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Omaha philanthropist Terry Watanabe has upped the stakes in his dispute with Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and two of its Las Vegas casinos.
Watanabe filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday and a complaint with the Nevada Gaming Control Board on Wednesday against Harrah's. Watanabe alleges that the casino company and several of its employees knowingly exploited his gambling addiction and alcoholism by plying him with prescription drugs and vodka.
The company and its employees engaged in “predatory acts” to “siphon off his fortune,” says the lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court in Nevada.
An attorney for Harrah's Entertainment Inc., Vernon Nelson, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
But the company earlier this year appeared to have knowledge of the possibility of a lawsuit.
Dominic Gentile, another attorney for Harrah's, sent a letter to Watanabe's attorney on Aug. 28, calling the proposed lawsuit “meritless.” He also alleged that it was an attempt to get criminal charges against Watanabe dropped. Gentile also could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The lawsuit and complaint are the latest developments in Watanabe's gambling woes, which came to light 10 months ago, when prosecutors accused him of not paying two casinos $14.75 million in gambling debts.
Watanabe, 52, former owner of the Oriental Trading Co., was charged with several felonies for signing more than 30 “markers” — counter checks agreeing to drafts from his bank account — at Caesars Palace and Rio in 2007.
The casinos requested a criminal prosecution when the loans were not repaid.
Harrah's Entertainment owns Caesars Palace and the Rio in Las Vegas.
The criminal charges against Watanabe are pending in Clark County District Court in Nevada.
Watanabe's gambling problems in Las Vegas apparently have taken a toll on his fortune. He has lost $112 million, according to his attorneys.
His lawyers allege that at least one Las Vegas casino owner, the widely known Steve Wynn, recognized Watanabe's gambling addiction.
Wynn met with Watanabe in June 2007 and asked him to leave the Wynn Las Vegas casino after Watanabe lost $21 million, according to the complaint filed with the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
“Within hours, news of the meeting spread throughout the Las Vegas casino industry, including to all Harrah's casinos,” according to the complaint.
A call to the public relations department at the Wynn Las Vegas was not returned Thursday.
After he was asked to leave the Wynn, Watanabe went to the Rio and met with a Harrah's marketing executive. They worked out an agreement with respect to the gambling “comps,” or freebies given to high rollers, according to Watanabe's complaint.
In the lawsuit, Watanabe alleges that Harrah's executives and employees should have known in the fall of 2007 that he “was rapidly running out of money, was physically and mentally impaired due to his chronic intoxication and was severely addicted to gambling.”
He also alleges that Harrah's surrounded him with casino employees whose job it was to keep him gambling, even if he was falling asleep at the tables.
Watanabe says he virtually lived at Caesars Palace in the summer of 2007.
In addition, Watanabe alleges that Harrah's increased his credit limit when his “level of intoxication was reaching its most extreme.”
The lawsuit filed by Watanabe seeks unspecified damages and restitution from Harrah's and its Caesars Palace and Rio casinos.
Watanabe at age 20 inherited the Oriental Trading Co. from his father. He sold it in 2000, when its annual sales topped $300 million.
Contact the writer:
444-1309, robynn.tysver@owh.com
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