A longtime Aspinall’s Club member refuses to cash a $600,000 check

The playing “whale” Lester Hui defends himself against him a claim of nearly £600,000 from an exclusive Mayfair Casino in London. Hui claims so Aspinalls Clubs Ltd helped him “get black drunk” to help him lose over half a million pounds playing double chance baccarat at Aspinall’s Casino on Curzon Street.

Hui claims the casino kept bringing him Moutai drinks, a special type of baijiu, a distilled Chinese liquor made in the city of Maotai in China’s Guizhou province and often referred to as “firewater.”

Claims Failure to comply with club social responsibility

According to the Gambling Commission’s rules, Hui claims that the casino failed in its social responsibility towards him when the staff failed to intervene in his self-destructive behavior by continuing to do so serve him the strong liquor so that he would be likely to lose large sums of money to the house edge and to Aspinall’s financial advantage at his expense.

Aspinall has none of it if they can help him and ask for it, he pays back the money he owes under the game contract. The casino claims he stayed sober enough to do it made clear game decisions and drove himself home when he finished playing.

Aspinall is a Club for members only which has entertained celebrities and various royalty over the years since it opened in the 1960s. The alleged gambling debts date back to early 2016. According to reports, Hui was a Member since 1996.

As is usually the case with a game like baccarat, his winnings reportedly fluctuated throughout his gaming session, but he ended up in the hole after spending £600,000 in pursuit of wins. When he was done playing, he wrote a check £589,724which represents his expenses minus a smaller amount that the club previously owed him.

However, The check was not cleared the Bank.

Attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement

According to a report in the Mirror, the club have made multiple attempts to help Hui settle the debt out of court but have been embroiled in the court case since late 2019.

According to Hui, he planned to get drunk and inform the staff while asking them to limit his losses to £30,000 and then got too drunk to know what he was doing while the club allowed him to pay five times his self-imposed limits he claims he has asked the club to help him enforce. In a state of “blackout” drunkenness, Hui claims he was legally unable to enter into a gambling contract to lose money.

The club’s lawyer, Alexander Robson, has cast doubt on Hui’s claim of asking for limits and has vigorously defended himself against the player’s key assumptions.

“If Mr. Hui had made such a formal request to limit his gambling to a certain amount, the request would have been recorded and requested.

“Besides, if Mr. Hui had said he was going to get drunk, he shouldn’t have been allowed to play at all‘ said the lawyer.

Offering free drinks, forcing insufficient breaks from the tables, and continuing to serve drinks after he has started playing is alleged to be a breach of Aspinall’s social responsibility towards its customers.

Source: High Roller claims top casino Mayfair treated him with ‘firewater’ when he gambled £600,000Der Spiegel, March 13, 2023