When And How Dishonesty Needs To Be Shown

Ivey v. Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd t/a Crockfords [2017] UKSC 67

In a much-publicised recent case, the Supreme Court has considered two issues: first, whether it is necessary to prove dishonesty in order to make out an offence of cheating under the Gambling Act 2005; and second, what the test for dishonesty should be.

Mr Ivey is a professional gambler. He played a number of games of Punto Banco at Crockfords over two days in August 2012, with the help of another professional gambler, Ms Sun. Punto Banco is played with six or eight packs of cards. It requires the dealer to deal two or three cards, face down, onto two positions on the table ("punto" and "banco"). The gambler places a bet on one of those positions, and if the total of the cards dealt is closer to nine than the other position (subject to the rules of the game), he or she wins.