Gambling With Your Money

The Hebrew word chutzpah (pronounced /ˈhʊtspə/) is used indignantly to describe someone who has over-stepped the boundaries of accepted behavior with no shame. Such as Minister Vivian Balakrishnan telling BBC's Sharanjit Leyl that the US$290 (S$387) million over spent on YOG "will more than pay for what we have invested". Leyl was questioning the risk of being first to host the games, with no gage of how successful or how widely watched it will be.

But this one really takes the cake. According to press reports, the unidentified 50-ish businessman is a managing director of a multi-million dollar company. One of the early birds at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), he was granted a $500,000 credit line after depositing $100,000 and a blank cheque 3 weeks after the casino opened for business in March. Thereafter he went on a wild roller coaster ride, won or lost several hundred thousand dollars at each turn, and nosediving as much as $6 million negative at one single session at the baccarat table.

In early June, he made a personal best of a $18 million loss, surfaced for air with a $3.7 million recoup, and then hit rock bottom by blowing another $11 million. Big deal, he paid off $10 million of his debt without so much as a whimper. It's not like he had to have his flat repossessed by the HDB and move into the void deck.

Now his lawyers plan to sue RWS, claiming "the casino at no time performed any background checks on his credit-worthiness or his financial capacity." Look, anyone who can make good 10 million smackeroos without raising a sweat has to be good credit in anybody's books. Come to think of it, that initial $500,000 credit could  be construed as be a personal insult, and probable defamatory assault on his financial standing.

The other charge is just as laughable, "RWS has encouraged irresponsible gambling and had breached the duty of care owed to" the businesman. Naturally the local law firm providing the legal advice is not identified. Maybe they are afraid to take on clients who might plan to sue the Minister for irresponsible gambling and breached the duty of care owed to the taxpayers.