Drunk Gambler Loses $500,000 - Sues the Casino

What?!  Initially, this sounds like sour grapes from an incredibly stupid gambler.  However, in my assessment, this might only be half true.  The gambler is incredibly stupid.  Mark Johnston of Ventura, California spent a weekend whooping it up at the newly opened Downtown Grand Casino in Vegas.  He says he got "blackout drunk" and dropped $500,000 at the tables and is therefore not liable for the debt.

Apparently, there is a Nevada law that might be his release from this obligation.  This law bans casinos from allowing obviously drunk patrons to gamble and serve them comped drinks.  Johnston says he has witnesses and with the use of the casino's own surveillance video, he can prove he was seriously intoxicated and they continued to take his bets and serve him free drinks.

If Johnston wins this case, that will certainly open the floodgates for many others to cry foul in the future, even if they weren't "blackout drunk."  Nobody wants to admit they were stupid enough to keep betting and lost everything.  Conversely, we might start to see casinos dropping the hammer on those who seem remotely "tipsy" and not allow them to continue to play.  Somehow, I think they will not be quick to pull that trigger.  Casinos NEED people to keep betting, as that's how they make their money.   What is more likely to become a trend in Vegas is the scaling back of those free alcoholic beverages.  Sitting at a Blackjack table, sipping a FREE rum and coke will likely become a rarity   Sitting at a Blackjack table and downing more than two or three FREE rum and cokes will likely become a thing of the past.

So, THANKS Mark Johnston, and all of the other stupid drunk gamblers out there, for ruining the one little highlight many of us enjoyed partaking in when we ventured to Vegas.  Free drinks will likely become less and less likely to be given.