More Malay Gambling Malaise

Published: Friday, August 26, 2005 Online-Casinos.com

MORE MALAY GAMBLING MALAISE

These gambling debts are tough to recover

From the land gambling industry comes the story of a Malaysian socialite with too much money (or maybe not enough) and too little sense.

The divorced wife of a member of local royalty, Datin Arina Abdullah, lost a cool GBP 2 million at London's Ritz Club casino last year, and is being sought by yet another London casino for a further GBP 1 million debt.

Early this year, Grosvenor Casino Ltd sued Abdullah in the London High Court to recover the sum after she went on a gambling spree in London last August brandishing a credit guarantee from a Malaysian bank, reports the Malay Mail.

She lost the money on roulette, blackjack and stud poker in a single night having issued several cheques to the casino that bounced.

The casino also sued a Malaysian bank - which had guaranteed her credit through a reference letter - to recover the debt, and it is believed that the bank is trying to negotiate an out-of-court settlement for a third of the value of the debt.

Grosvenor Casinos is owned by Rank Group Plc. It has 33 casinos in Britain.

The Malay Mail also reported last November that Abdullah, who was divorced from her husband in 2002, lost GBP 2 million at the casino.

The club granted her a GBP 1 million cheque-cashing facility on her first visit to the casino but Arina lost all the money in a single night.

She returned two weeks later and asked for another GBP 1 million and lost GBP 976,000.