Mohegan Sun Wants $2.7M from Hollywood Exec Who Lost $5M in a Day

Posted on: August 15, 2024, 02:58h. 

Last updated on: August 15, 2024, 09:07h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Casino is chasing former Hollywood heavyweight Ron Meyer for more than $2.7 million in unpaid markers, according to a lawsuit filed in the state’s Superior Court in New London.

Mohegan Sun, Ron Meyer, Universal Studios, craps
Lawyers for ex-Universal Studios chief Ron Meyer, above, argue that extending credit for gambling is illegal in Connecticut and there’s nothing in the Mohegan’s compact that says otherwise. (Image: Shutterstock)

Meyer, 79, was president and COO of Universal Studios from 1995 to 2013. He also has a reputation as a prodigious craps gambler.

In or about August 14, 2015, Meyer signed a line of credit for $6 million at the Mohegan Sun in Montville, Conn., according to the lawsuit filed by the Mohegan Gaming Commission. In October 2017, he used the line to gamble and promptly lost $5 million in a single day, it claims.

Meyer signed over five markers to the casino to cover the debt, but the checks bounced, per the suit. In April 2018, the defendant entered into a repayment plan with the casino but welched on installments in September 2003, still owing $2,782,500, according to the complaint.

Gambling Credit Illegal in State

In a motion to strike the case filed last week, Meyer’s lawyer, Brian E. Spears, argued that extending credit for gambling is illegal under Connecticut law and that the state has an “ancient and deep-rooted ban on lending money to gamblers.”

As a sovereign nation partially removed from state laws, the Mohegan Tribe is permitted to offer casino gaming under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). But that’s only if such activities are conducted in accordance with the compact agreement signed by the tribe and the state.

The Mohegan compact contains no such allowance for the extension of credit, Spears argued. On the contrary, it stipulates that all payments for class III wagers should be “made by cash, cash equivalent, check, or credit card.”

Connecticut’s only other tribal operator, the Mashantucket Pequots, signed a different compact in which they successfully negotiated an exception for the extension of credit for gambling at their Foxwoods Resort Casino, notes Spears.

“Ultimately, the Mohegan Compact is the relevant authority,” he adds. “Within its four corners, the Mohegan Compact does not permit the extension of credit for gambling. Absent an express authorization permitting the Mohegan Sun to extend credit for gambling at its casino, Connecticut’s centuries-old prohibition on such practices controls.”

‘Top Three Whale’

Meyer was reported to have blown more than $100 million on dice games over the years by sources who spoke to The Daily Mail in 2020, an allegation Casino.org is unable to verify independently. The article described him as “probably in the top three most sought-after whales in the gaming industry.”

Meyer was one of the founders of talent agency Creative Artists. At Universal he was the longest-serving chief of a major motion picture company. He resigned as chairman in 2020, claiming he was being extorted over a purported affair with British actress Charlotte Kirk.