Retiree Who Lost $500k Tries To Sue Las Vegas Casino

The Super Bowl has always created major excitement in the States, and last month’s Super Bowl XLVIII was no exception, with 111.5 million viewers tuning in to watch the NFL’s end-of-season championship game, making the sporting event the most watched TV program in U.S. history.
In Nevada, gamblers lost nearly $20 million on Super Bowl bets after the Seattle Seahawks thrashed the Denver Broncos by 43-8 in New Jersey. However, one losing player has been nursing a bigger Super Bowl hangover than most, after blowing $500,000 beting on the event at The Downtown Grand casino in Las Vegas.
Apparently, Californian retiree Mark Johnston, 52, had been visiting Sin City with some friends and had been drinking at the airport and then a restaurant while on his way to the hotel casino. After arriving at The Downtown Grand, that’s when everything appears to have become fuzzy for Mr Johnston, who then gambled on pai gow and blackjack before organizing and losing the $500,000 casino loan. As Johnston explains:
“After that, I don’t remember anything..you certainly aren’t to issue half a million dollars in markers to someone who’s intoxicated..They should have cut me off. The bottom line is the casinos are supposed to not gamble to you and not overserve you in alcohol. That’s gaming regulation”
Consequently, Johnston subsequently stopped his payment order, and is currently seeking damages for sullying his name. Nevertheless, The Downtown Grand is determined to ensure the retired car dealership and real estate businessman makes good on his marker, and is currently counter-suing him for the gambling debt.
Commenting on the situation, Johnston’s attorney, Sean Lyttle, said: “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.”