{"id":30194,"date":"2015-08-01T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T16:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=30194"},"modified":"2015-07-31T14:12:18","modified_gmt":"2015-07-31T21:12:18","slug":"ritz-club-london-wins-2-million-court-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ritz-club-london-wins-2-million-court-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Ritz Club London Wins \u00a32 Million Court Case Against Swiss No-Pay High Roller"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ritz Club London<\/a>, one of the city’s most exclusive members-only casinos, has won a \u00a32 million ($3.1 million) lawsuit, plus interest, against a high roller who refused to pay his debts by claiming he is a gambling addict.<\/p>\n

\"Ritz
The tony Ritz Club London has sued and won against regular high-roller Safa Abdulla Al-Geabury (not pictured). A London judge ruled he must repay the debt, plus interest. (Image: Ritz Club London)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Ritz sued Safa Abdulla Al-Geabury, after the Swiss businessman went on a $2 million gambling spree at the club\u2019s roulette tables in February 2014, and lost.<\/p>\n

Al-Geabury wrote out a check to fund the session, but it bounced when the casino tried to cash it the following morning.<\/p>\n

The court heard that the Ritz had refused a request to advance Al-Geabury a further \u00a35 million ($7.8 million) after he had lost the initial $2 million.<\/p>\n

Al-Geabury\u2019s defense relied on the court accepting that he is a gambling addict, and that staff should have known this and stopped him from playing.<\/p>\n

He claimed that he had self-excluded himself from the Ritz Club in 2009 because, in his own words, \u201cI have brain problem, I am addict of gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The businessman demanded that the debts be written off, while counter-claiming for a further \u00a33.4million ($5.3 million), which represents the amount he said he lost at the Ritz between October 2010 and February 2014.<\/p>\n

Author of his Own Misfortunes<\/h2>\n

Defense attorney Kevin Pettican argued that the club had violated the terms of its gambling license by allowing his client to gamble post-2009. However, the Ritz had revoked the self-exclusion agreement at Al-Geabury\u2019s behest, following consultation with the UK Gambling Commission.<\/p>\n

Since then, the businessman (whose net-worth is close to $1 billion) used the luxurious surroundings of the Ritz to impress wealthy clients, according to court documents. Clive Freedman QC represented the Ritz, noting that Al-Geabury\u2019s losses were of \u201clittle or no consequence\u201d for a man of his extreme wealth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ruling in favor of the Ritz, Judge Simler declared that Al-Geabury had \u201cfailed to establish that he had any gambling disorder at any material time and ultimately accepted that he never told any of the casino staff about any such problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the author of his own misfortunes,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Al-Geabury was an \u201cintemperate witness,\u201d whose account \u201clacked credibility and was riddled with inconsistency,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

$19.4 Million in Unpaid Debts<\/h2>\n

The Ritz has been plunged into the red lately because of the mounting unpaid gambling debts<\/a> of London\u2019s high rollers, which has forced it to pursue its debtors aggressively in the courts.<\/p>\n

According to the London Evening Standard<\/em>, the casino has litigated against 10 people in the last 12 months alone, in an effort to recoup 2013 losses of \u00a312.5 million ($19.4 million.)<\/p>\n

In 2014, the casino won a similar High Court battle against Noora Al-Daher, the billionaire wife of the Omani foreign minister, who also claimed gambling addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome today’s decision from the High Court,\u201d said the Ritz in an official statement. \u201cAs a responsible provider of gambling we are committed to ensuring the strictest standards of care towards both our customers and staff at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ritz Club London, one of the city’s most exclusive members-only casinos, has won a \u00a32 million ($3.1 million) lawsuit, plus interest, against a high roller who refused to pay his debts by claiming he is a gambling addict. The Ritz sued Safa Abdulla Al-Geabury, after the Swiss businessman went on a $2 million gambling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":30210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,11,10,13,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRitz Club London Wins \u00a32 Million Court Case Against Swiss No-Pay High Roller<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Ritz Club London wins its lawsuit against \u201cintemperate witness\u201d Swiss businessman Safa Al-Geabury.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ritz Club London Wins \u00a32 Million Court Case Against Swiss No-Pay High Roller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Ritz Club London wins its lawsuit against \u201cintemperate witness\u201d Swiss businessman Safa Al-Geabury.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ritz-club-london-wins-2-million-court-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-01T16:00:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-31T21:12:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Ritz-of-London-lawsuit-Safa-Abdulla-Al-Geabury.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"634\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"396\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ritz-club-london-wins-2-million-court-case\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ritz-club-london-wins-2-million-court-case\/\",\"name\":\"Ritz Club London Wins \u00a32 Million Court Case Against Swiss No-Pay High Roller\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ritz-club-london-wins-2-million-court-case\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ritz-club-london-wins-2-million-court-case\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Ritz-of-London-lawsuit-Safa-Abdulla-Al-Geabury.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-01T16:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-31T21:12:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The Ritz Club London wins its lawsuit against \u201cintemperate witness\u201d Swiss businessman Safa Al-Geabury.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ritz-club-london-wins-2-million-court-case\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ritz-club-london-wins-2-million-court-case\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ritz-club-london-wins-2-million-court-case\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Ritz-of-London-lawsuit-Safa-Abdulla-Al-Geabury.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Ritz-of-London-lawsuit-Safa-Abdulla-Al-Geabury.jpg\",\"width\":634,\"height\":396,\"caption\":\"The toney Ritz Club London has sued and won against regular high-roller Safa Abdulla Al Geabury. 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