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“Come Play” and then later we’ll sue to recoup the money we loaned you to gamble with
by Les
Mohegan Sun in Connecticut is suing a Florida man who gambled away $1.2 million in credit that the casino loaned him in May 2009. Court documents filed by the man say the casino solicited him to open a line of credit and to travel to the casino in eastern Connecticut. The casino also is trying to get the man to disclose his assets, but he’s fighting that too.
Let’s get this straight: Mohegan Sun encourages him to borrow money from the casino knowing his intent is to gamble it away inside their facility. He goes on to lose all of the money just like they wanted and then Mohegan Sun uses the people’s court system to recoup the “debt.” What other business in America operates this way?
Mohegan Sun ads like the one below entice citizens to “come play” as if the casino is simply offering another form of entertainment but when was the last time the local movie theater lent $1 million to a patron to go watch a movie or sued a film goer to disclose their financial assets?
Casino markers
In Earl Grinols book, he reports that 50-60% of the money lost at casinos was not brought by gamblers onto the premises. This story about the guy from Florida is another example of that reality.
Confession
In the article, it says that Mohegan Suns, in pursuing the gambler, obtained a court order that allowed the casino to “seize his assets ahead of a potential final judgment against him.” How can this be? My guess is that the credit application is so one-sided that it contains a clause pursuant to which the borrower “confesses” the seizure of his assets even before the court case is heard by a judge or a jury. These clauses are extremely heavy-handed and people don’t readily take out loans via this arrangement. Of course, when you are a gambling addict chasing your losses, it’s not exactly the best time to make decisions about terms and conditions of financing. Uh, “sign here”, “initial here,” “and here,” “that’s great, thank you very much.”
markers are also
generally interest free, which helps make them even more enticing.