$1M Reward Offer from Alleged Las Vegas Drink Spike Victim 

A California man — who lost $2 million at an MGM casino in Las Vegas and has subsequently claimed his drink was spiked — has put out a $1 million reward offer for information relating to the incident. 

Real estate investor and celebrity agent Dwight Manley claims someone dosed his drink with the narcotic ketamine while visiting the MGM Mansion VIP area at MGM Grand Las Vegas. 

He says that led to him losing control and spending $2 million on blackjack. A lawsuit filed against MGM Resorts in November 2022, claims that Manley was offered $3.5 million in credit by the casino while in an inebriated state. 

As well as the lawsuit, since 2023 Manley has been publicly searching for information on the potential culprit. He first offered a $500,000 reward last year, which has now been upped to $1 million. In this latest publicity drive, Manley also rented several billboards to display his reward offer around Las Vegas. 

“Any tip is worth looking at,” Manley said this week. 

“Someone knows who did this and we want to keep it from happening again. I could have died.”

The Alleged Incident 

Manley is a multimillionaire real estate developer and celebrity agent. Among other clients, he represented basketballer Dennis Rodman in the late 1990s. 

He has also been a long-term and frequent VIP gambler at MGM Resorts’ properties in Las Vegas.

In December 2021, he was invited to visit the MGM Grand for a high-stakes poker tournament. The casino operator comped a stay at the exclusive MGM Mansion VIP hotel on the resort property, as well as private jet transport for Manley and a party of guests. 

The day before the scheduled poker tournament, Manley says he settled down for a drink in the gaming room at the MGM Mansion at around 2 p.m. He ordered an old fashioned and began to play some blackjack.

Manley says he recognized the drink tasted a little bitter, but finished it anyway and ordered another.

Around an hour or two later, he started feeling disoriented while playing blackjack. That started with making sub-par gameplay decisions, and ended with him smashing his hand on a glass ashtray and cutting it.

The lawsuit alleges that MGM staff cleaned the table and offered him a band aid. But also, at some point in the night, a $3.5 million line of credit.

At around 5.30 a.m., one of Manley’s friends discovered him in his disoriented state seated away from the tables in the gaming lounge and took him back to his villa. 

The next morning, Manley says he had little memory of the night and felt he’d been drugged. On return to California, he visited a personal doctor. According to the lawsuit, the doctor concluded that Manley was dosed with ketamine on December 10, 2021. 

The Lawsuit and MGM’s Response 

Manley’s lawsuit accuses MGM of negligence, a breach of implied covenant, and unfair trade practices. It also says that he should not be held responsible for the $3.5 million credit agreement he signed while in his allegedly compromised state. 

MGM representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

In a motion to dismiss filed on April 4, MGM lawyers confirmed Manley cut his hand during the excitement of table game play. However, they also said they do not agree with the assessment of Manley’s doctors. 

“Based on the information provided in these reports, my professional opinion remains that there is nothing to indicate that Mr. Manley experienced ketamine intoxication on December 10, 2021,” wrote a doctor MGM employed to analyze the reports included in the lawsuit.

The legal battle is still in the discovery phase, meaning both parties are gathering evidence. A preliminary hearing will be scheduled in the upcoming weeks, barring dismissal. 

As well as the $1 million reward and the billboards, Manley has also hired Las Vegas-based De Becker Investigations to look into the case.