Mark Hollingsworth

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACKLESAMBASSADEURSMIKEASHLEYPUTERASAMPOERNAANOTHERSPIN34What’s the latest trophy asset for a socially aspirationalbillionaire? A West End casino, of course. Luckily, forMike Ashley of Sports Direct and Richard Caring ofAnnabel’s, there are two old favourites with recentFar Eastern owners who might already be persuaded tosell. Mark Hollingsworth says all bets are back on atLes Ambassadeurs and the ClermontIt is the early hours of the morning at LesAmbassadeurs Club, the Mayfair casinooverlooking Hyde Park, and Sir PhilipGreen is on a roll. Surrounded by enviousArab and Chinese punters, the flamboyantretail billionaire is playing roulette and thewinnings are piling up. Nervous managerslook on as the wheel spins in his favour.Suddenly, Sir Philip reaches for his mobileand the fellow gamblers are surprised tohear him call his wife Tina. At that very momentshe is also gambling at the Casino Monte Carlonear their main home. They discuss their evening’sexploits and chuckle at their good luck.The billionaire is a prolific gambler and the club’sbest customer, although he also frequents The RitzAlan Davidson. Colin Davey/Camera Press.AFP/Getty Images. Allstar

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACKTHECLERMONTCLUBRICHARDCARINGQUEK LENGCHANOFTHEWHEELcasino. In one night he can win or lose up to anestimated £8 million. He has incurred losses butwins more than he loses. He also links his businessdeals to the gaming tables. When his friend RobertEarl paid £9 million for a stake in Everton FC lastyear with his backing, he half-jokingly describedthe amount as ‘no more than a bad night at Les A’.In late 2004 Sir Philip hit the gaming tables hard.He won an estimated £2 million in one night at LesAmbassadeurs and at least a further £1 million onother occasions. After receiving his knighthoodlast year, he celebrated at Les Ambassadeurs withfriends. At first he reputedly lost £700,000 playingblackjack – not his favourite game. But he thenmoved on to his preferred game of roulette andwithin minutes had recovered all his losses andwon an extra £100,000 into the bargain. In 2005Sir Philip’s good fortune at the roulette wheel wassuch that the casino issued a profits warning –down from £18 million to £10 million. While othermultimillionaires also contributed to the profitsdecline, it revealed the financial precariousness ofLondon’s casinos.Based at Hamilton Place, next to the InterContinentalHotel, Les A, as it is known by its members,is going through hard times. For years it has reliedon its Middle East clientele, notably Kuwaitis, Saudisand Iranian Jews. Indeed its 2005 profits warningwas partly based on a decline in gambling duringRamadan. And it has retained prominent members:Sir Alex Ferguson, the Tchenguiz brothers,Victor Chandler, the Gibraltar-based bookmaker,and Pini Zahavi, the football super-agent whoplayed a major role in the purchase of Chelsea byRoman Abramovich, are all regular punters.But former members say that it has lost itsappeal. The gaming rooms and private suitesprovide stunning views of Hyde Park but thecountry house atmosphere is dated. ‘Some celebritiesgo there but the aristocrats no longer gambleand it is not attracting the new money businessmen,’said one.How has this happened? A little over a year ago,both Les Ambassadeurs and the Clermont Clubwere sold with great fanfare to two Far Easterntycoons intent on making a splash in London. LesA’s owners, London Clubs International, sold itfor £115 million to an Indonesian billionaire called35

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACKCYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACKLes A’s ambassadors, far left: Paul McCartney and Merrill Colebrook duringfilming of A Hard Day’s Night at Les A in 1964. Left: Les A’s biggest whaleSir Philip Green and his friend Robert Earl, owner of 50 St James casino36Putera Sampoerna whose fortune is based ontobacco and on palm oil and rubber plantations inMalaysia. A gambler himself and a longtime Les Amember, Sampoerna set up Twinwood Ltd asthe vehicle for acquiring the club. Twinwood isan intermediary holding company controlled by aBritish Virgin Islands company called BluestreamHoldings Ltd. The Clermont went to Quek LengChan after fierce bidding from two rival consortiums,one of Damian Aspinall and Kerry Packer’sson Jamie, and the other of Ben and Zac Goldsmithand Ben Elliot.Chan, 66, is a Malaysian tycooneducated in the UK and a barristerby training. He is described byForbes as a shrewd banker withdeft diplomatic skills. In 1982, heacquired Dao Heng Bank, then asmall, obscure bank in Hong Kong, and turned itinto a modern and successful banking operationbefore selling it for $2.9 billion.While Les A made an operatingprofit of £11,642,000, a majorincrease on the previous year,this was largely offset by an £8 millionloan from Twinwood, whichwas injected into the club. NowSampoerna has reportedly grown tired of thecasino and wants to sell. Mike Ashley, a sportsweartycoon, has apparently bid more than £90million for the casino and the Indonesian is likelyto accept, a deal that makes him a £25 million loss.His buyer’s motives are just as mysterious. A formersquash coach, Ashley has made his fortunethrough his Sports World stores, the UK’s largestseller of sporting goods. When he floated 43 percent of Sports Direct in February he made £929million in one day, apparently the most ever madeby a Briton in 24 hours. He still retains a £1.02billion stake in the company, which includes Lillywhitesin London and the Dunlop and Kangolbrands. He recently spent £200 million on a threeper cent stake in Adidas, before selling it for a £29million profit a few weeks later. He also boughtNewcastle United Football Club in May of thisyear. The Walsall-born, Buckinghamshire-raisedbusinessman is publicity shy (though he’s happyenough to pose for photographs topless, exposinghis impressive girth, with portly, tattooed NewcastleUnited fans), but in 2002 his private life hitthe papers when he had to pay £50 million to hisex-wife in a divorce settlement.What would ownership of a once-glittering, nowrather less glamorous casino give this hugelysuccessful, but secretive man? According to onecasino-world source, a casino is ‘the latest trophyasset’ for the super-rich. ‘In the Eighties andNineties it was hotels, in the Nineties and thisdecade it’s been restaurants, now it’s casinos,’ thesource explains. ‘And for these men, the amountsof money being asked are absolute peanuts.’ LesAmbassadeurs might also be a good fit for Ashley’spersonality: ‘It’s for the get-rich-quick, loud, brash,racing crowd,’ says the source.The decline of Les A epitomises thedemise of the old-style casinos thatwere renowned for the antics of themembers as well as the ebb and flowof the tables. In the Eighties, RobertMaxwell and the Australian financierKerry Packer were reckless gamblers,regularly losing £1 million a night.One night Packer was approached inthe Palm Beach Casino by a punterwho told him: ‘You are not the richestman in here. I am.’ Packer replied:‘OK, here is the ultimate bet. Let’s putit to the test and whoever is richerwill take the other’s fortune. Howabout it?’ The man walked away.Apart from Green, few flamboyantcharacters are habitual gamblers inLondon. The Russian oligarchs preferMonte Carlo and the new money hustlersin the City prefer taking riskydeals at work rather than late at night.An exception is the clientele at Aspinalls onCurzon Street, Mayfair, co-owned by DamianAspinall and Jamie Packer, which has revived itself.After being redecorated by Tara Bernerd andhiring the chef from Harry’s Bar, it has attracted ayounger aristocratic crowd. ‘Aspinalls has a lockon society gamblers,’ explains one regular. ‘On anaverage night you’ll see Boris Berezovsky, MatthewFreud, Ben and Zac Goldsmith and two or threeother men with £500 million fortunes to spend, allplaying the tables.’In this respect, Aspinalls is the spiritual heir tothe Clermont Club. The Clermont, based at 44Berkeley Square, above Annabel’s, has, say members,lost its class. ‘It is dead as a casino and hasbeen neglected,’ says one punter. ‘Even the Chinesedon’t go there. It’s great to go for a quiet drink at3am if I don’t want to be seen. But it has enormouspotential, because of its interiors, notably the magnificentWilliam Kent dining room.’ Last year itwas bought for £31 million by Chan who also controls38 gambling subsidiaries in the UK, althoughmany are dormant. His holding company BIL InternationalLtd is controlled by Guoco Group, a publiclylisted company registered in Hong Kong. Chanhas not invested in renovating the magnificentbuilding which has been stuck in something of arut since the Seventies. Although he hasn’t put theclub on the market: ‘If he can get 20 per cent profiton his investment,’ says one man close to the club,‘he’ll sell.’ And the man in the frame to buy is Caring.Richard Caring’s reasons for wanting to buy theLES A MIGHT FIT ASHLEY’S PERSONALITY: ‘IT’S FORTHE GET-RICH-QUICK, LOUD, BRASH, RACING CROWD’Clermont are more obvious than Ashley’s forbuying Les Ambassadeurs. Caring’s InternationalClothing Designs Holdings is a London-basedsupplier of fashion garments, but he has recentlyshown an interest in buying high-profile societyhang-outs. In 2004 he spent £130 million acquiringWentworth, the Surrey golf course. In 2005 heMore big fish at Les A: Vincent Tchenguiz with Barbara De Jonghe (left) andRobert and Heather Tchenguiz (right)Dave Benett. Dominic O’Neill. AP