--- description: Businessman is suing the Las Vegas Casino he lost $500,000 at because it plied him with drinks and loaned him money while he was drunk. title: Man Sues Casino Over Letting Him Lose $500,000 When He Was "Blackout" Drunk image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0a3f7ebfee60ab/6986843455a8594cdea7f906/176562396.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Man Sues Casino For Letting Him Lose $500K When He Was 'Blackout' Drunk by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 6, 2014 4:29 PM CUT  Roulette table bet Roulette table betGetty Images by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 6, 2014 4:29 PM CUT A southern California businessman is [suing a Las Vegas casino](http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/mar/05/gambler-sues-says-he-lost-500000-playing-drunk/ "undefined") where he lost $500,000 because he says it plied him with drinks and loaned him money to increase his debt while he was drunk. It’s against the law for Nevada casinos to allow clearly drunk people to gamble, and a lawyer for plaintiff Mark Johnston says his client was “blackout intoxicated” when he lost big on Super Bowl weekend, the Associated Press reports. “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,” said the lawyer, Sean Lyttle. “It’s a very heavy-handed and unusual approach that we haven’t seen in this town in a long time.” The state Gaming Control Board is investigating the case. The Grand casino hasn’t commented on the lawsuit. \[[_AP_](http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/mar/05/gambler-sues-says-he-lost-500000-playing-drunk/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/14033/man-sues-casino-for-letting-him-lose-500k-when-he-was-blackout-drunk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/14033/man-sues-casino-for-letting-him-lose-500k-when-he-was-blackout-drunk/"},"headline":"Man Sues Casino For Letting Him Lose $500K When He Was 'Blackout' Drunk","datePublished":"2014-03-06T16:29:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:37:07.684Z","description":"Claims casino broke the law by letting him gamble and lending him money when he was clearly intoxicated.","url":"https://time.com/14033/man-sues-casino-for-letting-him-lose-500k-when-he-was-blackout-drunk/","keywords":["Super Bowl topic","Law","Lawsuit","gambling","Las Vegas","casino"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0a3f7ebfee60ab/6986843455a8594cdea7f906/176562396.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0a3f7ebfee60ab/6986843455a8594cdea7f906/176562396.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"gamble","caption":"176562396","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/14033/man-sues-casino-for-letting-him-lose-500k-when-he-was-blackout-drunk/","name":"Man Sues Casino For Letting Him Lose $500K When He Was 'Blackout' Drunk"}}]}] ```