$100million Gambling Losses, Illicit Affair and Extortion - the Downfall of Ron Meyer

An affair with a 20-year old actress, ensuing blackmail and $100million lost in the casinos – that’s how NBCUniversal’s Ron Meyer ended his $25million a year job and the details are almost beyond belief.

The 75-year old media and entertainment executive was known as ‘the biggest craps player ever’ to casino insiders, described by one as being in the ‘top three most sought-after whales’.

News of his $multi-million gambling habit emerged after he stepped down from his NBC Vice Chair role last month, citing an affair with a actress 47 years his junior.

Affair and Extortion

Meyer claimed he was facing extortion threats from an unnamed woman, the accusations believed to involve the English actress, Charlotte Kirk.

“I recently disclosed to my family and the company that I made a settlement, under threat, with a woman outside the company who had made false accusations against me,” Meyer stated last month.

He added:

“Admittedly, this is a woman I had a very brief and consensual affair with many years ago.” Meyer was 67 years old at the time and Kirk just 20 years old.

$million losses and Threats of Violence

It was the emergence Meyer’s incredible gambling habits, however, that made the headlines this week, tales of losing more than $7million in a single night emerging.

A Daily Mail source claims Meyer ‘would blow between $5million and $7million at Caesars. Once he exhausted his credit line there, the VP would take him to Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut where he would blow $3-5million as well at each place.'

The California-born former talent agent was also reputed to be ‘in the hole for several million dollars' to mobsters during the 80s and 90s, according to Powerhouse: The Inside Story of CAA author James Miller.

Miller claimed that Meyer narrowly avoided serious violence – keeping 'both legs operative, genitalia intact' - by borrowing $millions from movie producer Ray Stark.

The anonymous casino insider who emerged recently told reporters:

"Ron Meyer is one of the biggest craps players ever. He has blown north of $100million in the years of his gambling. He's gambled everywhere from Las Vegas to Atlantic City."

That involved VIP stays in penthouse suites, with a helicopter and luxury limousine on hand to transfer him between casinos and hotels, and $million+ lines of credit.

Meyer also had to sell his $125million Malibu home, his 2018 divorce revealing that his wife knew nothing of the massive gambling habit.

'In the divorce settlement his wife asked for a forensic accounting, because she thought he was hiding the money. But he wasn't hiding the money, he just blew it,' reported the Mail.

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