That excuse never worked for me when I played with a toy I wasn’t supposed to or sneaked another biscuit just before dinner. Apparently Terrance Watanabe’s parents were a little less rigid.
Watanabe recently tried to blame a major gambling spree on the casinos in which he lost, claiming that they plied him with booze. I’ve never heard of the “drunken boob” defence. Not in reference to gambling, anyway.
It seems that Terrance got into a wee bit of trouble when he wrote bad cheques to continue his gambling run. Watanabe is defending his actions by saying that he is not responsible due to the alcohol. The amount owed is a staggering $14.7 million.
In addition to the booze, Watanabe also accuses one of the casinos with giving him painkillers to stay at the tables. Painkillers plus alcohol? Terrance, they want you to spend money, not die! (Unless you were winning and even then I’m pretty sure that’s only in films…)
The charges brought against Watanabe referred to a three month spree during which he committed theft as well as writing bad cheques regarding a debt of USD$12 million at Caesar’s Palace and another USD$2.7 million lost at the Rio.
Watanabe’s lawyer replied to prosecutors with a seven page letter, claiming basically that Watanabe was such a mess that he was “incapable of forming the criminal intent”.
It gets worse. In addition to the $14.7 million owed to those casinos, Watanabe dished out $112 million to Harrah’s for gambling debts in 2007.
Watanabe made his fortune operating a novelty business started by his father. When daddy finds out, Terrance is sooo grounded.
