Eric Persson's Maverick Gaming declares Chapter 11 bankruptcy

[Dan Druff]

He just filed yesterday. Four of his 27 (small) casinos are closing, and they're restructuring.

Seattle Times article: https://www.seattletimes.com/busines...restructuring/


I like how the name of the case is "RunItOneTime LLC". Phil Galfond should sue!

I also noticed Persson's obsession with the Asian-sounding term "Dragon Tiger", as Dragon Tiger Casino (Washington) was one of the closures, while he also opened a "Dragon Tiger Noodle" restaurant in Vegas a few years back. Both of the restaurant locations are still open, and get okayish reviews.

Some guy on Reddit predicted the bankruptcy back in early 2024.

He followed it up in March 2025, with this post showing an ugly balance sheet for Maverick:




I tweeted about this, and was the first person in poker to point it out on social media (even though the Seattle Times beat me to the story). Persson briefly responded in the thread, despite not following me, but only commented regarding a marketing deal Maverick had with a Bally's casino in Rhode Island:

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/IAmMaverick888/status/1945169458550526032



I do wonder if these Maverick Gaming casinos have a future at all, or if Persson is eventually going to sell them and get out of the business.

[mickeycrimm]

His northern Nevada casinos, Wendover Nugget, Red Garter and Maverick, are not on that balance sheet. He has some of the best comp/freeplay in Nevada.

Also, two of his Washington poker rooms, Aces in Mountlake Terrace, and Caribbean Casino in Kirkland are the only two places in that state I like to play. They are the big rooms in the state. Great action and the other rooms are to small.

[The Boz]

Bigger question is how Roman went from making 2.2M in 22 to losing almost 7 million in 23?

Did management welcome MDawg in and give him hi-fives as he cleaned the place out?

Seriously, what happened in 23 compared to 22 for almost every casino in the portfolio to have huge decreases. Higher rents and a weaker economy only explain so much. This is way beyond any conceivable variance. Note Shoreline and Lakewood had positive turnarounds.

[Dan Druff]

His northern Nevada casinos, Wendover Nugget, Red Garter and Maverick, are not on that balance sheet. He has some of the best comp/freeplay in Nevada.

Also, two of his Washington poker rooms, Aces in Mountlake Terrace, and Caribbean Casino in Kirkland are the only two places in that state I like to play. They are the big rooms in the state. Great action and the other rooms are to small.

That's funny. I never even thought of APing the Maverick casinos. Figured they were too small to have any kind of loyalty program.

The balance sheet was cut off for the post. I haven't put the effort to find the rest of it, but I know it's publicly available.

Maybe the generous freeplay was some of the reason these casinos failed.

[Dan Druff]

I made this AI version of Persson awhile back when I was on an AI voice kick for the radio show:


 

 

MP3 file: https://pokerfraudalert.com/persson6.mp3