players. Some of the wealthiest people in Britain were swindled out of millions of pounds, thanks to a gambling con known as "the Big Edge". John Burke quit in late 1965, a year into the scam. After two years operation the Big Edge was closed. Hill respected Aspinall's decision and the two parted. The passing of the 1968 Gaming Act boosted profits, and he sold The Clermont in 1972. The need for revenue to support his zoos prompted Aspinall to return to running gambling clubs in London, and he set up two new successful ones in Knightsbridge (in 1978) and Mayfair. In 1983, he made $30 million from their sale, but a decade later he was in financial difficulties once more, and in 1992 he set up yet another gambling spot, Aspinalls. Animal parks In his years at Oxford, Aspinall had loved the book Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard, about an illegitimate Zulu prince who lived outside his tribe among wild animals. In 1956, Aspinall moved into an Eaton Place apartment with his first wife. In the back garden, Aspinall built a garden shed housing a capuchin monkey, a 9-week-old tiger, and two Himalayan brown bears. Later that year, with proceeds from his gambling, Aspinall purchased Howletts country house and estate near Canterbury, Kent. He lived in the house and set up a private zoo, Howletts Zoo, in the grounds. In 1973, because of need for further space for his collection of animals, Aspinall bought Port Lympne near Hythe, Kent. He opened Howletts to the public in 1975, and Port Lympne Zoo in 1976. He embarked on a 10-year programme to restore Port Lympne Mansion previously owned by Sir Philip Sassoon. Both Howletts and Port Lympne have been run by The Aspinall Foundation since 1984. The zoos are known for the encouragement of close personal relationships between staff and animals, for their breeding of rare and endangered species and for the deaths of keepers who have been killed by the animals in their care. Aspinall's was the subject of two award-winning documentary films by Roy Deverell, Echo of the Wild and A Passion to Protect. Politics Aspinall ran unsuccessfully for Parliament at the 1997 general election as the candidate of Sir James Goldsmith's single-issue (against Britain's involvement in the European Union) Referendum Party in the Folkestone and Hythe constituency, where he was defeated by senior Conservative Michael Howard.