Phil Ivey Refused $11.5m Winnings By Crockfords Casino

Phil Ivey is not only famous for having won millions of dollars playing poker over his career, but also for his love of high stakes gambling on anything from craps at the casino to sports betting.
According to the latest bizarre gambling story surrounding the 8 times WSOP bracelet winner as reported by the Daily Mail, Ivey won a staggering £7.3 million ($11m) playing Punto Banco at the exclusive Mayfair gaming club called Crockfords in the prestigious area of Mayfair in London. However, the UK casino has so far refused to pay Ivey the money he won, although, it says, there were no signs of marks or imperfections on the cards, and that at no time did Ivey touch the cards. The only comment a spokesperson from Crockfords would offer is that:
“As a private club we put great store on the confidentiality of the relationship between ourselves and our client and we therefore have no comment to make.”
Apparently, Phil Ivey walked into the casino accompanied by a ‘beautiful Oriental woman’, and after transferring £1 million into the casino’s bank, began playing Punto Banco in one of the Crockfords’s small private room. After gambling £50k per hand and dropping around £500k, the casino agreed to increase Ivey’s stake to £150k and by the end of the first day he had recovered to book a £2.3 million winning session. By the end of the second day that tally had reached £7.3 million and despite Crockfords indicating they would transfer the money over to Ivey’s account, Britain’s oldest casino has still to honour the transaction.
So far, the casino has only returned Ivey’s £1 million deposit and speculation as to the reason would seem to surround his Asian companion who, apparently, had previously been suspended from another Mayfair casino for reasons unknown. However, this explanation is not at all clear.
In the meantime, the ever tight-lipped Ivey has offered no explanation as to the incidence and after the subject was broached with his mother Pamela Ivey, she offered only the following reply: “He never mentioned it. It can’t have been very important to him, or I think he’d have mentioned it.”