Gambler sues casinos over allowing him to lose a million while drunk

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

A California man is suing the Las Vegas Hilton and Mandalay Bay hotel-casino claiming the casinos were negligent in allowing him to gamble away more than $1 million while he was intoxicated.

According to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, executives of the Las Vegas Hilton and Mandalay Bay knew Stephen Roel was drunk and yet extended hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit to him anyway.

Roel claims in his suit that he had been a customer of the Hilton for more than 15 years in September 1999 when he made arrangements for a weekend at the casino.

In exchange for his gambling at the casino, Hilton executives agreed to pay for his roundtrip flight from San Diego, his lodging, food and beverages, the lawsuit states.

Roel, who was known to be a skilled and knowledgeable player, had a $50,000 credit line at the casino, which he rarely went over, the lawsuit states.

However, on the weekend of Sept. 29-30, Roel was drinking heavily and betting "irrationally and erratically" from the time he walked in the door with $117,000 and dumped it all on a blackjack table, the lawsuit states.

Despite the fact that executives should have known or knew Roel was drunk, they extended him a credit line of about $840,000, the lawsuit states.

Hilton executives' behavior violated their own policy and the regulations of the Nevada Gaming Commission, according to the lawsuit.

Alan Hopper, public relations director for the Las Vegas Hilton, declined to comment this morning, citing a corporate policy not to discuss pending litigation.

According to the lawsuit, someone affliated with Mandalay Bay arranged for Roel to stay at that hotel-casino the same weekend. Once he was there, executives extended him a line of credit despite knowing he was drunk. That credit line was for more than $100,000, the lawsuit states.

Mandalay Bay executives continued to extend Roel credit after his wife and sister flew in and asked them not to accept his bets, extend his credit line or serve him drinks, the lawsuit states.

Calls to Mandalay Bay's corporate office this morning were not returned before deadline.

Roel is now being threatened with criminal prosecution through the Clark County district attorney's office and a referral to the TRW Credit Reporting Agency, the lawsuit states.

Roel, who entered a treatment center since that weekend, is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, recovery of the money he bet that weekend and forgiveness of the debts. He also wants the Hilton and the Mandalay Bay to be precluded from seeking criminal prosecution and from reporting him to TRW.