Terry Watanabe

Of TERRY WATANABE ---


LAS VEGAS, NV – A multimillionaire gambler is suing a casino over plying him with alcohol and drugs to keep him playing!

Terry Watanabe is the former owner of the Oriental Trading Company, an import/export business he sold in 2000. Since then he has touted himself as a professional philanthropist.

However, Watanabe’s penchant for gambling got the best of him, as he says he lost more than $100 million at Harrah’s, a Las Vegas casino!

But Watanabe is claiming the company coerced him into compulsive gambling. By 2006, Harrah offered to move him into their Caesars Palace, as well as 15 percent cash back on monthly table losses of $500,000 or greater, and $12,500 transportation reimbursement and a $3 million line of credit! He also claims that the casino promised to wait 60 days before cashing any markers he lost.

By the end of 2007, as his losses became unmanageable, Harrah’s not only increased his credit limit, but provided him with an unending supply of alcohol and pain killers.

Watanabe says he began gambling for multiple days in a row, “with little interruption of sleep…Harrah’s executives and employees knew or should have known…that Watanabe was rapidly running out of money.” He was often so inebriated and sleep deprived “that at times he became unconscious at his private gaming tables or slot machines.”

Watanabe is filing his lawsuit because Harrah’s is trying to claim $14.75 million he wrote in bad checks. It is unclear how much Watanabe is suing for, with charges including fraud, breach of contract, conspiracy and negligence, but considering Watanabe claims he bet more than $825 million in 2007 alone, it is likely to be significant.


Telegraph reports ---


Las Vegas gambler sues Caesars Palace claiming casino plied him with drugs

A Las Vegas gambler who lost $112 million (£67 million) in a year, is suing the owner of Caesars Palace, claiming casino staff "milked" him by plying him with alcohol and prescription drugs.


Terry Watanabe, 52, says he lived and gambled "non-stop" at Caesars Palace for six months in 2007, spending a fortune on roulette and slot machines.

After an epic losing streak, he ran up gambling debts of around $15 million (£9 million) and was subsequently charged with theft, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

Mr Watanabe is countering the criminal charges with a civil suit in which he accuses Harrah's, the owners of Caesars Palace, of fraud, breach of contract, conspiracy and negligence.

He claims company executives manipulated him with a "secret intention" of siphoning off his wealth.

Harrah's, the world's largest gambling company by revenue, is adamant there was no wrong-doing.

A spokesman said: "We have a long-standing history of responsible and ethical practices.

"We're licensed in more jurisdictions than any other gaming company. We stand by our record."

Mr Watanabe is a Nebraska-based philanthropist and the former owner of Oriental Trading Co, a huge direct marketing company for novelties and party items.

He has also filed a complaint with the Nevada Gaming Control Board and says he staked a total of more than $825 million (£495 million) in 2007 at Caesars Palace and the Rio casino, also owned by Harrah's The complaint says: "Mr Watanabe was an obvious gambling addict and Caesars and Harrah's senior management made a conscious decision to exploit his well-known addiction."

Mr Watanabe alleges that casino employees provided him with prescription painkillers that, combined with an endless flow of alcohol, "rendered him utterly intoxicated and unfit to gamble."

His Los Angeles-based lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, said the criminal prosecution against Mr Watanabe was "meritless."

He said: "Terry Watanabe is innocent of any crime and Harrah's owes him money."

Mr Watanabe was regarded as one of Las Vegas's "whales," a nickname for epic gamblers.

His lawyers claim his gambling at Caesars Palace and Rio accounted for around 20 per cent of revenue at both casinos in 2006 and 2007. He is currently on $1.5 million (£900,000) bail.