Hey guys,
This is a bit of a strange situation and I know there will be some skeptics but I will try to be as honest as I can here. You can Google my name too.
So I played poker in Grosvenor Casino Walsall from 2010 to 2014, August 20th 2014 to be specific. On August 21st 2014 I went to prison, not for a violent or particularly bad thing. I went to prison for filming a movie in the cinema and uploading it online. I also sold copies of the movie locally and made a relatively small amount of money. Yes, I am a criminal, I did wrong and I paid the price for it. I served my time and ruined my own life, I blame no one but myself. I was blasted in the media for being some super criminal but the truth was I just made a bad judgement call and took a wrong turn in life. I definitely learned my lesson!
Now this should be completely unrelated to my membership at Grosvenor Casino but when I was released from prison and allowed to go out without a curfew again (a whole 16 months later) I tried to go and play at Grosvenor Casino and was immediately informed that my membership was no longer active. I enquired at the desk and was then informed my account was banned and they did not know why or when this happened. Upon further enquiry I was informed my ban was permanant and would not be lifted. I then arranged a meeting with the "new" manager of Grosvenor Walsall and was greeted at the door/front desk where I asked a few questions including the usual what, where and why. He had a huge file in his hand which he kept referring to but stated he could not tell me why for "security reasons".
He then proceeded to give me an email address to email (reinstatement@rank.com) and after my original email I received a reply around 4 days later. Here is the email they sent me...
Basically they state that I will never be unbanned without giving me a reason why.
However, when I originally spoke with the manager I asked if it was due to the high profile case I had been involved in and he gave me a weird look, paused for 3 or 4 seconds and stated "it might be, ask Reinstatements" which leads me to believe it would be exactly the reason why.
Now I'm far from uneducated, and I'm not going to sit here and say things like "they can't ban me, they have to unban me" etc etc. I know it's entirely down to the casino to decide who is allowed in and who they refuse, but the point is I did nothing wrong in their eyes. Yes I made a mistake which I paid my dues for, but I was a very loyal customer and didn't cause any problem in the 4 years I played there. I played 3 - 5 days per week, I had a lot of friends and and built up a great relationship with a lot of the staff in the card room. We had a blast every week.
The ONLY thing wrong was my picture in the paper was of me at a poker table. Yes I understand it COULD have been bad publicity but that was never my intention and was solely the choice of the press involved in the case.
PLEASE, all I ask is for a rep of Grosvenor to give me an explanation, because like I say I have paid my dues and been punished for my crimes. I know of murderers who get given chances after they serve their time, and there are tens of THOUSANDS of people who have a record and still allowed to play in casinos all over the world including VEGAS.
Can anyone shed any light on the situation or offer any advice?
Thanks