Vietnam casino refuses to pay $55 million prize
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Ly Sam, a Vietnamese American, has filed a lawsuit demanding the Palazzo Club inside the 5-star Sheraton Saigon Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City to pay out US$55.5 million in cash prize he said he won in 2009.
The case should have been tried at a civil court before Tet early this month but it was delayed since both Mr. Sam and the defendant – Dai Duong Joint Venture Company that operates the casino – provided additional evidence to the court, said Mai Xuan Binh, the presiding judge of the People’s Court of District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
“This is a lawsuit with the biggest ever claim in Vietnam. We will hear the case at the earliest time possible,” said Mr. Binh.
On October 25, 2009, while Sam was playing the Landlord Game on game machine No. 13 at the Palazzo Club, the machine reported that he won the huge cash prize.
Sam asked the club to make a report to confirm the winning result but the club’s manager refused to do so, just promising to pay the prize to the winner within three days.
Sam himself made a report on his winning and many other game players at the club put their signatures on the minutes as witnesses.
He also took some photos of the machine that reported the wining result.
On October 30, 2009, Sam sent Dai Duong a letter asking for the prize but the company did not respond.
In another letter to Dai Duong a month later, Sam stressed that the company had to be responsible for paying the prize.
Ewarton Consultancy Co., Ltd, an affiliate of Dai Duong, later replied to Sam that “the winning result was invalid because it had resulted from something wrong that happened to the game machine.”
Not accepting such an argument, Mr. Sam has sued Dai Duong to court.
According to a source, Mr. Sam is residing in Ho Chi Minh City and is engaged in the restaurant business.
Although gambling is illegal in Vietnam, classy casinos are permitted but they are open to foreign passport holders only.
