EX- NBA Basketball player, Charles Barkley, has finally paid off his $400,000 loan to a Las Vegas Strip casino. The casino sued the former Philadelphia 76ers star after he delayed paying back the loan.
Barkley took out four $100,000 casino markers or loans with Wynn Las Vegas Casino over two days last October.
Jennifer Dunne, spokeswoman for Wynn Las Vegas, has confirmed Barkley has settled his gambling debt with them as she said, “We’ve been paid in full. The rest is the district attorney fee.”
Despite the fact Barkley has now repaid the debt, the civil lawsuit remains open and Barkley is going to have to cough up an extra $40,000 for the district attorney’s processing fee. If he fails to do so he could face criminal prosecution. In a statement released by Turner Network Television, for whom Barkley now works as a basketball analyst, he claims he was unaware that he also has to pay the processing fee. He has now said he is prepared to pay the fee.
Barkley said, “True to my word, I sent a $400,000 cashier’s cheque overnight to Wynn Las Vegas, which they confirmed they received. I was unaware of the additional 10 percent processing fee from the District Attorney’s Office and will make restitution on that promptly.”
He also accepted the blame for not repaying his casino debt sooner by saying, “I screwed up and didn’t pay them in a significant amount of time. Could they have handled it differently? Yes. But it was my fault.”
Clark County District Attorney, David Roger, vowed to file four felony theft or four bad cheque charges if Barkley refused to honour his debts. He does, however, now expect the star to pay the fee promptly. He said, “We’ve been in contact with his representative. We expect a cheque for $40,000 in the next few days.”
45 year-old Barkley has stated he will give up gambling for a while after losing large sums at Wynn Las Vegas Casino. He said, “For right now, the next year or two, I’m not going to gamble.”
Charles Barkley may find this tough as he is a high-roller and admitted in an interview two years ago that he has roughly gambled $10 million since his rise to fame and fortune as an NBA star.
