Dublin casino bans successful roulette player amid racism claims

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), has thrown out a complaint by an Asian man barred from a Dublin amusement arcade and casino where he won €6,000 on roulette.

The man lodged a complaint claiming he was racially discriminated against by the staff of the casino.

However, the WRC says the complaint had no merits and concluded that the man was banned because he “no longer relied on chance to win bets”.

The claimant who hails from Bangladesh was in December 2016 refused entry to the casino, which he had been patronising for the previous 12 years and believes it amounts to racial discrimination.

He also claimed to he was verbally and racially abused a few days earlier as he was escorted off the casino premises.

According to him, these problems started after he won €6,000 with a €1,500 stake on December 29, 2016, when he went to the casino with his cousin. He said the manager of duty called them “f***ing Asians” and “black people”, accusing them of robbing people and asked them never to return.

He said upon reaching the casino premises with his friend the next day, the staff informed them that they were barred for two weeks without explanation. He was again refused entry on January 18, 2017, and was informed he was permanently barred when he went there the following month.

The manager of the casino admitted he forcefully removed the complainant and two other men to leave after winning €6,000 but denied using racist terms.

The manager said the men had won €5,000 and about €20,000 over a few weeks around December 2016. He added he came to know that the complainant and his friend, who had a degree in computers, “knew more than we do about the machine”.

A WRC adjudicator Catherine Byrne, noted the complainant’s return to the casino the following day, was not a sign of someone who was embarrassed and therefore found his claims of racial abuse as “not credible”.