French Court Rules Against Rick Salomon's Claim To $2.8 Million Poker DebtAmerican High-Stakes Poker Player Sued Saudi Sheikh Over Seven-Figure Debt From 2014 Poker Game In The French Riviera |
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A French court ruled Monday that a Saudi Sheikh does not owe high-stakes poker player Rick Salomon the $2.8 million he lost in a 2014 poker game in the French Riviera.
Salomon sued Raad al-Khereiji, a member of one of Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest families, over the alleged gambling debt. The trial took place in Grasse last October before the court reached a verdict this week.
Salomon claimed that Khereiji failed to pay up on these debts from a high-stakes underground game that took place at the Tiara Miramar Beach hotel near Cannes. According to a report from The Telegraph, the case came down to a law from 1804 that only allows courts to intervene in gambling debts that involve physical exercise.
Ronald Sokol, Saolomon’s lawyer, argued that there was an endurance aspect to the poker game in question since the game ran for 48 hours straight. While Khereiji’s lawyer, Paul-Albert Iweins, argued that poker was a game of complete chance, void of any physical skill.
Ultimately, the courts agreed with the Saudi Sheikh. Salomon will have no other recourse to recoup the seven-figure sum.
“The only explanation is that his request was contrary to law,” Iweins told The Telegraph. “There was an infinitely small chance of winning because even suppose there was such a debt, which my client totally contests, you cannot purse someone in France for a gambling debt, full stop.”
Salomon’s legal team, however, was allowed to submit Khereiji’s gambling records from Las Vegas as evidence. Those records showed that the Saudi Sheikh was an avid poker player at the highest stakes available.
Throughout a 29-month stretch, Khereiji lost $34 million playing poker in Ivey’s room at Aria where the minimum buy-in was $100,000, according to records.
During the trial, it was revealed that there were several players at underground game in France that heard Khereiji tell Salomon that his lawyer in Los Angeles would arrange payment of the debt. Seven months later, Khereiji’s lawyer contacted Salomon and said that there would be no payment because his client believed that the game was not one in which there was any money at risk.
Salomon has more than $9.9 million in live tournament earnings, most of which coming from three final tables in the Big One For One Drop in 2014, 2016 in Monaco, and 2018. He finished fourth, third and fourth, respectively for a combined $8.947 million.
According to his ex-wife Pamela Anderson, Salomon won $40 million playing poker in 2014.
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