A businessman who refuses to pay £600,000 that he happened to lose in just one night at an iconic London casino has claimed that he was unable to gamble because of getting drunk after the venue’s staff offered him multiple shots of 54% Chinese “firewater”.
The 54-year-old Lester Hui shared that he was forced to drink a shot of the aforementioned Maotai liquor after losing the “liar’s dice” drinking game to a senior executive at the Mayfair-based Crown London Aspinalls in February 2016. In front of the High Court in London, he claimed that he has consumed no less than four more Chinese “firewater” shots by the early hours of the morning, and possibly as many as 10, and he was too drunk to continue gambling and even ended up with a blank in his memory regarding the latter part of the session.
The businessman had to recall the evening during the court’s hearing, saying that the vice president of international marketing of the Crown London Aspinalls’ casino – Chris De Lima – had been the one providing the dice for the aforementioned drinking game and had ordered a bottle of Maotai beforehand. In front of the High Court, Mr De Lima described the claims as “ridiculous” and in his turn argued that Lester Hui was sober enough to be able to make decisions and understand the consequences of them.
As previously reported by Casino Guardian, the iconic Crown London Aspinalls is seeking the court to rule that the gambler needs to pay up for his losses, with legal representatives of the casino claiming that Mr Lui was even able to drive himself home after he left.
The Gambler Blames Casino Staff for Not Intervening After Seeing He Was Drunk
Since the first years of its operation, the popular high-end casino has been patronised by royalty and celebrities and is still making its services available to members only.
The High Court heard that the alleged dice game has followed an earlier double baccarat session. During that time, Mr Hui claims to have consumed almost four bottles of wine or champagne. The court also heard that the gambler signed a total of five gambling credit pledges over the same evening, eventually losing £600,000. Crown London Aspinalls now claims that Mr Hui owes the casino a total of £589,724 after the venue made some commission payments deductions that were owed to him.
As claimed by the casino, the patron eventually signed a blank cheque that bounced about a week later. Now, the high-end casino venue is suing the gambler, seeking the court to order him to pay the money he owes as a result of his gambling activities that night.
The gambler, however, claims that he had been unable to control himself and did not know what he had been doing by the time he signed his second gambling credits pledge. He further insists that Mr De Lima lured him back even after he decided to call a halt to his gambling offering him even more alcohol as part of the drunken game of dice. His lawyers now claim that the popular Mayfair casino’s staff deliberately failed to intervene and prevent him from gambling even more after seeing he was already intoxicated.
Apart from that, the businessman’s representatives in court also argued that Crown London Aspinals violated its social responsibility commitments under the gambling licence issued by the competent authorities. These claims were described as ridiculous by the casino lawyers, who claim that such an iconic club would never risk its reputation by doing such a thing.
- Author
Olivia Cole
