Mayfair Casino Accused Of Using ‘Firewater’ To Get Chinese Gambler Into £600k Debt
Summary
- Chinese VIP gambler Lester Hui lost £600,000 playing at a Mayfair casino
- Aspinall’s Club Ltd is suing Lester Hui after his cheque bounced
- Lester Hui claims casino staff deliberately got him drunk for their financial gain
Aspinall’s Club Ltd in Mayfair is in the news as it continues to take legal steps to recover £600,000 from a Chinese VIP gambler known as Lester Hui.
Aspinall’s Club Ltd which was founded by John Aspinall decided to take legal action after Lester Hui ended up losing £600,000 at its Curzon Street casino.
Lester Hui Not Willing To Pay £600,000 Gambling Debt
This case goes back to Feb 9, 2016 when Lester Hui showed up at the Curzon Street casino and started to engage in a game of double chance baccarat. Lester started out well as he got lucky and started winning but as the game progressed, his luck ran out and he started to pile up his losses.
At the end of the night, Lester had incurred over £600,000 in losses and ended up handing the casino a cheque for £589,724. The remaining amount was apparently what the casino owed Lester Hui. When the casino tried to cash his cheque it bounced and Lester wasn’t willing to make it good which forced Aspinall’s Club Ltd to take legal action to recover the outstanding funds.
Lester Hui has launched a defense which claims that the casino staff at the Curzon Street casino had continued to offer him ‘firewater’ which is a special Chinese alcohol and kept giving him more until he was ‘blackout drunk’. Lester claims that he was completely intoxicated and legally incapable of making any decisions and hence should not be held liable for the £600,000 in losses.
His legal team claims that casino staff deliberately shirked their responsibility to protect customers from gambling harm and did not comply with their social gambling responsibilities. Lester’s legal team alleges the UK casino kept giving him alcohol as it was in their best interests to get him drunk and let him incur huge financial losses.
Aspinall’s Club Ltd Disputes Lester Hui’s Claims
Aspinall’s Club Ltd has disputed all of those claims and allege that Lester Hui was not blackout drunk as he claims to be and was in his senses to make clear decisions as well as drive himself home after his gambling session.
The case will continue to play out in court but it does not look too good for Aspinall’s Club Ltd as of this writing.
Carolyn DuttonAuthor
Carolyn is our legislation expert, with a background in law she is able to cover the current state of gambling around the world
