| Crockfords | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Location | London, W1 |
| Closing date | October 2023 |
| Casino type | Land-based |
| Owner | Genting Group |
| Website | www |
Crockfords (also known as Crockfords Club or Crockfords Casino) is a closed casino in London located on Curzon Street. [1] [2] [3] The casino took its name from the former gentlemen's club in London called Crockford's.
The modern incarnation of Crockford's was founded in 1928 or 1929 as a bridge club, located at 21 Hertford Street. [4] [5] It was founded by dissatisfied members of the Almack's bridge club, led by Colonel Henry Beasley and a Mrs. Bates. [4] The name was chosen after one of the founders read a news item about the original Crockford's club having been established 100 years earlier. [4] [6]
The club moved to 16 Carlton House Terrace in 1934. [4] [7]
UK gambling laws were loosened by the Betting and Gaming Act 1960, leading to Crockford's evolution into a casino, one of over 300 that opened in London in the following years. [8] Businessman Tim Holland raised £48,000 to buy Crockford's operating company in 1961 and introduced chemin-de-fer (a variety of baccarat) to the club. [5] [9] [10] By 1963, Crockford's claimed to be the biggest chemin-de-fer parlor in the world, with an annual handle of £25 million. [11]
In 1966, Crockford's was sold to Pakistani businessman Aziz Fancy. [12] [13] [14] Fancy then sold the club in 1968 to Gilbert Benaim and Joseph Khaida for $2.4 million. [15] [16] Authorities denied the renewal of Crockford's gaming license due to undisclosed concerns about Benaim and Khaida, leading to the club's closure in 1970. [16] [17] [18] Maxwell Joseph then bought the shuttered club for £175,000 through his casino company, Curzon House Investments, with plans to reopen it. [19] Crockford's reopened in October 1972, by which time Curzon House Investments had been acquired by Coral. [20] [21] At the time, the casino had seats for 400 gamblers, with games including roulette, blackjack, kaluki, craps, punto banco baccarat, stud poker, and backgammon. [22] [23]
In 1981, Coral was facing possible cancellation of its gaming licenses, and sold Crockfords, along with other casinos, to Lonrho. [24] [25]
Crockfords moved to its final location, 30 Curzon Street, in 1983. [26] [27] [28] The building was a Grade I listed historic town home built in 1771 for the Marquess of Bath. [29] Ladbrokes had renovated the building to serve as a casino, but the company's gaming licenses were revoked before it could open, so the leasehold was sold to Lonrho. [26] [30] [31]
Lonrho sold its casino division, including Crockfords, to leisure company Brent Walker in 1987. [32] [33] Brent Walker bought the freehold interest in the building from Daejan Holdings in 1988 for £17.5 million. [34]
Brent Walker then sold the club for £50 million to a management buy-in team financed by Montagu Private Equity in 1989. [35] [36] [37] In 1993, Crockfords became publicly listed through a reverse merger with TV-am plc, a defunct TV production company, which became Crockfords PLC. [37] [38] [39] The company changed its name to Capital Corporation in 1995. [40] [41] Capital Corporation was then acquired by Stanley Leisure in May 1999. [42] [43]
In September 1999, Kerry Packer reportedly lost £11 million ($16.5 million) at Crockfords, overtaking the previous British record loss at the time of £8 million by Greek millionaire Frank Saracakis, which also occurred at Crockfords. [44]
Genting Group acquired Stanley Leisure, including Crockfords, in 2006. [45] [46]
In 2012, poker player Phil Ivey, won £7.7 million after beating the casino in a session of punto banco baccarat, but was refused payment due to allegations of edge sorting. Ivey admitted to edge sorting, considering it a legitimate strategy and later sued the casino, but the court ruled in favor of Crockfords, stating Ivey was "cheating under civil law". [47] Ivey appealed this ruling, but lost his appeal in October 2017 in the UK Supreme Court. [48]
In October 2023, Crockfords closed permanently. Genting Group stated that "there are a combination of factors which have put high-end London casinos at a competitive disadvantage to other global market places and this has led to an unsustainable future for Crockfords in Mayfair". [49]
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Crockford's was resurrected as a club in 1928 and was given its name purely because one of the founder-members had noticed a paragraph in the London Evening Standard which was a reprint of a news item exactly a century before about the start of the original Crockford's.
In 1929 the club was restarted by Colonel Beasley, and in 1934 moved to Carlton House Terrace.(Part 2 of article)
A license has been granted under the provisions of the Gaming Act 1968 for Crockford's Club, 30, Curzon Street, London W1Y 7AE
Lonrho is already making £10m a year from two gaming clubs in London — Crockford's round the corner in Curzon Street and the International Sporting Club...