The UK's Longest-Running Casino, Crockfords, Shuts Down After 195 Years
The UK's supposed oldest casino, Crockfords, has shut down, according to The Daily Mail. The fancy establishment in London's Upper-Class Mayfair area has been a part of Genting, a Malaysian casino giant, since 2006.
This is the third high-end, private members' casino to close in London in the past few years, following the Ritz Club and the Clermont. The reason for their closure is the lack of high rollers, particularly those from the Gulf States, who've been frequent customers of these casinos.
In recent times, the British government ended the duty-free system for foreign visitors, eliminating the ability for them to recover VAT on purchases made in the UK. Many high rollers have suffered financially due to this change. Additionally, gambling with credit cards is now banned in the UK, impacting casinos significantly.
Crockfords initiated a consultation process regarding its future a month ago. With about 100 employees, they now face redundancy or possible relocation to other Genting casinos.
Genting currently manages 34 casinos across the UK, including Palm Beach, Genting Casino London Chinatown, and Forty Five Kensington.
The Controversy Surrounding "Oldest"
Crockford's traced its origins to 1828 when William Crockford, a fishmonger, established the casino. His skills with numbers and ability to amass the wealth of London's high society earned him a place among England's richest self-made men.
However, it's debatable whether Crockford's can be considered the oldest UK casino since the original club closed in the early 1870s.
A bridge club was awarded the Crockford's name in the 1930s and operated without a relationship to the original business, other than being located near the original site. They later added gambling games and evolved into the contemporary Crockford's.
The Phil Ivey Edge-Sorting Scandal
In 2012, Crockfords made headlines when it refused to pay £7.3 million to poker star Phil Ivey. Ivey and his associate Cheng Yin Sun were using a method known as edge-sorting to obtain an advantage over the casino.
Ivey's baccarat spree at Crockfords and the Borgata in Atlantic City led to him being awarded $9.6 million. His legal battles to prove edge-sorting a skill rather than a cheating technique were among the most gripping in the casino industry's history. Unfortunately, Ivey and Sun didn't succeed in this endeavor.
In 2020, news broke that a movie would be produced about the case, with Awkafina cast as Sun.
The story was initially published by Benzinga, edited by Deepak Malhotra and Christina Chin.
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Source: www.casino.org
