Whittaker
Powerball winner Jack Whittaker has been sued by a second Atlantic City casino for allegedly writing checks from a closed West Virginia bank account.
Bally's Park Place Inc, doing business at Bally's Atlantic City, filed the lawsuit last month in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J.
Bally's claims Whittaker wrote bad checks to cover credit lines he wanted at the casino. At issue are three checks Whittaker wrote to the casino in July 2004. According to suit, Whittaker wrote three checks for a total of $100,000 on July 30-31. City National Bank in Charleston returned the two $20,000 checks and a $60,000 check because the account had been closed, according to the complaint.
Bally's says Whittaker has not responded to demands seeking repayment. U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle has referred the case for arbitration.
Whittaker already is facing a similar suit filed last year by Boardwalk Regency Corp., the parent company of Caesars Atlantic City.
Around the same time as the Bally's incident, Whittaker allegedly wrote 21 checks to Caesars for a total of $1.5 million, according to that lawsuit. All of those checks also were returned. And like with Bally's, Whittaker apparently has not responded to Caesars' demands seeking repayment.
He did, however, respond to the Caesars suit with counterclaims that he owes the company nothing because of an agreement with the casino that included a 10 percent credit on his losses and royalties from a Cowboy Jack slot machine he developed.