The business stories that matter, by Fortune's Colin Barr
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May 16, 2008, 7:50 am

Ex-NBA star a deadbeat?

Friday could be the day former NBA star Charles Barkley makes good on a $400,000 gambling debt to casino operator Wynn Resorts (WYNN). Barkley lost the money at the Wynn Las Vegas resort in October, the resort claimed a civil complaint filed Wednesday in Nevada state court. In the complaint, Wynn said Barkley -now  a broadcaster at Turner Network Television, which is owned by Fortune’s parent, Time Warner (TWX) - hadn’t responded to “repeated demands” for repayment. The complaint spurred Clark County District Attorney David Roger to say prosecutors would file a criminal complaint if Barkley didn’t pay. Barkley then told the Associated Press at a golf tournament in Alabama that the debt stemmed from a wager on the 2008 Super Bowl, and that he intends to pay Wynn back. “My mistake,” Barkley said, the AP reports. “I’m not broke, and I’m going to take care of it.”

But as of Thursday night, Barkley still hadn’t set matters straight with the authorities, the Las Vegas Sun reports. The paper reports that Barkley has to make arrangements with the Clark County district attorney’s bad check unit - and that he hadn’t done so as of the close of business Thursday.  “We’ll welcome his phone call,” said Roger. “We’re open 8 to 5.”

Disclosure: TNT is owned by Time Warner (TWX), also a parent of CNNMoney.com and Fortune.

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Colin Barr covers business and finance for Fortune.com. Previously he was an editor at TheStreet.com and author of the weekly Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street column, and an editor at Dow Jones Newswires.
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