A Las Vegas high-stakes gambler has filed a civil suit against Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. alleging that staff at two of the parent company’s casinos plied him with liquor and pain medication as part of a plan to keep him gambling, a habit that ended up costing him nearly $127 million.

Former trinket importer and Oriental Trading Company owner Terrence Watanabe, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, claims that Harrah’s casinos offered him lucrative terms, including tickets to concerts, monthly airfare, credit at stores, and cash back on table losses, to gamble at its casinos.  In 2007, Watanabe fell in his luxury suite at one of the casino hotels and claims his casino-employed handlers supplied him doses of prescription pain medication.  Watanabe further claims that casino employees violated state gambling regulations by encouraging him to continue gambling while he was visibly intoxicated and under the influence of drugs, sometimes losing as much as $5 million in a single binge.

Based on Watanabe’s allegations, Nevada’s Gaming Control Board is investigating whether Harrah’s violated gambling regulations.

Harrah’s senior vice president for communications and government relations responds that, “We’re in the gambling business.  We had no reason to believe Terry Watanabe was anything other than a big player with huge resources who made an adult decision to bet the money he did.”  Harrah’s further contends that the civil suit filed by Watanabe is an attempt to get out of paying a debt and to avoid accepting responsibility for his own actions.

In a separate criminal matter, the Clark County District Attorney’s office has charged Watanabe with four felony counts for intent to defraud and steal from Harrah’s, stemming from a $14.7 million debt owed to the casinos.  If convicted, Watanabe faces up to 28 years in prison.

According to his lawyer, Pierce O’Donnell, Watanabe admits to drinking in excess and “takes full responsibility for his condition at the time … He’s not saying the devil made him do it.”  But he says Harrah’s “preyed” on Watanabe’s condition.

—Source:  The Wall Street Journal