A high-roller who lost an incredible amount of money gambling in Las Vegas casinos is seeking to avoid paying some of his markers, claiming that he was too drunk to know what he was doing. From the LV Sun:
High-rolling Nebraska philanthropist Terrance K. Watanabe is mounting an unusual defense to charges he failed to pay $14.7 million in Strip gambling debts.
He is accusing Caesars Palace and the Rio, both owned by Harrah’s Entertainment, of providing him with a steady flow of alcohol and — in the case of Caesars Palace — prescription painkillers as his losses increased.
His Las Vegas attorney, David Chesnoff, lays out the defense in a letter to prosecutors, claiming that casino employees will testify that the resorts kept the prolific gambler in a constant state of intoxication in the latter months of 2007 in violation of state gaming regulations.
Gambler who lost millions claims he was plied with alcohol, drugs – Las Vegas Sun.
Some interesting points: Watanabe reportedly lost $112 million at Harrah’s casinos in 2007. The $14.7 million in bad markers is about 13 percent of the total. Was it worth it to go after these markers? Some would say no, citing customer service, while others would say that if Watanabe had won, he’d have gotten paid, so it’s only fair that he pay every marker.
In 2009, $112 million is almost enough to buy a Las Vegas casino–at least a small one. According to David McKee, it would be enough to buy the Slots a Fun and have plenty left over for renovation and expansion–or pay for Criss Angel’s Believe.
Try to wrap your head around that: this guy could have starred in his own Cirque show, complete with a custom theater, with the money that he lost. It’s staggering.
While nothing is impossible, Watanabe probably is facing an uphill battle: the same argument didn’t work for Leonard Tose back in the early 1990s. This seems to be a similar case.
If Watanabe does win, we’d probably see a major re-evaluation of how casinos do business. Could blackjack tables be fitted with breathalyzers? Probably nothing that extreme, but you’d see a lot less complimentary alcohol.
This may be neither here nor there, but I know several people who come to Las Vegas who’d like nothing more than to be kept in a constant state of intoxication. Isn’t that one of the big sales points?