VietNamNet Bridge – The highest gambling win at a casino in the world so far is $40 million, and this record can be broken when the court’s judgment on Mr. Ly Sam’s $55 million lawsuit is executed.

The $55 million lawsuit comes to an end
Lawsuit asking for $55.5 million of gambling winnings unsolved

The Sheraton Saigon Hotel

The world has recorded many stories about gamblers who only spent a very small amount, but won tens of millions of US dollars from the casino. The highest win so far is $40 million, of an American man named Archie Karas in 1995.

Vietnam now has a world record with the amount of over $55 million. As a member of the Palazzo Club of Sheraton Saigon Hotel since 2005, as usual, on 25/10/2009, Mr. Ly Sam went to the club to play at the gambling machine No. 13.

After many time putting $300 into the game machine and lost most of the money, he saw the winning alarm with the amount of $55,542,256.7. He continued to bet $5 from the winning amount, lost and the machine subtracted $5.

The remaining prize displayed on the machine was $55,542,251.7 in the credit column of the player. At that time he stopped the game. Those who were there advised him to call Sheraton staff to pay the win.

This record high win was not accepted by the club owner, the Dai Duong JV, reasoning that the game machine was broken down. After several unsuccessful negotiations, Ly Sam took the case to court in late 2009 and on January 7, District 1 People's Court of HCM City judged that the club has to pay the winning amount of over $55 million and over VND1 billion ($50,000) of legal cost.

The verdict in the first stance does not take effect yet but this may be the first time in the history of the proceedings of Vietnam, one wins his lawsuit with the huge gamble winnings.

Ly Sam will have to pay income tax of $5.5 million

The defendant's lawyer at court.

This is the personal income tax that Ly Sam, a Vietnamese American, has to pay if the club pays him the winnings according to the court's decision, marking a record tax pay ever.

Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department’s representative and Chair of the Vietnam Tax Advice Association, Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc, said that in addition to personal income tax, Mr. Ly Sam is not subject to luxury tax and value added tax (VAT), because the casino must bear them.

Under current regulations, the players at casinos and the prize-winning electronic game centers only have to pay personal income tax (10%) for winning items valued at over VND10 million ($500).

So in case the winnings is $55.5 million, Mr. Ly Sam will be exempt from the personal income tax for the first 10 million, the remaining income will be taxed 10 percent, approximately $5.55 million.

"If the decision of the court is implemented seriously, this is probably the largest amount of tax revenue from casino operations in Vietnam," said Cuc.

In the case the player wants to transfer money overseas, it can be done absolutely once the amount is verified as “clean money.”

However, according to Mr. Pham Thanh Binh (Hong Ha Law Firm, Hanoi), all of the above calculation is only in theory, because “the casino will surely lodge an appeal. The legal battle to win this large sum of money would probably be a long one," said Binh.

The loser in $55 million lawsuit to lodge an appeal

The panel.

In fact, after the court made the judgment on the $55.5 million lawsuit, the defendant immediately said that the verdict is unconvincing and they would lodge an appeal against it.

On January 8, the defendant’s representative and its lawyer had a meeting with the media.

The defendant said that the judgment of the District 1 People's Court is entirely emotional and ungrounded because during the legal process and in court, Mr. Ly Sam did not prove that he won the bet. In addition, the manufacturer’s inspection results also concluded that the machine was faulty.

"We were surprised because the court made the verdict emotionally, without consultation of independent agencies. If the court of appeal also returns a verdict that we lose the case, the company will be pushed into a dead end, maybe even close the gaming industry in Vietnam in the near future," the defendant’s lawyer presented.

At the trial, the defendant's attorney said Ly Sam did not win the game because the screen did not display the same icons which are adjacent to each other; the number $55.5 million was not located in the winning box. The machine had breakdown because it flashed off many times before showing the winning figure.

In addition, according to the defendant, there is no computer game programmed with only 10 cents the player can win over $55 million.

In court, the defendant requested to convene more experts to clarify whether Ly Sam won or not.

In this regard, in the sentence, the Panel confirmed that: the defendant said that the game machine No. 13 had problems, but in the machine as well as in the club rules, the club did not define what was the problem. Before that the machine took the money and charged many times very accurately...

In addition, the defendant voluntarily removed the motherboard for expertise’s verification without the agreement of the plaintiff as well as the court's decision for expertise assessment so the assessment results should not be considered as the evidence of the case. Therefore, the court rejected all of the defendant's perspective and stated the plaintiff as the winner.

Mai Phuong