LAS VEGAS (AP) — A businessman who lost $500,000 on table games at a Las Vegas casino on Super Bowl weekend is arguing that he shouldn't have to pay because he was blackout drunk. 
 
 Southern California gambler Mark Johnston, 52, is suing the Downtown Grand for loaning him money and serving him drinks when he was visibly intoxicated. 
 
 Nevada law bars casinos from allowing obviously drunk patrons to gamble and from serving them comped drinks. 
 
 Johnston's attorney, Sean Lyttle, says the Grand, which opened last November in the old part of Las Vegas, intends to pursue Johnston for trying to shirk his gambling debts. Johnston put a stop-payment order on the markers, or casino credits, the Grand issued, and is also seeking damages from the Grand for sullying his name. 
 
 Johnston says he was thoroughly drunk during the hours he spent playing pai gow and blackjack at the Grand. His legal team plans to rely on eyewitness testimony and surveillance video to prove that he was visibly intoxicated. 
 
 Johnston lives in Ventura and made his fortune in car dealership and real estate ventures. 
 
 The Grand issued a statement saying it does not comment on pending litigation. 
 
 The state Gaming Control Board is investigating. 
 
 "It's certainly an extraordinary case. This is not a story that I've ever heard before, where someone was blackout intoxicated where they couldn't read their cards, and yet a casino continued to serve them drinks and issue them more markers," Lyttle said. "It's a very heavy-handed and unusual approach that we haven't seen in this town in a long time." 
 
 Johnston arrived in Las Vegas with the woman he was dating on the Thursday before the Super Bowl. He drank in the limousine from the Las Vegas airport to the Grand, drank more during dinner with friends, and then says he blacked out. 
 
 The suit alleges that the Grand comped him dozens of drinks while he gambled away hundreds of thousands of dollars, finally sleeping off his drunkenness on that Saturday, which was Feb, 1. Johnston says he didn't learn how much he had lost until the next day. 
 
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 Hannah Dreier can be reached at http://twitter.com/hannahdreier 

 Normally, if you lose big in Las Vegas, you're expected to settle your debt and move on. 
 
 However, a California businessman claims he never should have been allowed to go $500,000 into debt at the Downtown Grand Las Vegas, and he's filed suit. 
 
 An attorney for Mark Johnston claims Nevada gaming regulations prohibit casinos from letting those visibly drunk from gambling. Johnston is trying to get his debt erased. 
 
 Johnston said he was invited to stay at the Downtown Grand over Super Bowl weekend by a casino host he knows. The civil complaint indicates he drank before and after his flight to Las Vegas, later having dinner and more drinks at the Triple George Grill downtown. 
 
 "He has no recollection of leaving Triple George or the next events of the next day and a half," said Johnston's attorney, Sean Lyttle. 
 
 The complaint refers to this as the "blackout period." Johnston claims he can't remember events that transpired over a 44-hour period. 
 
 The complaint cites witnesses who said he showed obvious signs of intoxication, but that the casino kept serving him drinks and letting him play blackjack and pai gow. 
 
 The suit claims that over 11 hours, the casino allowed him to take out four lines of credit totaling $500,000. 
 
 "Playing on credit is out of the ordinary. Drinking to the point of intoxication is out of the ordinary, as the Downtown Grand should have known," Lyttle said. 
 
 The complaint claims that when Johnston sobered up, the casino told him that he received a 20 percent discount and owed $400,000 by the end of March. 
 
 "After they got the letter, they took the markers and jammed them through my bank. They sneakily sent the whole $500,000 through when I didn't even owe that, tried to steal $100,00 from me, and the money is not even due until March 31," Johnston said. 
 
 Johnston said he's been a high roller in Las Vegas casinos for decades. He's asking for a jury trial. 
 
 FOX5 contacted the Downtown Grand for comment on this story, but were told this is an ongoing lawsuit and it's policy to not speak publicly about pending litigation. 
 
 The Nevada Gaming Control Board is investigating the allegations. 
 
 Copyright 2014 KVVU (KVVU Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved. 
 
 

 LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3.com) -- 
 
 The Downtown Grand has been open for just a few months, but it is already facing a lawsuit.Mark Johnston says the resort cheated him out of $500,000, which he lost gambling during Super Bowl weekend.Johnston, who says he had too much to drink before wagering that money, says the resort should not have let him gamble.Gaming regulations stipulate a casino can be disciplined for allowing a visibly drunk person to gamble.Johnston says while he doesn't expect any sympathy from others, he still feels wronged.“I feel like they picked my pockets,” he said. “I feel like they took a drunk guy . . . like a drunk guy walking down the street, and you reach in his pockets and grab all his money.”The Downtown Grand does not comment on pending litigation. Johnston says the Gaming Control Board is investigating.
– A California man lost $500,000 while gambling at a Las Vegas casino over Super Bowl weekend, but he doesn't think he should have to pay—because he was so drunk at the time. "I feel like they picked my pockets," says Mark Johnston, who is suing the Downtown Grand casino to erase his debt. "I feel like they took a drunk guy ... like a drunk guy walking down the street, and you reach in his pockets and grab all his money." The casino loaned the 52-year-old money, but he put a stop-payment order on the casino credits he was issued, and now his lawyer says the casino plans to come after him for the debt, the AP reports. Nevada law prohibits casinos from allowing a visibly intoxicated person to gamble or serving them complimentary drinks, and Johnston says he was blackout drunk and should not have been served more beverages or allowed to borrow or wager the money. Johnston—who says he was invited to stay at the Downtown Grand by a casino host, Fox 5 Vegas notes—was playing table games, and his lawyer says he was so drunk he "couldn't read [his] cards," yet the casino comped him dozens of drinks and continued to issue casino credits. The Gaming Control Board is also investigating, KSNV reports. In addition to seeing his debt forgiven, Johnston is seeking damages because he says the casino hurt his reputation.