Thursday, March 6, 2014

Gambler Sues Casino After Losing $500,000 While Blackout Drunk



A wealthy businessman who squandered a half-million dollars at a Las Vegas casino on Super Bowl weekend is arguing that he doesn't have to pay because he was blackout drunk at the time.


Mark Johnston, 52, arrived at the Downtown Grand casino to play high-stakes pai gao poker and blackjack, losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.


Johnston, who reportedly made his fortune in car dealerships and real estate, believes he should be absolved of the debt because the casino broke Nevada law by allowing him to gamble while visibly intoxicated and continued to serve him drinks despite his wasted state.


"It's certainly an extraordinary case. This is not a story that I've ever heard before, where someone was blackout intoxicated where they couldn't read their cards, and yet a casino continued to serve them drinks and issue them more markers," Johnston's attorney, Sean Lyttle told the Huffington Post. "It's a very heavy-handed and unusual approach that we haven't seen in this town in a long time."


Johnston and his lawyer are relying on surveillance video and eyewitness testimony to prove his case.


Source: gawker.com