Casino News Source: http://www.chron.com
June 7, 2006, 12:54PM
© 2006 The Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Caesar's casino is suing the winner of a $315 million lottery jackpot, claiming he bounced checks worth $1.5 million trying to cover gambling losses.
Jack Whittaker, whose Powerball win in 2002 was at the time the largest undivided lottery jackpot, claims he doesn't owe the money.
In a filing made in response to Caesar's lawsuit, Whittaker said the casino actually owes him money because it agreed to give him a percentage of revenue from a slot machine he developed and to credit his gambling losses.
The alleged bad checks were written in 2004, and the casino, owned by Harrah's Entertainment Inc., filed the lawsuit in May 2005. It came to light recently when the documents were subpoenaed in an unrelated wrongful-death lawsuit against Whittaker.
The lawsuit involves Jesse Joe Tribble, 18, who was found dead in a home owned by Whittaker in September 2004. The teen was an acquaintance of Whittaker's 17-year-old granddaughter, and the lawsuit claims she bought drugs with Whittaker's money and shared the drugs with her friends.
Tribble's father blames Whittaker, who had custody of his granddaughter. Whittaker says Tribble bought the drugs and that his granddaughter, Brandi Bragg, wasn't home when Tribble died.
The father's attorney, Tom Peyton, sought copies of surveillance tapes and other records related to Whittaker's gambling trips as part of the wrongful death lawsuit.
Since his Powerball win, Whittaker has been beset by problems. He's been arrested for drunken driving, had hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from him, and Bragg died of a drug overdose, just months after Tribble's death.
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