New Delhi, July 4 – The wife of Oman Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Al-Busaidi has sued London’s exclusive club, The Ritz casino, after she lost a staggering GBP 2 million at a card table.
Nora Al-Daher, 50, who lives in Muscat and is a gambling addict, blew her millions in a few hours at the casino’s Punto Banco table in April 2012. Punto Banco is a high-stakes game, much akin to what James Bond is shown playing in movies.
She told London’s High Court that the casino staff took advantage of her addiction and stood behind her chair egging her to play on even when she was losing money big time.
“I needed someone that night to tell me to stop playing and bring me to my senses,” Daily Mail quoted the multi-millionaire telling the court. The case reached the court after The Ritz sued Al-Daher for 1 million pounds, claiming that some of the cheques she had handed over that night were not honoured.
The casino has denied Al-Daher’s accusations and insisted that she was not put under any pressure to place her bets. The casino maintained that she had been an old and loyal customer of the club. Between 1999 and April 2012, The Ritz alone had received more than GBP 20 million in buy-ins from Al-Daher, of which she had lost more than GBP 7 million.
-INDIA TODAY
