Phil Ivey, the world’s number one poker player who is referred to as the Tiger Woods of the sport, has been refused £7.3 million by a top British casino after he won the incredible sum on their table.
The American gambler is still waiting for his money after the company hired private investigators to probe his efforts. Crockfords, the world’s oldest gambling club, has reportedly told the Gambling Commission the payout is being withheld.
Ivey was reportedly betting £150,000 a hand at the club on a card game in London’s upmarket area of Mayfair. In his career, Ivey has won eight World Series of Poke titles, but, after almost losing £500,000, he turned over this deficit to record a huge win over two nights in the English capital.
The Malaysian gaming firm Genting, who own Crockfords, have flown investigators into the city to question every member of staff working during Ivey’s winning reign. This also includes poring over every hour of surveillance footage in the club, and they’ve also inspected the cards and the dealing shoe used in Ivey’s game.
The casino has now returned the gambler’s £1 million stake, but lawyers for each side are now locked in dispute over the rest of the money. It is believed that Ivey played the game, Punto Banco, which is a skill-free game where the gambler plays against the banker only and looks to get a score as close to nine as possible. It’s impossible to fix the outcome of it.
It seems like this conflict won’t be concluded anytime soon and that Mr. Ivey’s checking account will only be given the money he is owed when Crockfords are 100 percent sure he’s done nothing untoward.
