Poker legend Phil Ivey has won nine World Series of Poker bracelets in his career and a little over $14million, and on top of that last August he also won a reported £7.3million whilst playing Punto Banco at Crockfords Casino in Mayfair, or so he thought as the casino refused to pay him his winnings and as a result Ivey has now launched legal action against the casino.
Last August Ivey was in London with an unknown woman and over two days and nights he won £7.3million playing the card game Punto Banco. At one point he was reported to have lost £500,000, but after increasing his stakes he eventually won the reported £7.3million. Matthew Dowd is a lawyer from Archerfield Partners and he is acting on behalf of Ivey. Mr Dowd said, “It is with great regret that Phil has been forced to issue court proceedings against Crockfords to secure payment of his winnings.”
Ivey himself had the following to say about the upcoming legal action. He said, “Over the years, I have won and lost substantial sums at Crockfords and I have always honoured my commitments. At the time, I was given a receipt for my winnings but Crockfords subsequently withheld payment. I therefore feel I have no alternative but to take legal action.”
Crockfords Casino refused to comment last August, but now that Ivey has lawyers on the case they have made the following comment. It reads, “In this rare instance we are able to confirm that our position, which is supported by strong legal advice, has been made very clear to Mr Ivey's solicitors from the start. We shall be filing our defence shortly.”
It will be interesting to see what happens with this case. Perhaps the casino will pay Mr Ivey his winnings and that will be the end of the matter, but they may wish to go to the courts and fight it out. Or is it a case of the casino being bad losers and they are trying to find some loophole so they do not have to payout the winnings to Phil Ivey. Watch this space as they say.