VietNamNet Bridge - On January 2, the People's Court of District 1, HCM City continued the trial on the claim made by Ly Sam, a Vietnamese American, for $55.5 million of gambling winnings against HCM City-based Lien Dai Duong Company.



After a quick interrogation of the representative of the Procuracy, the hearing went into the dispute between the plaintiff and the defendant.

Ly Sam’s lawyer insisted that Ly Sam--winning more than $55.5 million from gaming machines is real. Because, on 25/10/2009, when Ly Sam went to the Palazzo club of the Sheraton Hotel of Lien Dai Duong company, he repeatedly put $300 into the gambling machine at No.13. After continuously losing games with the correct amount of money deducted each time, the machine had no unusual signs. Finally, it reported that Ly Sam won over $55.5 million.

Many testimonies of foreign witnesses who were present at the moment were announced by the plaintiff’s lawyer in court. So, the lawyer said that Lien Dai Duong company’s argument that the slot machine was faulty to not pay $55.5 million for Ly Sam is unfounded.

The defendant's lawyer said that the screen of the gaming machine used by Ly Sam did not show the consecutive icons of gold bullions in accordance with the procedure as shown in the above photo so it was not considered valid.

The lawyer of Lien Dai Duong company said that according to the program installed in the machine, if the player wins the grand prize in the amount of over $50,000, the machine will hang up and show up a text message asking the player to invite the club staff to get bonuses and continue playing.

If the winning amount is less than $50,000, the player can continue playing by pressing the button to transfer the winnings from the "win" box of the machine to the "credit" box, or press the play button for the amount of winnings to be automatically transferred from the "win" to the "credit" box.

"In the case of Mr. Ly Sam, he reported the amount of more than $55.5 million but the machine still allowed him to continue playing. At the same time, according to a photo shot by Ly Sam, the bonus did not appear in the "win” box but in the "credit" box, so it was invalid and it showed that the machine was in error," the lawyer said.

Also, in the court, the defendant's lawyer also offered a model simulating the process of winning games on a gaming machine. Accordingly, when the player wins the game, the screen of the gaming machine has to show up from 2 to 5 gold ingot icons next to each other. The more icons are, the larger the amount that the player wins. However, "on the screen of the gaming machine used by Mr. Ly Sam there was not these icons."

To demonstrate the amount of $55.5 million on the screen of the gaming machine of Ly Sam is due to error, the lawyer of the Lien Dai Duong company said that the footage released at the hearing in the previous day showed that "Mr. Ly Sam used his hand to press and hit several times into the machine ." Accordingly, the defendant’s lawyer said that Ly Sam did not win over $55.5 million and did not agree to pay the amount of the claim.

But Ly Sam’s lawyer said, from the day he joined the Palazzo club until the day he won the huge amount of money, the whole club as well as the number 13 machine did not have any message or note on the maximum reward for each machine.

The lawyer also said that according to the process of the machine, when the player wins, it will report the amount in the "win" box and if the player continues playing, the amount will be transferred to the "credit" box. After Ly Sam saw the winning alarm, he pressed the play button to the winnings was automatically moved into the "credit" box. "Once the winning amount is in the credit box, it must be already in the win box, so it should not be said to be invalid," the lawyer argued.

The lawyer continued that the clip provided by the defendant did not show that Ly Sam used hands to beat several times to the machine. "This machine has a certain and tight structure so the data cannot be changed just because of several claps," the lawyer said.

The plaintiff's representative said that the gaming machine No. 13 used by Ly Sam was newly imported, with the expertise of authorities and it is a Windows 2.1 version so it allows players to win up to $50,000. Other machines are Windows 2.0 generation.

At the end of the hearing, saying that the lawsuit has many important and complex circumstances, the panel decided to prolong deliberation. It is expected that on January 7, the court would make final judgment.

Compiled by Son Ha