In 2007, Terrance Watanabe found himself having to sit back and re-evaluate his gambling habits after managing to spend more than $127 million in just that year online.
This spending spree is deemed one of the largest losing steaks in gambling history in Las Vegas, where Terrance had spend all of his time frequenting both the Caesars Palace and Rio casinos.
Eating through most of the personal fortune he had built up over 20 years, Terrance had made his money through his party-favour import company in Omaha, America. Within 2007 alone, a staggering 5.6% of all gross Las Vegas revenue made from gambling was due to the efforts of Mr. Watanabe.
Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. who acts as the parent company for the casinos and Mr. Watanabe are battling it out at the moment over whether they can claim some responsibility for his impressive losing streak.
Mr. Watanabe claims in a recently filed civil suit in the Clark County District Court that the staff at both casinos would often give him increased amounts of alcohol as well as pain killers in their attempts to keep him spending his money at the casino tables.
Based on these allegations by the plaintiff, Mr. Watanabe, the Nevada’s Gaming Control Board have since opened up their own separate investigation in order to determine if Harrah’s did in fact violate any gambling regulations.
The Clark County District Attorney’s office charged Mr. Watanabe in April with 4 felony counts of fraud and theft against Harrah’s, which stems from a massive $14.7 million which is claimed to have been extended to him at the casinos as credit but has since been claimed to be lost by Mr. Watanabe. His refusal to pay more than the already paid $112 million is due to his apparent allegations against the casinos that they promised to give him cash back for some of the losses acquired, as well as their encouragement to gambling intoxicated. If found guilty, Mr. Watanabe could face as many as 28 years behind bars.
It has been reported by former and current employees however, that they should let Mr. Watanabe continue gambling at the Harrah’s casinos even though he appeared to be intoxicated; this despite the both casinos rules as well as state law which state that visibly drunk individuals should not be allowed to continue gambling. An investigation on this matter is till currently under way.
According to Mr. Watanabe’s lawyer, the Harrah’s group had preyed on the gamblers condition but did however go on to say that Mr. Watanabe did acknowledge his excessive drinking and had taken full responsibility for his actions.
Within the state of Nevada, all unpaid gambling debts are seen as criminal matters and are handled as such by a bad-checks unit within the District Attorney’s office. Prior to defendants being charged, most often than not, an agreements will be reach in which the debt will be paid off before charges will be filed.
It has also been noted in other court documentation that Mr. Watanabe had admitted to also being banned from the Wynn casino in 2007 due to an apparent excessive amount of drinking as well as gambling; although a representative from the casino declined to make a comment regarding this allegation.
In 2008, Mr. Watanabe was seen back in the Las Vegas gambling swing of things but has since entered a residential treatment facility, and as such, has not visited any casino since.
In the American Summer months, Mr. Watanabe will stand trial on all of the felony charges brought against him for his 2007 gambling debt. As it stands Mr. Watanabe has pleaded not guilty on all charges.
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