore proceedings settled none of the issues raised by the casino operator.
- Author
Daniel Williams
