Casino Sued over Millions spent in Minutes
May 20, 2009
Melbourne’s Crown Casino is being sued by compulsive Australian gambler Harry Kakavas after he lost more than 2 million Australian dollars (approximately $1.5million US) on their card tables in just 43 minutes.
The 42 year old property baron claims that the casino intentionally facilitated his gambling in spite of being aware of his addiction and ban from neighbouring state Sydney’s casinos. Kakavas alleges that the group flew him to their casino in a private jet where he was given gift boxes of 50,000 dollars in “lucky gambling money” on more than 14 occasions to encourage him to gamble.
Evidence presented has shown that in 16 months between 2005 and 2006, Kakavas turned over 1.5 billion dollars at the casino and was authorised to place bets of 300,000 dollars per hand. His total losses are allegedly totalled at 30 million dollars and as such he is suing the Crown Casino group for 20.5 million.
Crown’s defence team reject the claim that Kakavas’s gambling addiction was exploited and states that he was banned from the casino in August 2006 after losing the now infamous 2 million dollars in just 43 minutes at the baccarat tables.
The case is currently pending, but if Crown is found to have breached the Casino Control Act by allowing Kakavas to gamble despite knowledge of his addiction and ban from casino properties in Sydney, the group could also be liable to pay as much as 700 million dollars in illegally-paid winnings to the Victorian state government.
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