Mohegan Sun: Hollywood Exec Ron Meyer ‘No Right to Jury’ in $2.8M Gambling Case

• Casino seeks $2.8M after Meyer halted repayment plan
• Legal fight centers on jury trial rights in Connecticut
• Meyer’s gambling history resurfaces amid ongoing court dispute

Mohegan Sun is suing former Hollywood bigshot Ronald M. Meyer for nearly $2.8 million in unpaid gambling debts, and a judge must decide whether Meyer is entitled to a jury trial.

Meyer co-founded the Creative Artists Agency and served as president and COO of Universal Studios from 1995 to 2013 before becoming vice chairman of NBCUniversal.

In 2020, he resigned from the $25 million-a-year Universal gig after he was purportedly blackmailed about an affair he had with then-20-year-old British actress Charlotte Kirk.

In April 2018, he entered a repayment plan involving monthly $60,000 payments. He paid roughly $2.2 million but stopped all payments in September 2023, per the casino’s complaint.

Jury Dispute

The legal dispute hinges on whether Meyer, in agreeing to that plan, waived his right to a jury trial by agreeing to Mohegan Tribal law, which does not provide for civil jury trials.

According to Mohegan Sun’s lawsuit, Meyer “had a choice not to apply for credit at Mohegan Sun; he was not forced to come to Mohegan and gamble; and he was represented by very prominent Las Vegas, Nevada legal counsel in the negotiation of the Installment Payment Agreement that he signed, and which provides for the application of Mohegan law.”

Meyer’s lawyers assert that jury-trial rights are fundamental under Connecticut law and cannot be overridden by a choice-of-law clause

‘Biggest Craps Player Ever’

Despite a stellar Hollywood career, there have long been rumors about Meyer’s prodigious gambling.

In his 2016 book, Powerhouse: The Inside Story of CAA, James Andrew Miller described how Meyer, at some point in the 1980s or 1990s, was in the hole to mobsters for several million dollars because of his gambling.

“[Meyer] would stay at the penthouse suite at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York while on business, and the vice president of marketing at Caesars Atlantic City would send a helicopter to take him to his casino,” the source claimed.

“He would blow between $5 million and $7 million at Caesars,” according to the source. “Once he exhausted his credit line there, the VP would take him to Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut where he would blow $3 million to $5 million as well at each place.”

‘Illegal Credit’

Meyer’s lawyers have also challenged the legality of the casino extending credit for gambling under Connecticut law. The complaint argues that the Mohegan Tribe’s compact with the state does not authorize extending gambling credit, unlike the Mashantucket Pequot compact for Foxwoods.

If the judge sides with Mohegan Sun, the case will proceed as a bench trial. A ruling is expected before April 2026.