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A high-profile court case involving a wealthy gambler and Aspinalls, an exclusive London casino, has concluded with the gambler being ordered to pay his substantial debt of £600,000. Lester Hui, a nightclub owner, had claimed he was made excessively drunk at the casino, leading to his massive losses.
A Night of Celebration Turns Contentious
Lester Hui, a regular VIP member at Aspinalls, visited the casino in February 2016 for Chinese New Year celebrations. According to Hui, the Vice President of International Marketing at the casino proposed a game of “liar’s dice” involving Maotai, a potent Chinese liquor. Hui alleged that after losing the game and consuming the shot of Maotai, he became “blackout drunk”.
Hui contended that prior to the drinking game, he had already consumed three and a half bottles of wine or champagne. He claimed to have drunk at least four to ten further shots of Maotai before heading to the baccarat table. In just over 20 minutes of play, he lost $400,000, with his total losses for the night amounting to £589,724. After this, Hui issued a blank check to cover his losses, which subsequently bounced, prompting the casino to initiate legal action against him in March.
During the court proceedings, Hui maintained that Aspinalls had exploited his inebriated state and should have prevented him from gambling further.
Judgement Dismisses Claims of Excessive Alcohol Consumption
In a ruling delivered by High Court Judge Mr. Justice Cotter, it was determined that Hui had significantly overstated his alcohol consumption and that the casino staff had not encouraged excessive drinking.
Judge Cotter stated, “I am satisfied that whatever Mr Hui did drink – which is probably very significantly less than he claims he drank – it did not have a readily observable effect upon him such that members of staff noticed, or should have noticed.”
Further casting doubt on Hui’s claims of being “blackout drunk”, the Judge noted that Hui managed to drive his Bentley home, covering a distance of 20 miles.
The final judgement found Hui liable for the outstanding debt and ordered its repayment along with interest. Judge Cotter concluded, “I am satisfied that the staff did not know, and there are no adequate reasons to support the proposition why they should have known, that Mr Hui was sufficiently intoxicated that he should not be allowed to be gambling.”
