John Victor Aspinall (11 June 1926 – 29 June 2000) was an English zoo and casino owner. From upper class beginnings he used gambling to move to the centre of British high society in the 1960s. He was born in Delhi during the British Raj, and was a citizen of the United Kingdom. Early life John Victor Aspinall, known to all his friends as "Aspers", was born in Delhi, British India on 11 June 1926, the son of Lt-Col. Dr Robert Stivala Aspinall (1895–1954). Born Stivala, the doctor adopted the name "Aspinall" after joining the Indian Medical Service, being known for some time as Robert Aspinall-Stivala), a British Army surgeon of British parentage and Maltese origin. His wife was Mary Grace Horn (died 1987), the daughter of engineer Clement Samuel Horn, of Goring-by-Sea, Sussex. Years later, when he pressed his father for money to cover his gambling debts, he discovered that his biological father was George Bruce, a soldier of Nordic descent. Aspinall attended Felsted School in 1939, but after his parents divorced, his stepfather Sir George Osborne sent him to Rugby School. Expelled from Rugby for inattention, Aspinall later went to Jesus College, Oxford, but on the day of his final exams, he feigned illness and went to the Gold Cup at Ascot racecourse instead. As a consequence, he never earned a degree. Gambling impresario Aspinall became a bookmaker; at that time the only gambling permitted by UK law was with cash and credit on the premises of racecourses and dog tracks, with credit by an account with a bookmaker, and on football pools. Casino gambling was not permitted at the time. However, between races Aspinall returned to London and hosted private gaming parties. He believed that games of Chemin de Fer, known as Chemie (Chemmy), were within the law in certain circumstances, and on average the owner of the house was able to make a 5% profit on the turnover of games. Aspinall targeted his events at the rich, sending out embossed invitations. Gambling houses were defined then in British law as places where gambling had taken place more than three times. With his Irish-born accountant John Burke, Aspinall rented upper class flats and houses, never used them more than three times, and had his mother pay off local Metropolitan Police officers. Among the gamblers were the Queen's racehorse trainer Bernard van Cutsem, who brought with him friends