Las Vegas `whale' loses millions in a weekend

LAS VEGAS--Kerry Packer is an outsize personality, a big, brash man known even in this capital of excess as a ferocious gambler and extravagant tipper who bets--and often wins--dizzying amounts.

So when the 62-year-old media tycoon, one of Australia's richest citizens, lost at the tables recently, he did that, too, in almost unbelievably grand style.

Over a single July weekend, Packer dropped a reported $20 million, a loss so huge that, when it leaked out, it sent ripples through casino stocks on Wall Street and spurred heated political debate back home.

Packer acknowledges losing money during his visit to Nevada but says the sum was smaller (he won't say how much).

Casino giant MGM Mirage, which owns the opulent Bellagio, where Packer played baccarat that weekend, won't comment. . But other sources, from gambling-industry insiders to Wall Street analysts, believe the account.

Packer's office declined requests for a personal interview with the Los Angeles Times last week. At home, though, he has rebutted criticism from Australian politicians who say his gambling is irresponsible and morally offensive. He says that he has given more to charity this year than he has lost at the green felt tables.

"This is not someone else's money, this is mine, and I am entitled to spend it in any way I choose," Packer said in a Sept. 2 interview in the Australian, a national newspaper. "I understand that it's a lot of money, and I understand how it comes as a shock to some.

"But the truth of the matter is that I like to have a bet every now and again."

No one would quibble with that in Las Vegas.

Already reputed to be one of the biggest winners in Las Vegas history--he reportedly took the MGM Grand for more than $20 million in 1995--he is admired now for his ability to take an equally staggering hit.

"Packer is the biggest of them all," said Peter Ruchman, longtime manager of the Gambler's Book Shop, a comfortably dusty hangout and bookstore specializing in Vegas' favorite subject. "He's got more money than a lot of the casinos."

Considered the highest of the Strip's top high rollers--or "whales"--Packer is a formidable gambler, both feared and sought by the casinos he frequents. He likes baccarat and blackjack, and he plays hard and extremely fast, betting up to $250,000 a hand, several hands at a time.

"He's a very dangerous player, perhaps the most aggressive table-games player in the world," said Max Rubin, a Las Vegas author, gambling-company consultant and onetime dealer who has watched Packer play.

He gambles for short stints, a few hours at a time, making him even more threatening to a casino's bottom line. If he gets ahead, he's out the door before the house has a chance to recover.

A tall, heavyset man with a bullying style, Packer also enjoys "putting a little fear" into the casinos, said a former casino executive who knows him well. "If there's a football game on, he'll ask, `Would you let me bet $1 million on the game?' It's just mad money to him."

The Australian's net worth from a vast empire of television, newspaper and magazine holdings is estimated by Forbes to be $3.8 billion, making his recent loss, in his terms at least, practically pocket change.

He visits Las Vegas three or four times a year, and London's gambling houses even more often. His credit line in Las Vegas is $20 million, the largest in the city, according to industry insiders.

He's known as a flamboyant tipper, generous when he loses, extravagant when he wins.

In one of the most frequently told stories, Packer bought a car--either a Mercedes or a BMW--during a Vegas visit and gave it to a valet parker before he left. Another time, he paid off the $130,000 home mortgage of a cocktail waitress who was deeply in debt.

Other tales about him abound--from his survival of a 1990 heart attack that left him clinically dead, to his reported status, according to trial testimony, as one of the better-known clients of former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.

Now, adding to the lore, is his apparent power to change the fortunes of a giant company.

The first, brief report of the loss appeared in mid-July in a column by gambling writer Dave Berns in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Then it was all but forgotten, surfacing seven weeks later on the front page of the Australian and launching a national debate.

"If someone has enough money to blow $34 million (Australian dollars) at the casino, then they have enough money to pay more tax and help build a better society," Labor Party lawmaker Mark Latham fumed from the floor of Parliament, according to Australian news accounts. (The amount was equivalent to $20 million in U.S. currency about the time of the loss.)

Packer fired back, granting a rare interview to Dennis Shanahan, the Australian's political editor. The media magnate acknowledged his gambling loss but declared it "a fraction" of the figure reported--and less than his charitable contributions to the New Children's Hospital in Westmead, Australia.

Debra Fowler, a spokeswoman at the hospital, said last week that Packer gave $10 million in Australian dollars--about $5.4 million U.S.--to the charity this year.

Prime Minister John Howard even entered the fray, defending Packer's right to spend his money however he chose.

Then, Wall Street reacted.

Several analysts raised their estimates for MGM Mirage's third-quarter earnings, saying Packer's loss, combined with other factors, may translate into a jackpot for the company.

PaineWebber gaming and leisure analyst Robin Farley estimates that Packer's loss could add 5 to 7 cents a share to the company's quarterly earnings.

MGM spokesman Alan Feldman said he could not comment on reports of the loss or whether Packer had been in town recently.

But he said it was "very unusual" for anyone's reported winnings or losses to be seen as affecting the company's bottom line.

"In fact, I don't really remember such a time," Feldman said.