Man and friends busted for gambling in Dubai villa, court hears

An Iranian businessman is accused of turning his villa into a gambling den that employed two men serving him and seven others who were gambling hundreds of thousands of dirhams.

The 55-year-old is also charged with possessing 71 bottles of alcohol and 12 beer cans for his customers, but he denied all charges at Dubai Criminal Court.

The Iranian and seven others, aged between 30 and 49 and from Lebanon, Russia, Denmark, Iran and Norway, are charged with gambling but the court did not present the charge to them on Tuesday and it did not explain why.

A 21-year-old Russian and an Indian man, 30, are charged with aiding and abetting the businessman by setting up the place and providing services to customers. They also did not face the charge in court.

Police were tipped off about what was going on at the villa in The Springs, Dubai, and so they started investigating.

“We obtained an arrest warrant and raided the place on April 25, where we found all 10 men sitting around an oval playing table,” said an Emirati policeman, 29.

The men, who are all friends, were each arrested and questioned. Police said they admitted that they met from time to time and gambled.

Police seized 20,000 euros and Dh656,000 found in the possession of the defendants at the time of arrest.

The villa’s owner told police that he bought the playing table from Dragonmart, while the chips and other pieces he got from the US.

“He said he had been gambling for 10 years in his home,” said the police officer.

A verdict is expected on August 6.