Too Drunk to Lose?

Where does personal responsibility begin (and end)? A man loses $75,000 playing blackjack and craps at a casino and later claims that he was too intoxicated to be allowed to play. He now feels that since the casino maliciously continued to serve him the drinks that he had ordered, it is their responsibility that he lost.

They kept serving me till I was totally intoxicated. In fact, I don't remember losing all the money," said Vance, a developer from Corbin, Ky.

It's unclear whose fault it is that he lost $500,000 at the same casino over the years. My guess is anyone who was foolish enough to let this guy get his hands on a half-million dollars in the first place.

I don't mean to suggest that casinos operate with our best interests at heart. But it's no secret that casinos like to diminish a player's risk aversion by plying them with alcohol. It's also no secret that people do stupid things when drunk. It seems that if you have a history of doing such stupid things, you may elect to not drink while gambling. I don't know if a casino should float someone a $75,000 advance, but this wasn't the average gambler. This was a guy who seemed both willing to and capable of blowing large sums of money in any state of mind. Did I mention he's from Kentucky?

The lawsuit raises all kind of issues that are difficult to resolve. How drunk is too drunk? How should a casino measure intoxication? What keeps all losers from claiming they were too drunk to know better? But the real reason I don't think he should get his money back is this: If he had instead won $75,000, would he be demanding that the casino take the money back because he was just too darn drunk to win?

Man sues casino, alleging he was allowed to bet while drunk [Kentucky.com]

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