Gambler must honour £2 million debt, judge declares
A high-court judge has ordered a gambler to honour his £2 million debt to a top London casino.
Foud-al-Zayat, a Syrian businessman spent £91 million over a period of 12 years playing at a Mayfair club.
In March 2000, Mr Zayat wrote the casino a cheque for £2 million after he lost the amount during just one session there.
Mr Justice David Steel, who presided over the case, observed: “The scale of both his wealth and his gambling instincts are revealed by the fact that between October 1994 and April 2006 the defendant visited the claimant’s club on over 600 occasions, purchasing gaming tokens to the value of over £91 million and, in the process, losing over £23 million.”
While the casino said it regretted taking the action against such a valued client, nicknamed “the fat man”, it stressed that its position as a publicly owned company would not allow for the debt to go unpaid.
Under UK law, six years is the cut off point for money to be claimed back.
During the hearing, it was revealed that Mr Zayat had previously been sued over unpaid debts by the Ritz club, where he lost almost £10 million between 1999 and 2001.