A longtime Aria casino patron is suing after he woke up in handcuffs and was accused of incurring a $75,000 gambling debt he doesn’t recall, Dextero reports.
In the civil complaint reviewed by Complex, Michael Thomson, a resident of Puerto Rico, claims that he was playing blackjack in the high-limit room at Aria in Las Vegas on the night of January 23, 2024.
He claims to remember taking out one $10,000 marker and paying it back that same night. Around midnight, he says he left the room with a few thousand dollars in chips and headed toward his hotel room inside the casino.
The next thing he remembers is waking up the following morning handcuffed to a wall in a casino security holding room.
Casino staff allegedly told him that security guards had found him asleep in the Sky Suites lounge and that when they woke him, he allegedly lashed out, so they detained him. Thomson says he was held by casino security until late that morning and then was banned from the casino.
At that time, no one told him that he supposedly owed the casino any money.
According to Thomson, he later tried many times to find out what had happened during the hours he cannot remember.
He contacted his casino host, who told him that Aria claimed he had outstanding gambling credit, and that there was a discrepancy between how much money the casino said he took out and his recorded wins and losses. Thomson says he repeatedly asked for details and proof, but says the casino did not give him clear answers.
Months later, Aria reportedly submitted eight separate markers totaling $75,000 to his bank.
On May 10, 2024, Thomson says his bank called to warn him that the casino was trying to collect the money but instructed them not to pay until he investigated the alleged debt.
The bank supposedly returned the markers, with five marked "Not Authorized" and three marked "NSF."
Aria reportedly told him that he had taken out all eight markers early in the morning of January 24, between about 3:00 and 9:00 a.m., a time period he claims he can’t remember at all, and that most of the signatures on them only loosely resemble his own.
Thomson claimed Aria refused to cooperate when he asked for records or explanations. Instead, Aria turned the matter over to prosecutors.
The Clark County District Attorney's Office charged Thomson with passing bad checks and theft. He was arrested on a warrant and had to pay $15,480 to be released from custody, money he believes ultimately went to Aria.
To put the ordeal behind him and avoid an ongoing criminal case, he agreed to pay restitution, after which the charges were dismissed.
Thomson alleges he was deliberately drugged on the night of January 23 or the morning of January 24. He also says the trained casino employees should have noticed something was wrong.
Instead of protecting him or getting medical help, Thomson says Aria allowed him to keep gambling, then detained him, and later tried to collect tens of thousands of dollars based on transactions he says he never knowingly agreed to.
He argues that the casino failed to act responsibly, took advantage of his condition, and then escalated the situation into a criminal case rather than addressing his concerns.
Thomson is asking the court to declare the $75,000 in markers invalid, to hold Aria responsible for negligence, unfair and deceptive practices, unjust enrichment, breach of trust, and malicious prosecution, and to hold MGM Resorts responsible for the actions of its casino employees. h
He is seeking compensation for financial losses, emotional harm, legal costs, and other damages.