Caesars 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 Caesars 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 casino, owned by Harrah's Entertainment Inc., filed the lawsuit in 2005, a year after it said the bad checks were written. The case 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.
Why am I not surprised at this latest in the long line of Jack Whittaker stories ?
The broken record just keeps on keepin on...
DD
Anyone that wins a large jackpot should be given a copy of all the articles about him so that they can learn what not to do.
The never ending cycle.
One more thing:
This is the modern day corporate casino , so they sue..
Back in the day, Jack would not have to worry about a lawsuit-
The only suit he would have to concern himself with would be the suit of plaster over all the broken bones he would have received.
DD
I wonder if one day he will actually better himself or is he going to keep on doing these tired acts.
Hmmm, please don't tell he can not handle 1.5M check! It's really terrible!
From what I've read, he already had the gambling problem and was already going to strip clubs long before he won the lottery. His granddaughter was already using drugs.
He also had a website where anyone could request anywhere from $3 grand to $3 million dollars from him.
I'm not saying he's a good guy for giving away money or even offering those churches money. I think he was about as far away from being a role model for playing the lottery.....and winning.
he said that he had 5 years left in life just shows 300 million and 5 years wasn't worth it
It's terrible that Whittaker is getting sued for $1.5 million for gambling. Whittaker needs to limit gambling.
IT is not terrible..it is what he deserves. Anyone who had been blessed with that kind of money who has done nothing but go from one idiotic thing to another deserves that and more. He still has to win the wrongful death suit filed against him. He is pitiful to say the least.
Why am I not surprised at this latest in the long line of Jack Whittaker stories ?
The broken record just keeps on keepin on...
DD
HAPPY THURSDAY......"DD".....6/8/2206
I certainly hope you win very soon, because I would love to read a story about all the wonderful fun things that happen to BIG WINNERS....W/BIG PRIZES.....I get tired of all the doom and gloom
I wonder if one day he will actually better himself or is he going to keep on doing these tired acts.
HAPPY THURSDAY..." BELLYACHE"...
You know, for all that's said and done, Jack stays in his own world. In his town, among his family. He has done a great deal for his community, he was never selfish. He has a genuine 'wild streak' in him, that needs to be tamed, but, I think the death of his Granddaughter, who was really "his life" is what ultimately became his emotional downfall. No one expects to bury their Children let alone their Grandchildren, and Brandi was his only grandchild. He's Heartbroken. Yes, he needs counselling, but not pontificating. He is certainly not Banckrupt and not living the Donald Trump Life style, down there in Hurricane, WVA. Afterall, He can afford Gasoline, and AC.
The pastors refused his offer to help the churches? That's a new one to me. All the articles I'd read previously had, I thought, indicated that they had accepted the money. Here is a quote from one old article:
This week's tragedy "doesn't seem fair," said his pastor, the Rev. C.T. Mathews, for whom Whittaker is building a $4 million church on a hilltop here.
And from another:
Since then, Whittaker has been pulled between Christian charity and trouble. He is building two churches, feeding and clothing poor children and building senior citizen housing.
Both of those quotes were from articles printed in 2004.
Why am I not surprised at this latest in the long line of Jack Whittaker stories ?
The broken record just keeps on keepin on...
DD
HAPPY THURSDAY......"DD".....6/8/2206
I certainly hope you win very soon, because I would love to read a story about all the wonderful fun things that happen to BIG WINNERS....W/BIG PRIZES.....I get tired of all the doom and gloom
Thanks, Libra926 !!
It's not for a lack of trying I assure you.
DD
The pastors refused his offer to help the churches? That's a new one to me. All the articles I'd read previously had, I thought, indicated that they had accepted the money. Here is a quote from one old article:
This week's tragedy "doesn't seem fair," said his pastor, the Rev. C.T. Mathews, for whom Whittaker is building a $4 million church on a hilltop here.
And from another:
Since then, Whittaker has been pulled between Christian charity and trouble. He is building two churches, feeding and clothing poor children and building senior citizen housing.
Both of those quotes were from articles printed in 2004.
Jack tried donating his money to have the a churchs built i'm pretty sure he had em built. No body wants to go there.
The church of god does not knowingly accept money from gambling.
One of the first things he did after winning was go to the pastors of three churches. they dised him on the spot. Wanted no part of his lottery winings.
the links i tried to post are not working but this has been go over before. he has built a church that no one wants to go to.
This is the person that the camera's should have been following. A show about him would definitely be top rated.....if people watched The Newlyweds on MTV I know people would watch this man's circus parade. lol
He has repeatedly blamed all of his troubles on hs grand-daughter's "druggy"friends. The gambling problems, the sexual harassment, the drunk driving, etcetera, are not in any way shape or form anyone's fault but his own. And like so many "good"people he always has to blame someone else rather than accept responsibility for his own actions. Hell, anyone who has to take over half a million in cash into a seedy strip joint is obviously trying to compensate for a lack of true inner character. And I have a question for all you "christians" who automatically assume he is a good person because he donates money to organizations of your faith. When he took all that cash into the strip bar he was obviously hoping to impress one of the "ladies" into performing a service above and beyond your typical champagne room lap dance, so was he hoping to honor and cherish his wife in that way. Or maybe he was hoping to fill them with Christ's love, probably down one of their throats. Sudden wealth and money is a lot like drugs in that if you are an intelligent person with good character and common sense, and accept responsibility for your own actions you will have minimal problems. If you are a jackass to begin with, then you are just going to be a rich jackass.
mangeydog said:
And I have a question for all you "christians" who automatically assume he is a good person because he donates money to organizations of your faith.
I don't know if you are including me in the category of "all you christians who automatically assume he is a good person because he donates money to organizations of your faith," but since I was one of the few who commented about his donations to churches, perhaps I should clarify. I said nothing about whether he was a "good person" or not. I was trying to establish a fact - did the pastors refuse his donations or not? From what I read, I believe they did. It would certainly seem that at least one did from the first quote I offered above. But I admit I'm a "Johnny come lately" in a lot of this lottery news. I'd never even heard of Jack Whittaker until a few months ago. It is possible that there were additional articles printed a few years back that included information I've never seen, as it may no longer be available. And I don't pretend to have read everything about him still available, either.
I do recall that there was another winner of a large jackpot (from Florida, I think) who tried to donate to Salvation Army, and that donation was refused.
I wasn't specifically referring to you Uff Da! Just any and all that think because someone mentions Christ or christianity in public automatically makes them a good person and above reproach. If he was truly filled with the spirit of Christ he would not have even mentioned anything about it in public and just did good works in the spirit while remaining as anonymous about it as he could. So many people wear their religion on their sleeve while not actually getting the spiritually uplifting essence of the teachings.
Oops! Now that I re-read my reply above (post 19), I see that I goofed. I said, "I was trying to establish a fact - did the pastors refuse his donations or not? From what I read, I believe they did." But I meant "From what I read, I believe they accepted the donations."
It is at times like this that I wish we could edit posts for a longer period of time.
We are just as fascinated with Jack Whitaker as the world is fascinated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Osama Bin Laden. Its interesting stuff about folks who have a chance to have it all, yet they blow it, time and again.
Jack is news, it sells!
"The Jack Whittaker Story". A great TV movie.
I think that its something that is just horrible but yet it something that makes me want to just smack the Hell right outta him!!! I mean I being a "responsible" person AS WELL as a lotto player I cannot in ANY WAY understand how someone can win CASH OVER A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS and be that ignorant. Ok SO WHAT IF HE DID BUILD CHURCHES??? SO WHAT IF HE DID GO TO STRIP CLUBS?? The point of it is HOW HE HAS CONDUCTED HIMSELF AND WITH HIS GOOD FORTUNE that he Obviously has no grace for nor does he value it. People like that should never have been the "lucky one"
Just once I want to hear of a story where a mom or a family struggling working 50 hrs a week to eat and feed their family HIT BIG and KNOW that they will most likly be responsible with it cause THEY NEED IT someone that does what ALL he did ...what ever jack did NOT deserve it!!!
I think that its something that is just horrible but yet it something that makes me want to just smack the Hell right outta him!!! I mean I being a "responsible" person AS WELL as a lotto player I cannot in ANY WAY understand how someone can win CASH OVER A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS and be that ignorant. Ok SO WHAT IF HE DID BUILD CHURCHES??? SO WHAT IF HE DID GO TO STRIP CLUBS?? The point of it is HOW HE HAS CONDUCTED HIMSELF AND WITH HIS GOOD FORTUNE that he Obviously has no grace for nor does he value it. People like that should never have been the "lucky one"
Just once I want to hear of a story where a mom or a family struggling working 50 hrs a week to eat and feed their family HIT BIG and KNOW that they will most likly be responsible with it cause THEY NEED IT someone that does what ALL he did ...what ever jack did NOT deserve it!!!
That's the sad reality- lottery winners are truly random, so we get what we get.
Deserving people win every once in a while.( pleeeeaaase ??)
It sure looks like you and me are overdue, Sass..
DD
Let's see.... Jack's in the news again... that itself isn't news.
Bounced checks??? I doubt he completely ran out of money, maybe they were to an account that he had not deposited enough into or an old account, whatever.
Was he expecting to win more than 315 million in the Casino? Isn't the best jackpot there "only" 10 million?
(I thank him for visiting my home state so often! We visit his sometimes.)
Is he going to sue "Windfall" for stealing his idea?
I heard he developed a slot machine, I'd love to know which one it is so next time in AC I want to play it! What's it called, "Pink Ponies"? If you get 3 ponies in a row you win all his money? That's what I'd have named it.
Woah Word up! PONTIFICATION is alive and well. Some folks are gonna need a ladder to get off those high horses.
(Thanks to the poster who perviously recognized this trait)
Stop assuming JACK is a poster child of what not to do with your winnings. Spend it how ya wish and learn from it. Save it and stash it some where. But whatever ya do, do it and make sure it doesnt hit the papers :) Thats the only thing that deters any winner. Being recognized for ones character flaws....
anyone want to take a bet on how soon he goes broke??
I would love to take you up on a bet, but that would make me feel pretty lousy. Like I was waiting for someone's misery. I do think he is going to have a tragic ending.