The State - News from July 25, 1986

A federal judge in Reno ruled that Californians who refuse to pay markers they sign at Nevada casinos cannot hide behind the California law that says gaming debts are unenforceable and unlawful. Harrah’s casino at Lake Tahoe sued Toshi Van Blitter of Davis to collect a $265,000 gambling debt, and U.S. District Judge Bruce Thompson, while ruling that the casino cannot sue in California to collect the unpaid wagers, because that state has “a strong policy against enforcement of gaming debts,” said Harrah’s is free to bring suit in Nevada, where the opposite policy prevails. “To apply California law in the Nevada action,” Thompson said, “would be to thwart the obvious policy and purpose behind the law.” The case will be set for trial in Nevada at a later date.