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The $112 Million Dollar Man

By MikeE on Saturday, 18th July 2009 2:31am
  » filed under Las Vegas  comments: 2

   

I'm starting a petition.

Sure, it's hard to feel bad for Terrance "Bad-Checks" Watanabe. Some friends at Wynn used to tell me anecdotes about that guy so ridiculous that it would make even the late Kerry Packer green with envy.

He used to play the $5000 slot machine and hardly made an expression until something with seven figures was hit (apparently, not unheard of at that denomination). He once demanded that a smorgasbord of ice cream of all flavors and Marie Calendars' pies line the high limit slots room and insisted fellow players and staff help themselves. His favorite accommodation was the 3200 square foot Fairway Villa 101 - the most prized among the suites on the golf course. Pretty modest accommodations for a player of his stature, actually, but that's because he always traveled with his non-gambling sister who got the 10,000 square foot Villa 1 neighboring Stevey's.

So when he wrote Harrah's a few bad checks to cover a gambling debt of $14.7 million, Terrance found himself in hot wata[nabe]. Today's Las Vegas Sun article describes what could be a hopeful loophole in the law to save him, but I'm not here to get into the legalese of things because this is about all that stands out to me from the article:

...Watanabe lost a total of $112 million at Harrah's casinos in 2007... [His] play amounted to 20 percent of the revenues for Caesars Palace and the Rio in 2006 and 2007...

Gawd. Dayum.

I was in Vegas two weeks ago. Bars were closing at 10:30, many of my favorite employees were gone, and you'd swear some casinos ripped off their theme from Calico Ghost Town.

Eff the $14.7 million. Settle quickly and get this guy back in the casinos for Las Vegas' sake.

Sign the petition below.



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Comments & Discussion:

 Chuckmonster posted on Saturday, 18th July 2009 - 2:14 pm

Every crew has that one guy who is not only an irresponsible jerk asshole but is undeniably fun to be around. Watanabe seems to be that guy... he might miss some payments, but leaves a trail of fire and legend wherever he goes.

For the good of the gambling universe and giving respect to misfit weirdoes everywhere.... sign me up.

 JeffinOKC posted on Monday, 20th July 2009 - 11:11 am

All of a sudden, I'm thinking what that much money could have done if he were gambling at the Riviera or Sahara. I know they are unhip, but the mind boggles at the impact that would have on the cash flow of those places.
BTW, sign me up as well. Las Vegas is in desperate need of more drunken lout zillionaires throwing away more money than I will see in my lifetime on one weekend of sin & debauchery.



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