UK High Court judge Mr. Justice Cotter has dismissed nightclub owner Lester Hui’s claims that a private Mayfair casino plied him with 54% proof Chinese “firewater” causing him to lose £589,724 ($814,073) playing baccarat in a “blackout drunk” state.
In an Approved Judgement on Friday, Justice Cotter ordered Hui to pay the above amount he owes to Crown London Aspinalls, saying the high roller “exaggerated the amount he drank.”
Hui drove his Bentley 20 miles home that night
Hui, who was a VIP member of Aspinalls, argued that the London casino took advantage of his drunk state and should have prevented further gambling. Cotter’s judgement refutes the claim, revealing that Hui drove his Bentley 20 miles home that night. The judge ultimately ruled that none of Aspinalls staff “considered, or had sufficient reason to consider [Hui] was too intoxicated to gamble.”
Judge Cotter also established the casino was not obligated to halt Hui’s gambling, adding: “There was no breach of relevant policy or code provisions”
Aspinalls is owned by Australian casino giant Crown Resorts and, according to its Managing Director Michael Branson, the exclusive club has “a small membership of approximately 15,000, of whom a few thousand would typically be active at any one time.”
Throughout the trial, participants highlighted how exclusive casino clubs in London such as Aspinalls were players in an intensely competitive market, with the private establishments jockeying for the “big players.”