The Crazy Story of Deadmau5, Don Johnson and Bon Jovi

Now, the following story doesn’t involve poker but, it does involve gambling, a DJ loved by many poker players, a Bon Jovi song … and frankly, we just couldn’t past up on it:

LIVING’ ON A PRAYER AT WYNN LAS VEGAS

A few hours ago, the Hollywood Reporter published a story linking the William Morris Endeavor  talent agency, DJ Deadmau5, rock band Bon Jovi and a man named Don Johnson.

THR reports that legal action has been taken by Jesse Waits, who is the co-owner of the popular XS Nightclub inside Wynn Las Vegas, who would have loaned William Morris Endeavor’s Joel Zimmerman $50,000 USD in order to satisfy a gambler’s debt of $200,000 owed to Deadmau5, one of the world’s highest paid DJ’s and a favourite to many in the poker community.

HANG TIGHT, IT GETS WEIRDER

The gambler in this case is Don Johnson. Although the story would have been amazing if this were famous actor Don Johnson of Miami Vice fame, it’s not. Johnson is known to have won in excess of 10M USD playing blackjack in various Atlantic City casinos. Johnson, who’s apparently friends with Jon Bon Jovi, approached Zimmerman and offered $200,000 USD to Deadmau5 if he played Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” during his set. Then, when approached by Zimmerman, Waits would have vouched for Johnson and Zimmerman then approached the DJ with the offer and the DJ would oblige later that night as per the video evidence submitted by the Hollywood Report near the end of their article.

The video also shows Johnson on stage with the DJ, dancing to the song with the words “Don Mother F****ing Johnson” rolling on the video board on stage – the video board is controlled by the XS staff.

TIME TO PAY THE BILL

Once the artist held up to his end of the bargain, Zimmerman and Waits approached Johnson, who at that point was playing high-stakes blackjack inside the casino, to collect their money. Johnson would refuse to pay. The report alleges that Johnson was losing a lot of money at that moment. In order to not upset their client, the two would go ahead and pay the artist the $200,000 USD owed to him.

Waits would contribute $50,000 and Zimmerman’s firm the rest of the money owed to satisfy the gambler’s debt owed to Deadmau5. However, in June, Waits filed court documents claiming that his portion of the payment was a loan made to WME and that the money was owed to him. The case is now pending in a Nevada federal court.

CLICK HERE to read the full story from the Hollywood Report, including the YouTube video showing Deadmau5 playing Livin’ on a Prayer as part of his set and a man, allegedly Johnson, dancing to the tune on stage at XS.