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High Roller Fouad al-Zaya "The Fat Man" Wins Court Case |
A billionaire high roller casino player has just won a case at the High Court against London Casino Club: Aspinalls. At stake was a huge £2 million debt to the casino in Mayfair.
Mr Fouad al-Zayat, who´s nickname is the "Fat Man", had been fighting the casino over the gambling debt which he lost in one evening in the year 2000.
Mr al-Zayat had spent £2,000,000 million on casino chips, paying by cheque which later failed to clear.
Fouad al-Zayat had complained to Aspinalls about the croupier claiming that the games were rigged.
Between 2000 and 2006, he had played through over £40 million and ended up £10.5 million in the red.
Mr al-Zayat was regarded by the casino as a VIP player and was gambling at one stage huge sums with the club- in some cases over £1 million in a single night.
His payment by cheque was possible because of this status. But Mr al-Zayat argued that Aspinall's had extended him credit in a way that lay outside of the guidelines of the 1968 Gaming Act.
This Syrian-born businessman has gambled away more than $46 million over 12 years of hard gambling. He lives mainly in Cyprus, and is one of the most famous international high rollers known on the planet thanks to his prolific gambling sprees. He is thought to have also visited the Ritz in Mayfair over 150 times in 3 years, losing a total pile of £10m. His visits to Aspinalls are even more ete watering:: in over 600 sessions, he purchased £91m worth of casino chips and blew in excess of £23m. |
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France to open up online betting in 2009 |
France will start to regulate and open up its online betting market from Q3 in 2009 after agreeing with the EU to open up the market, Budget Minister Eric Woerth said recently
Woerth has been meeting with Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy on steps to avert legal action against France by the EU over their tight reins on online gambling.
Brussels had issued France with a final notice to ammend its online gambling rules or be taken to the European Court of Justice.
"We're starting up a step by step easing of restrictions on online betting, which we have presented to the EU," M. Woerth said
France has two gambling related monopolies -- PMU for horse racing and Francaise des Jeux for lotteries.
But EU authorities are holding fire for details- court action may still be on the cards.
The French Government wants to protect its take from the gaming sector, which is estimated at €5.3 billion euros, but legal action has been threatened against France since the summer of 2007.
"We want to free up the online casino market as well as poker, roulette and black jack," he said.
Woerth said licenses would issues with tight controls in mind on areas such as prevention of minors playing, avoidance of gambling addiction, and tightly controlled advertising and money laundering prevention.
The EU's top court, the European Court of Justice, has stated that gambling firms registered in one EU counrty should be able to run their businesses and market across the entire European Union (twenty-seven states).
Up until now France has refused to issue gambling operators licenses, citting a requirement to protect consumers and put a halt to online crime, an argument that they have been having difficulties justifiying to the EU. |
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888 Renew Sponsorhip Deal with Sevilla |
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888, the online casino, sports betting and poker mega site, has renewed its title sponsorship deal with the Spanish league´s Sevilla Football Club.
888 will continue as the top sponsor of Sevilla for the next 3 years. This was by no means a foregone conclusion as 888 recently cancelled their sponsorship deal with Middlesborough in the Premiership. The Spanish team, however, have enjoyed considerably more success on the field than their counterparts in the north-east of England. Plus it´s a sunnier place to visit. 
888 will feature on the official Seville FC website: they are looking to focus more on promoting their sports betting site, 888sport.com and are particularly keen to cross promote their new sports betting division - 888sport.com - to Sevilla and La Liga football supporters.
A marketing spokesperson at 888 said, "We are made up to be following on from our previous deal with such a giant in the Spanish game. Sevilla work hard, are achievers and are going places- just like 888. We are both in the fast paced entertainment business- there´s a great synergy and understanding between the 2 companies."
Jose Maria del Nido, Head Honcho of Sevilla Football Club, said, "Sevilla FC is proud to be working with the biggest and best online casino, poker and sportsbook: 888. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to them for continuing to work alongside this great club. It´s not just money that we enjoy from 888, but professionalism and marketing expertise of the highest order. "
"We are now one of the top football sides in Spain and in Europe thanks to partners like 888. We will continue to move onwards and upwards. Watch this space. In the previous 3 years we have scooped 2 Uefa Cups, and a UEFA Super Cup, we have progressed well in the Champions League without quite getting the cigars, and we have achieved important results in our domestic league (Spanish Cup and Spanish Super Cup).
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