Gambler Sues Casino, Says He Lost Money While Drunk

Who knew you could sue for losing money while gambling? I guess if you’re drunk you have a valid excuse to get your money back. At least that’s what businessman Mark Johnston, 52, is hopin...
Gambler Sues Casino, Says He Lost Money While Drunk
Written by
  • Who knew you could sue for losing money while gambling? I guess if you’re drunk you have a valid excuse to get your money back.

    At least that’s what businessman Mark Johnston, 52, is hoping, and suing over.

    Over Super Bowl weekend Johnston, a southern California gambler, lost $500,000 on table games in Las Vegas.

    And you thought Broncos fans had it bad that weekend.

    Johnston is suing the Downtown Grand for “loaning him money and serving him drinks when he was visibly intoxicated.”

    The law in Nevada states that casinos cannot continue to give money and drinks to patrons who are obviously intoxicated.

    Johnston says he was very drunk while he played pai gow and blackjack at the Downtown Grand.

    According to Sean Lyttle, Johnston’s attorney, the Downtown Grand says Johnston has been avoiding his gambling debts and they plan to pursue him to get their money.

    Lyttle and the rest of Johnston’s legal team plans to prove Johnston’s level of drunkenness with eyewitness testimony and video footage from the casino.

    “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. It’s a very heavy-handed and unusual approach that we haven’t seen in this town in a long time,” said Lyttle.

    According to the suit Johnston arrived in Las Vegas on Thursday, January 30. He drank while in the limousine from the airport to the Downtown Grand, continued to drink while at dinner with friends, and blacked out sometime after that. The suit also alleges “that the Grand comped him dozens of drinks while he gambled away hundreds of thousands of dollars, finally sleeping off his drunkenness” on Saturday, February 1. Johnston said he didn’t realize how much he lost until Super Bowl Sunday.

    One person on Twitter thinks Johnston will win, but it may cost him in the long run. That is if gambling in Las Vegas is really his thing.

    Another person on Twitter has become a fan of Johnston.

    Image via YouTube.

    Get the WebProNews newsletter delivered to your inbox

    Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

    Subscribe
    Advertise with Us

    Ready to get started?

    Get our media kit