$55 mln casino winning lawsuit on trial

The District 1 People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday opened the hearing for a lawsuit in which a Vietnamese-American demands that a city-based casino pay him the US$55.5 million he won while gambling three years ago.

Ly Sam, the plaintiff, is a 61-year-old American entrepreneur of Vietnamese origin, and the defendant is Dai Duong Joint Venture Company, which owns the Palazzo Club at the five-star Sheraton Saigon Hotel.

Sam told the court that Dai Duong refused to pay him the exact winning amount $55,542,291.70, which was shown on the screen of game machine No. 13 that he played at the club on October 25, 2009.

At that time, Sam made his own report and asked other players at the club to sign as witnesses. He also took some photos of the machine that reported the winning result.

He then asked the club for a written confirmation of his winnings. The club manager refused, but said Dai Duong would pay Sam within three days. But the money was not forthcoming, and despite two requests from Sam, Dai Duong did not pay.

Eventually, Ewarton Consultancy, an affiliate of Dai Duong, told him that due to “some fault” with the game machine, the result was “invalid”, Sam told the court.

Sam also said Dai Duong had persuaded him to receive $12,000 and closed the case but Sam did not agree. Nonetheless, the company later lowered the amount to only $10,000, Sam added.

Meanwhile, Dai Duong showed the court a video clip of Sam playing at the club on October 25, 2009. The clip showed that Sam beat one of his hands on the machine many times before the screen showed the winning amount.

A Dai Duong employee who was in court as a witness told the jury that Sam had beaten his hand on the machine several times before he reported he had won the prize.

However, Sam rejected the allegation, asserting that he had played normally before the machine showed the prize amount.

After the jury advised that the two sides should negotiate to reach an agreement, Sam said he would agree to a reconciliation agreement in which Dai Duong will pay him at least $30 million.

The trial will be continued on January 2, 2013.