Mohegan Sun casino lets ‘whale’ off the hook for $10M marker

Land-based casinos are famous for high-rolling out the red carpet to attract so-called ‘whales’, gamblers with deep pockets and itchy trigger fingers. After all, the rewards reaped by casinos can be astounding, such as the $18M left behind by a Singaporean businessman in just one day or the nine-figure deficit amassed by Terrance Watanabe during multiple trips to Harrah’s. But as we’ve noted, not all casinos are happy to see these whales breach the doors of their establishments, and the following story explains why.

‘Thar he blows’ used to be the cry when Ausaf Umar Siddiqui entered a casino, as this whale had a hard-earned reputation for spending big and living large, prone to making demands for luxury treatment at the gaming establishments he frequented. But as the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut has recently learned, just because Siddiqui looked, acted and (possibly) smelled like a whale, doesn’t mean he was carrying that much ‘blubber’ on his hip.

Siddiqui had written the casino a check for $10M to cover his planned gaming spree, but when he lost the lot, the casino tried to deposit his check, only to discover it wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on. The casino was all set to take Siddiqui to court this past Thursday, but abruptly abandoned their lawsuit, likely because, in the absence of any written agreement stipulating the terms of their arrangement with Siddiqui, they didn’t much like their chances. Too bad… might have made a decent episode of that show Whale Wars.

See, this is why those ‘click your mouse and lose your house’ accusations directed at online gaming firms are so misdirected. Simply put, the vast majority of online firms utilize a strict post-up process – i.e. you can’t bet unless you first post up the money, which ensures that you can’t bet what you don’t have. And unlike those land-based casinos, you can’t get soaked when a whale turns out to be a Moby Dickhead.