WGM read with interest last week a story in Singapore’s The Straits Times about an ongoing court case in which Australian lawyer Mr Adesh Goel is suing Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) – the Singaporean operation of global gambling giant Genting Group – for detaining and manhandling him following an incident at the property in April 2012.
Mr Goel, 43, has accused RWS of holding him in a back room for over an hour against his will, breaking his shoulder and refusing him medical attention and is seeking damages of more than US$400,000 for false imprisonment, assault and battery. It follows an argument with a couple over what is described as a “US$50 casino chip”.
A lot of emotional things happen in casinos and confrontations can and do occur. This is why casinos around the world employ large and usually well-trained security personnel to intervene when problems arise, although sometimes it can all go very wrong. One such incident took place at Sydney’s The Star casino (then known as Star City) in 1998 when 23-year-old Peter Dalamangas died of asphyxiation after being pinned to the ground by up to seven security guards following an altercation.
WGM has been in contact with Mr Goel and his story is an intriguing one. Mr Goel claims that he had his shoulder broken and was denied medical attention until he called the Singapore Police Force who eventually secured his release and escorted him to safety.
He also says that after the alleged assault and battery was brought to the attention of RWS VIP Services, RWS’ legal department stepped in and have since set out to maliciously attack his character, including claiming he was drunk at the time only to later withdraw the allegation a few months before trial.
Mr Adesh Goel. (Image: The Straits Times)
Mr Goel says Genting has not apologized for the alleged assault and battery, instead accusing him of targeting casinos as soft targets for compensation. RWS’ lawyer cited an incident at Sydney’s The Star casino (then known as Star City) in 2001 which was settled out of court. The characterization was rebutted when Mr Goel testified that since 2001, despite attending casinos globally on a near weekly basis, this was the only other legal action he had ever commenced against a casino.
WGM has reached out to RWS for their version of events and we will let you know if and when they get back to us. In the meantime, we’ll be closely following the outcome of the trial which is scheduled to run for a total of 12 days.
