KVBC Reports
He partied and gambled heavily in Las Vegas. And now, another sports figure finds himself in legal "foul trouble."
Tuesday afternoon, a Las Vegas judge issued an arrest warrant for ex-NBA star Antoine Walker. He's facing felony bad check charges for allegedly not paying back some enormous casino debts.
News 3's Steve Crupi is digging deeper into the details of this case and reports that three big casinos are involved.
According to the criminal complaint, Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood, and the Red Rock Station gave former NBA star Antoine Walker huge amounts of gambling money.
He allegedly received $1 million in all, most of which he has not re-paid.
Walker played last year for the Minnesota Timberwolves. And before that, he was a three-time all-star with the Celtics.
And he is again racking up big numbers, but not on the scoreboard.
The criminal complaint against Walker says he received ten separate casino loans for $100,000. He has failed to pay back more than $800,000-worth of that money, lost gambling last year at Caesars, Planet Hollywood, and the Red Rock.
Walker is not the first sports figure to run up massive unpaid debts. Last year, it was former NBA star Charles Barkley who was late with his payments. He spoke about his love of blackjack back in 2007.
"I like to gamble. I'm going to gamble. I like to gamble, it's my money."
But it's not always a gambler's money: Casinos routinely "loan" players vast sums, having them sign markers that are treated like checks under Nevada law.
The Clark County District Attorney's Office sees a lot of bad check cases involving casinos.
"On a daily basis, we see large amounts of money that people don't repay," confirms prosecutor Bernie Zadrowski.
The arrest warrant for Antoine Walker comes at a time when the NBA's attention is already on Las Vegas, with its summer league in its fifth day. The event features young players, however, most of whom aren't making big money yet.
But one question people always ask is aren't the casinos just as much at fault in these cases? They hand over such big sums of money to people who may not be making the best decisions.
But this is something the casinos don't like discussing.
A court date of July 20 has been set for Antoine Walker; no word yet on whether he's made any arrangements to turn himself in.
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