Empire Casino: Bitterly annoyed Bettor Sues Gaming House Demanding Ugxx1.5Bn Prize Money

KAMPALA, Uganda: The accuser is Alkarim Badrundi Sunderji, a Kenyan businessman of Indian origin. The casino being sued belongs to a betting company known as Gaming East Africa and Entertainment Limited. It’s housed in Imperial Royale building in Kampala.

Badrundi claims to have staked money and won the sums he is demanding from the betting house on several occasions in October and November last year.

He states that instead of giving him his prize in cash, the gaming house issued him three Stanbic cheques. He says the cheques were signed by the top honcho of Empire Casino one Mohamed who flew in from Turkey. “I banked the cheques but to my dismay they were all returned unpaid. The cheques bounced…” asserts the aggrieved bettor.

We know that Sunderji has since written a protest letter to the Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board. His lawyers of Mugisha, Namutale and company advocates filed the complaint on behalf of Sunderji. They were asking to attach the gaming house’s security deposit held with the regulator in the sums of Ugx500m.

We understand that the regulator has since written back to Sunderji’s lawyers expressing their willingness to release the security deposit to him if he can get a court order to that effect.  The regulator’s letter was written on April16, 2019. Titled “Complaint of Intention to Sue Vide Bounced Cheques”, the letter is a response to Sunderji’s written on April 8, 2019.

Other than the civil remedies available to Sunderji, the regulator also alerts the better about the possibility of prosecuting the gaming house in a criminal court for issuing him bounced cheques. Sunderji has since filed a case demanding payment with interest. The matter is at the commercial section of the high court.

We contacted the gaming house for a comment, but one of its officials who identified himself as Emmanuel did not say anything apart from promising to do so.

By Stephen Kasozi Muwambi