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Leicester City were last night embroiled in another race storm as a video emerged of England striker Jamie Vardy allegedly racially abusing a fellow casino-goer.

The forward, who made his international debut for England only this year, is caught on camera, apparently repeatedly referring to a Japanese customer at a casino as "Jap".

Vardy, who scored on Saturday as Leicester beat Sunderland 4-2 in the opening match of the Premier League season, was in the casino with fiancee Rebekah Nicholson, 33, and fellow Leicester City players David Nugent, 30, and Ritchie De Laet, 26.

As they played poker in the early hours of Sunday, July 26, Vardy apparently became agitated when he thought a man of behind him was looking at his cards.

In the video he can be heard saying: “Jap. Yo Jap. Walk on. Walk on. Oi, walk on. Yeah you, Jap. Walk on.”

(Image: AFP/Getty)

A witness told the Sun on Sunday: “It was awful. He then said, ‘Away’. His girlfriend says to the man, ‘You’ve been looking at his cards’. They rowed for a couple of minutes and then the other guy eventually walked off.”

He added: “He behaved like an absolute animal, it was appalling. The other guy was a man of East Asian appearance. He looked shocked by what happened.

“As an England international he should know that eyes are going to be on him when he goes out, but he acted just like a football thug.”

(Image: Michael Regan - The FA)

Just minutes later Vardy is alleged to have got involved in another row when a customer pointed out to him that watching a poker table is allowed, as long as you make no comment on the hand being played.

The striker is said to have become angry and asked the customer "outside" to settle the argument. De Laet is then said to have held Vardy in a headlock to prevent him going.

Both De Laet and Nugent are seen in the video trying to calm Vardy down, and neither are accused of any wrongdoing.

Vardy apologised for the incident on Sunday.

In a statement released by Leicester the 28-year-old said: "I wholeheartedly apologise for any offence I've caused.

"It was a regrettable error in judgement I take full responsibility for and I accept my behaviour was not up to what's expected of me."

Leicester issued their own response, promising to look into the incident.

"We expect the highest standards from our players on and off the pitch and for them to set an example as role models in our community," read a statement.

"We have noted Jamie's apology and will begin a process of investigation into the incident imminently. There will be no further comment until this process has concluded."

It is another unsavoury incident for the east Midlands club to deal with and comes hot on the heels of another controversy involving Foxes players.

James Pearson, Tom Hopper and Adam Smith were caught filming three Thai girls committing sex acts with them in a hotel room.

WARNING: Graphic content some might find offensive

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The trio then shared the explicit videos with friends in the UK in which one of the players can be heard calling a woman a “slit eye” while his mates snigger at the racist jibe.

The girls taking part in the orgy were also taunted as “minging” while the naked players – then all on the fringe of Leicester’s first team – make other sickening comments about them too explicit to be printed

All three were sacked by the club, which is owned by Thai father and son Vichai and Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha.

In pictures - Leicester's orgy race shame in Thailand: