Greek- Australian high rolling gambler Harry Kakavas, who lost a staggering $1.5 billionĀ in just 14 months, has taken Melbourne’s Crown Casino to court in an attempt to win back a small fraction of his losses.
Kakavas is a real-estate salesman who made a fortune selling houses on Australia’s beautiful Gold Coast.
The court heard that between June 2005 and August 2006, Kakavas spent $1,479 billion at Crown, winning and losing vast sums, often on hands of baccarat that took just seconds to play.
A report in the Canberra TimesĀ tells how, in a single session in May 2006, he lost an incredible $164 million in just five and a half hours betting up to $300,000 per hand.
His odds of winning back any of the lost funds are pretty slim as both Victoriaās Supreme Court and an appeals court ruled against Kakavas, whose only hope now lies with the High Court.
The court case is still ongoing and this is not the first time he has attempted to take the Crown Casino in Melbourne to court given that on other occasions it didnāt even get past the first hearing. However, Kakavas argues that the casino was aware of his gambling problem but therefore took advantage of his ‘special disability’.
His attorney, Allan Myers QC, claims as well that his client had been āclinically diagnosed as a pathological gambler with a severely impaired ability to make rational decisions at the betting table,ā according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Kakavas is attempting to recoup a mere $20.5 million of the $1.5 billion lost.
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