A gambler known as the "Fat Man” began another legal bid this morning to wipe out a £2 million debt he ran up in one session at Aspinall’s, the London casino.

Fouad al-Zayat, a Syrian-born businessman, has already lost at the High Court where a judge ordered him to repay the debt in full as well as a further £200,000 in interest and Aspinall’s legal costs.

But today the gambler took his case to the Court of Appeal, claiming the cheque he gave the casino constituted an unlawful provision of credit and Aspinall’s cannot enforce the debt.

David Lord, representing Mr al-Zayat, told the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, and two other appeal judges, that his client had signed an undated cheque for the debt he ran up in March 2000.

Mr Lord - who also represented Prince Jefri in a recent dispute with his brother, the Sultan of Brunei - said Mr al-Zayat had made it clear to the club management that he was offering the cheque on the understanding that it would not be presented to his bank until a dispute over croupiers had been settled.

But he said that this meant his client had been offered credit by the club and this was outlawed by the Gaming Act 1968.

Mr Lord said his client continued to gamble at the club for the next six years and Aspinall’s never tried to enforce the debt.

When Mr Justice Steel found in the club’s favour in February this year, he said Mr al-Zayat, who now lives in Cyprus, had a “penchant for gambling” and in the years following his failure to honour the debt, he continued to gamble at Aspinall’s, losing a further £10 million.

Mr al-Zayat had faxed his bank cancelling the cheque after he handed it over to Aspinall’s and it was never honoured.

In May the High Court dismissed an attempt by Iran’s Ministry of Defence to sue Mr al-Zayat for £60 million compensation over an airplane dispute.

Judgment has been reserved.

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