Mentalist Derren Brown's Blackjack Attempt Leads To Casino Ban
May 28, 2013 1:57 pmMentalist are known for their highly developed mental and intuitive acuity, and in the UK few come higher recommended than the 42 year-old stage and television celebrity Derren Brown. Therefore, given the casinos’ adversity to crafty and calculating customers it comes as little surprise that the British illusionist was escorted from The Broadway Plaza Casino in Birmingham on Saturday night, shortly after trying to play blackjack on a private table.
Apparently, Derren Brown had just finished performing his live show Infamous when the showman decided to visit the casino along with a few friends. However, it wasn’t long before The Broadway Plaza Casino, in fear for their profits, pulled the plug on Derren Brown’s fun and opted to escort him from the casino. Later commenting on the incident to AGE, Derren explained:
“I went in after the show and sat down to play blackjack. They were very nice, served me food, but they wouldn’t let me play. So I watched the others for a bit and then left. I was escorted out by a member of staff and the manager.”
In fact, Derren Brown was already banned from most casinos across the UK, even before becoming a well-known mentalist to the public. One story of how the situation came about was recounted by a casino worker called Nikki on derrenbrown.co.uk, who explains that Derren would sit for ages at a casino’s blackjack table without playing before eventually placing a bet he would win with 100% regularity.
It wasn’t long before the charming, polite man became very popular with patrons, who wanted to find out more about him, while also drawing increasing attention from pit bosses who would rather he didn’t visit their casinos. However, the casinos wouldn’t want to risk making a scene in front of their customers and so over time Derren Brown found himself banned from visiting most gambling venues across Britain.
Commenting on the latest incident at The Broadway Plaza Casino, Derren explained: “Over the years I’ve has been banned from playing at most of the UK’s casinos, so I wasn’t unduly surprised.”