Casino operator Las Vegas Sands has won a court victory over a deadbeat gambler who tried to stiff the company’s Singapore property out of nearly US$2m.

In a summary judgment issued last month, Singapore’s High Court ordered 70-year-old local businessman Darwin Liman to pay the Marina Bay Sands casino $1.92m. The Straits Times reported that the sum was the single largest judgment against a deadbeat gambler that the casino won in 2016.

Liman had been an MBS regular since the property opened in 2010, but his luck ran out in June 2015, when the casino issued him credit worth $2m and he promptly lost the lot. The money was supposed to be repaid within two weeks but it wasn’t until November 2015 that Liman made his first payment of $50k, while his high-roller status entitled him to a discretionary rebate of just under $29k.

But Liman made no further payments, prompting MBS to unleash their lawyers. MBS attorneys argued that Liman’s legal eagles had raised no legitimate arguments as to why he shouldn’t be required to honor his gambling marker, beyond his claim that he didn’t actually owe the casino anything.