Las Vegas loves its losers. And for the most part, the losers love Vegas.
They deal with financial drubbings (however grudgingly), hustle for all the comps they can get their hands on, and revel in the action.
But sometimes, it gets out of control. Losing millions is bad. Losing 10s of millions is life wrecking. Dropping $350 million? That is a disaster for the player and happy days for the casino.
The latter was the case for Terrance Watanabe, who made his fortune in Omaha and lost it in Las Vegas. His story is heartbreaking and a cautionary tale for all of us who love the thrill of gambling.
Tale Of Terry, And His Love Of Risk
Watanabe’s losing streak is legendary. It ended in litigation on both sides and a financial beating that few of us can relate to. However, notorious as his story may be, Watanabe has not been keen to share details of the downfall – outside of legal documents that he eventually filed.
But earlier this month, on the Soft White Underbelly show, he spilled quite a bit.
The one-time owner of a successful toy company came clean on what can go wrong in Vegas. Watanabe built his family business from a $2 million operation to a $500 million juggernaut. But somehow that was not enough.
In explaining how the company took off, he simply said, “I’ve always been a risk taker.”
That risk paid off in business. Gambling was something else altogether. And it began early.
“I started gambling when I was the bookie assistant [for my father] at the age of six,” Watanabe said. “I was gambling 100 bucks a game.”
Visiting Vegas
When Watanabe was a kid, quarterly family vacations introduced him to Las Vegas. He took to the place immediately.
Decades later, he sold the father-founded company for some $500 million, didn’t have much to do and was naturally drawn to gambling.
It started with online action.
“They upped my line [of credit] to $500,000,” he said, speaking of an offshore casino he patronized. [“Over two years,] I lost $25 million, but it did not slow me down. I doubled down and it guided me to a bigger hole.”
Losing At Blackjack
He was also drawn to Vegas, where his games of choice were slots, blackjack, and baccarat.
At blackjack, he routinely bet $50,000 a hand while playing three spots. He recalled a situation where he hit a blackjack, split aces, and had been dealt a 20. The dealer began with a soft 16 and wound up with 21.
“I made a complaint, and Caesars Palace would do anything I wanted at the time. I had them reshuffle and redeal the hand. I still lost.”
Billy Walters once told me that when you walk into a casino and see nothing but teeth – everyone smiling because they are happy to see you – you know you are in trouble.
There is little doubt that Watanabe, who tipped lavishly – he talked about toking $50,000 after a big slots-win and paying off a host’s mortgage – saw his share of pearly whites during his frequent trips to Vegas. Getting a casino to redeal a losing hand, thus giving you a shot at winning, is no small thing.
He stayed for months at a time.
“When it was good, it was good,” Watanabe said. “When it was bad, it was down and out.”
Multiple Million-Dollar Days
Asked how much was the most he lost in a day, Watanabe admitted that it was $5 million.
Over the course of this interview, which is totally worth checking out, he admitted to indulging in cocaine and alcohol as he played. It’s never a bright idea, acknowledging that it “affected my gambling.”
It also might not have helped his balance. While in Vegas on one of his gambling sprees, Watanabe slipped in the shower, hurt his back and was in pain. To relieve the discomfort, he claimed to have asked his host for Tylenol.
“He came up with Lortabs, which is an Oxy [now discontinued, Lortab actually contained Hydrocodone, which, like Oxycodone, is an opioid]. They were sent up inside Nerds boxes, like 100 at a time. From that point on, I just lost everything. Eventually I went broke.”
Tapped Out
Asked if he still has some wealth, Watanabe, who is clean now, replied, “Minimal.”
He overcame the gambling and the drugs with the help of a rehab-clinic stint, but he still finds the massive losses difficult to reckon with.
It was so bad that when everything ended, Watanabe had an outstanding marker for many millions and filed a civil suit against Caesars; Caesars, in turn, sued him over the unpaid marker. The legal imbroglio was eventually settled confidentially, although Caesars was fined $225,000 by New Jersey gaming regulators.
Asked for his biggest regret, Watanabe responded by simply stating, “Losing everything.”
Michael Kaplan is a journalist based in New York City. He is the author of six books including Advantage Players, and has worked for publications that include Wired, GQ and the New York Post. He has written extensively on technology, gambling, and business — with a particular interest in spots where all three intersect. His article on Kelly “Baccarat Machine” Sun and Phil Ivey is currently in development as a feature film.
- Photo by Wall Street Journal, Shutterstock
