Losses may make bettor state’s biggest whale
Lawyers for Nebraska philanthropist Terrance Watanabe say in a new lawsuit that his losses at Harrah’s Entertainment casinos were much larger than they previously reported, making him what some experts call the biggest high roller of all time in Nevada.
In an amended complaint against Harrah’s, attorneys Pierce O’Donnell and Dan Albregts said the 53-year-old Watanabe lost $189 million at Caesars Palace and the Rio in 2007, much of it during a state of constant intoxication allegedly fueled by the company. The lawyers said in their original complaint last November that Watanabe had lost $112 million.
The new $189 million figure represented about 6 percent of all of Harrah’s casino revenue in Las Vegas that year, the lawyers alleged in the new 28-page complaint filed late Wednesday.
In all, Watanabe gambled more than $800 million at Caesars Palace and the Rio in 2007, the lawyers said.
“No one has ever lost this much money in a casino before,” said Bill Thompson, a UNLV public administration professor who specializes in the gaming industry. “It’s just a fantastic amount. He’s the biggest whale of all time.”
Retired Nevada archivist Guy Rocha added, “Those are astronomical figures. I think you could be safe in saying he’s one of the biggest losers in Nevada gaming history.”
In their amended complaint, O’Donnell and Albregts said Watanabe had lost $67.29 million at the Harrah’s casinos by the end of August 2007.
“Thereafter, Watanabe’s gambling losses escalated astronomically in the fall of 2007, just as his level of intoxication was reaching its most extreme,” the complaint said. “The Harrah’s entities made these losses possible not only by progressively increasing Watanabe’s credit limit and providing him with a nonstop supply of alcohol and prescription painkillers, but also by increasing his table limits beyond those available to other patrons.”
The new complaint alleges Harrah’s fraudulently obtained tens of millions of dollars from Watanabe in 2007 as part of an effort to inflate the value of the world’s largest gaming company for its eventual $17.1 billion sale in January 2008.
Harrah’s spokesman Gary Thompson said Thursday that Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group signed the deal to acquire Harrah’s on Dec. 19, 2006, long before Watanabe racked up his big losses.
“There was no connection between the $90-a-share deal that ultimately went through and his losses in 2007,” Thompson said.
He added that Watanabe’s latest claims are “more of the same in an attempt to divert attention away from the fact that he’s facing criminal charges.”
At Harrah’s request, the district attorney’s office charged Watanabe with fraud last year for failing to pay Caesars Palace and the Rio $14.7 million in gambling markers.
O’Donnell and Albregts, however, have been pressing the district attorney hard to drop the charges.
The lawyers also have persuaded the Nevada Gaming Control Board to investigate Watanabe’s claims that Harrah’s fed him alcohol and drugs to keep him in a constant state of intoxication.
Gaming agents have stepped up their investigation in recent weeks, interviewing several witnesses the lawyers brought to their attention.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@
reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.