Leicester City chairman 'wins £2.5million in casino just days after his team win Premier League'
- Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha said to have won cash at casino in Leicester
- He reportedly won £2.5million on card tables on Wednesday night
- Came just days after Leicester City won the Premier League title
- Popular chairman to give fans free beer at last home game of season today
- He has also promised to buy each of his players a £32,000 Mercedes
The chairman of Premier League champions Leicester City has something else to celebrate after scooping £2.5million at a casino.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, 58, is understood to have scored his own big win just days after his team secured an unlikely title with two games to go, having been 5,000/1 outsiders at the start of the season.
The chairman had proven to be a popular figure at Leicester before the championship was won, laying on free beer and food on several occasions.
Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, 58, pictured, is said to have won £2.5million at a casino
His win came just days after his side won the Premier League title on Monday after Tottenham Hotspur were held to a draw by Chelsea. He is pictured second right with son Aiyawatt, left, Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri, second left, and club captain Wes Morgan, right
According to The Sun, Thai billionaire Mr Srivaddhanaprabha visited Genting Casino in Leicester and walked away with the windfall after playing the card tables.
As previously reported by Sportsmail, the chairman plans to buy each of his title-winning squad a £32,000 Mercedes and his casino winnings would cover the lot.
All that is in addition to a £6.5million pot split between the squad under the terms of the club's bonus agreement with the Premier League.
However, Mr Srivaddhanaprabha believes his over-achievers should be further rewarded for their extraordinary season and is looking at ways of doing so.
Leicester's remarkable campaign has seen the club's global profile sky-rocket and secured millions of pounds worth of extra revenue.
That will continue next season when they make their debut in the lucrative Champions League, and the tycoon feels it is only right the players receive their share of the pie.
He is said to have visited Genting Casino, pictured, in Leicester on Wednesday and won on the card tables
The chairman, pictured posing for a selfie with fans last weekend, is very popular with supporters after frequently providing free beer and food at games
A huge party is expected at the King Power Stadium today as Leicester play their final home match of the season against Everton this evening.
The game kicks off at 5.30pm, with the team wearing its brand new Puma kit, but supporters are expected to turn up as early as 2pm to soak up the atmosphere.
Ranked by Forbes magazine as the fourth richest man in Thailand, Mr Srivaddhanaprabha, 58, an ethnic Chinese, has made a fortune of $3.2 billion since 1989 when he founding the first store in his King Power empire selling Thai handicraft
At that time, Thai Airways, the country’s flagship carrier, was in charge of duty-free operations at Bangkok’s old Don Muang International airport but, in 1995, the bespectacled tycoon bought a 6,000 square feet concession, becoming the first private company to sell duty free at the international airport.
Eleven years later, his road became literally paved with gold. When Bangkok’s new steel-and-glass airport Suvarnabhumi - translated as the Golden Land – opened its doors, Mr Srivaddhanaprabha landed the exclusive duty free contract and a kingdom of 290,000 square feet.
By then he was a father-of-four, and jetting around the world. A committed anglophile – he has a home in Berkshire as well as in Thailand - his three eldest children Voramas, now 35, Apichet, 34, nicknamed ‘Tip’, and Arunroong, 32, were sent to boarding school in England while his youngest son Aiywatt, 30, known as ‘Top’, was schooled in Bangkok.
Mr Srivaddhanaprabha, left, and right with Leicester director Supornthip Choungrangsee, is worth more than £2billion and took over Leicester in 2010
Voramas went onto study fashion design at Chelsea College of Arts, doing a Master’s degree at Central St Martin’s, before working for her father’s company as a merchandiser – it was she who was the face of the new airport’s duty free empire, clad in traditional Thai costume on billboards under the mantra ‘King Power, King of Duty Free.’
But his family is equally invested in Britain – not only are they keen football fans but they are talented polo players.
Mr Srivaddhanaprabha, who played in the 2005 Chakravarty Cup, was appointed president of Ham Polo Club in 2008, a role he held for four years.
And both Tip and Top have played for the King Power Foxes, which he began in 2014, pouring millions into creating the best polo team in the world – they have around 60 staff and 80 ponies stabled at their 100-acre Berkshire estate and have lured the top Argentinian players to give them a lead.
His investment paid off last year when they won the hallowed double - the Cartier Queen's Cup at Guards Polo Club, which was presented by The Queen and Prince Philip, and the Gold Cup at Cowdray Park.
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