Gaming | Singapore court blocks Australian casino debt collection attempt

A Singapore court has struck out an attempt from an Australian-based casino company to collect a gambling debt amounting to 40.2 million Singapore dollars (238 million patacas) from a Singaporean high roller.
The judge’s decision emphasizes that Singapore’s law does not enforce the recovery of money won on a wager, except when it is regulated by the city state’s own legislation, for example the Singaporean Casino Control Act, The Straits Times reported.
The decision made by the International Commercial Court put down the intentions from The Star Entertainment QLD, which decided to sue Singaporean national Wong Yew Choy, after a two-day hearing held last August.
Adding to the decision, the same court, under the ruling of international judge Jeremy Cooke, also ordered a reimbursement of the amount spend by Wong (about 118,000 patacas) to strike out the case.
The grounds for the judicial decision are not yet known but it is expected that they follow similar cases in other jurisdictions, such as mainland China where, due to the non-recognition of the activity, there is no legal means to recover gambling debts.
According to information revealed on the case, the Brisbane-based Star Entertainment Group claimed the sum allegedly lost by Wong in baccarat games at The Star Gold Coast casino in Queensland.
In the defense presented by Wong, the Singaporean national said that the casino had made mistakes on the baccarat games he played in and he should not have to pay the debt.
The casino had acknowledged “dealing errors” occurred between July 29 and August 1, but stressed it took prompt actions to fix the problem and noted that Wong had suffered no losses from the errors.
The casino also mentioned that the management had met Wong on three occasions after the errors, during which there was no mention, discussion or agreement that the gambling losses would be waived.
The casino mentioned that Wong had acquired a debt during his stay at The Star Gold Coast between July 26 and August 2 last year.
According to the case documents, Wong is a well- known high roller who was a patron in several other casinos in Sydney, Manila, and Macau.
The case against Wong resulted from a dishonored cheque he had signed.
Wong’s lawyers argued that the reality is about recovering money The Star won on a wager disguised as a claim for an unpaid loan.
In the meantime, The Star is appealing against the court’s order to strike out the claim involving the largest reported casino debt sum filed in a Singapore court. RM