The Star City Casino in Sydney, Australia is in hot water after serving an unnamed card player 42 beers over a 17-hour stint at the poker table on New Year’s Eve.
The player ordered five beers every two hours until the table finally closed at 7 a.m. on New Year’s Day. The Star City was hit with a $10,000 fine because casinos are barred from letting someone who is intoxicated gamble, but the staff says they kept serving the patron because they didn’t realize how much he had to drink and he didn’t appear intoxicated.
A guy downs 42 drinks in 17 hours and you can't tell he's drunk? That's one hell of a poker face.
“The nature of poker is that players tend to be . . . very controlled in their facial expressions and body movements," Star City's leaked letter to the Casino Liquor and Gaming Control Authority said.
"This level of control means that many of the visible signs that a person . . . is affected by alcohol may be minimized."
The fine has since been cut because of otherwise good standing in dealing with intoxicated patrons, though a number of the staff members who served the man were either terminated or demoted because of the incident.
"[The authority] considers this matter to be a serious breach of Star City's responsible service of alcohol obligations," the authority said to Star City.
"In determining the pecuniary penalty, due consideration was given to Star City's record in relation to the responsible service of alcohol and the action taken to prevent similar incidents in the future."
