Deadbeat Gamblers Increasingly Stiff Casinos

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Deadbeat Gamblers Stiff Casinos
More Americans Appear to Be Welshing on Their Gambling Debts

BY ALAN FARNHAM
March 22, 2011 / ABC News



Gambler Jerome Powers is attempting what sounds like
an ethnic impossibility: welshing on an Indian debt.

One night about two years ago, Jerome Powers lost $1.2 million playing blackjack at Mohegan Sun, a Connecticut casino owned by the Pequot Indians. The money he lost was in the form of a marker — a credit extended by the casino, according to court papers.

Though Powers wrote a series of checks that same night to cover the amount, none were honored by his bank. He later stopped payment on them, the documents state. The Mohegans, understandably, were peeved. Though they have used Connecticut's courts to try to get their money back, Powers has resisted their efforts, advancing a variety of arguments in legal papers as to why he shouldn't have to repay.

First, he said he'd welshed on principle, claiming in court papers that the marker given him amounted to an illegal contract, since the State of Connecticut forbids both the extension of credit for gambling and gambling itself. He further argued that the State of Connecticut had no legal authority in the case, since the Pequots' reservation, like other Indian reservations, enjoys the status of a sovereign nation. A judge in New London rejected these views and in January ruled that the Pequots could attach Powers' assets to the tune of $1.2 million. Powers has appealed the ruling.

At no time has he asserted that he can't pay. In fact, he seems, by every outward appearance, to be swimming in dough.

MORE- http://abcnews.go.com/Business/mill...s-12-million-blackjack-loss/story?id=13186345
 
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