High-rolling gambler Lester Hui is being taken to court by Aspinall’s Clubs Ltd for his failure to pay up after losing almost £600,000 at the brand’s iconic casino in Mayfair. The casino patron, however, claims that the casino staff encouraged him to gamble more and more by offering him alcohol until he was “blackout drunk”.
Crown London Aspinalls seems to have had enough of a delay with the settlement of the player’s debt, so Mr Hui is now being sued by the casino operator after spending a massive amount of money while playing double-chance baccarat at its Mayfair casino and then refusing to settle his debt.
However, the player, who has been a member of Aspinall’s since 1996, is defending the case, insisting that the casino staff encouraged him to gamble, even when they saw he was already too drunk to play, and continued to serve him Moutai – traditional Chinese liquor that is also known as “firewater” because of being extremely strong.
According to the Mayfair casino patron, the employees deliberately failed to intervene at the time and prevent him from spending more money. Rather than doing so, they let him play on even though he was so drunk that he would gamble massive sums and eventually lose to the financial benefit of the casino. Mr Hui’s legal representatives now claim that Crown London Aspinalls breached its social responsibility commitments under the provisions of its gambling licence.
Mayfair Casino Patron Claims He Was Allowed to Play While Being “Blackout Drunk”
The owners of the exclusive Mayfair casino, however, are demanding that the court should make Lester Hui pay up, insisting that the player was sober enough to make clear decisions at the time, to an extent that he was even able to drive himself home in the early hours afterwards.
Patronised by royalty and celebrities, Aspinall’s casino in Mayfair is only accessible to members and has always been regarded as a synonym for class, luxury, and an excellent gambling experience. However, the club now had to take its patron to court after Mr Hui did not pay the six-figure debt that he picked up while playing on Crown London Aspinalls on February 9th, 2016.
As heard by the High Court, the casino patron had already picked up a few winnings at the time when he started out at the casino. Unfortunately for him, his luck then changed and, by the end of the night, his total gaming loss has risen to approximately £600,000. After he finished playing, he signed off a £589,724 worth of cheque to the casino but the cheque bounced as soon as the club tried to pay it in.
In its lawsuit, Aspinall’s Clubs Ltd claims that it made a number of attempts to resolve the debt picked up by its patron without reaching out to court but finally launched a claim for recovery of Mr Hui’s debt in September 2019. Now, it is suing the player for breach of contract and for dishonouring a bill of exchange in the form of the cheque he offered the casino to cover his losses. The lawyers of Crown London Aspinalls have rejected all claims made by Mr Hui as ridiculous and unfounded, saying that such a high-end club would never risk its decades of impeccable reputation by allowing a patron to spend their money when drunk.
- Author
Olivia Cole
