Last March, rumors began circulating that Bruno Mars had racked up $50 million in gambling debt with MGM Resorts, with an insider claiming that the hotel chain “basically owns him.” MGM quickly released a statement denying the rumors, stating in no uncertain terms that “he has no debt with MGM.”
Still, the rumors persist, mostly as a joke these days; media outlets practically wink and nod every time Mars extends his long-running Vegas residency at MGM, as if some bookie was about to kneecap Mars if he didn’t perform. It couldn’t possibly be of his own free will, right?! Mars himself is in on the joke, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal last year, “I love the lore that I am a Las Vegas lounge singer in debt to the mob. I can work with that.”
And that’s the thing: it truly has become his lore. Other than that time he was busted for cocaine (also in Vegas) in 2010, this alleged gambling debt has been the only whiff of controversy around the otherwise squeaky-clean performer. Coke and poker? Those are the most quaint and charming skeletons you could possibly have in your closet these days! Without them, Bruno Mars is just (checks notes) a 16-time Grammy winner with over 150 million records sold, the first artist with six RIAA diamond-certified songs, and the #1 artist on Spotify globally right now.
It doesn’t matter whether Bruno Mars actually owes tens of millions of dollars in poker debt to MGM Resorts. Even if it were true (it almost certainly is not), it hasn’t impacted his partnership with the hotel chain, as evidenced by his aforementioned residency, which began back in 2016. Mars also launched his own cocktail lounge, the Pinky Ring, at the Bellagio (an MGM casino) last year, where he’s known to make surprise appearances and perform. It certainly wouldn’t put that much strain on him financially, if the rumors are also correct about what he makes off his residency alone (about $90 million a year). Sure, minus taxes he might just about break even, but it’s not like performing in Vegas is his sole source of income. If anything, the rumors persist because it’s such a convenient explanation for why Mars, at the height of his career, is doing the thing that most performers do at the end of their careers: the cushy Vegas gig. A much less sexy answer is that Vegas residencies are lucrative, flexible, and fun if you happen to enjoy being in Vegas (which Bruno Mars has made clear he does).
Most controversies have celebrities hiring consultants to make them disappear, whether they’re true or not. Instead, the only person who references the debt rumors more than journalists is Bruno himself! Yesterday he posted a clip of his surprise appearance at BLACKPINK’s concert in Los Angeles on Instagram with the caption, “Almost out of debt BehhhhhBehhhhh!!! Preciate You ROSAAAAYYYYYY!!!! 🥳” For the guy who got his start as a pint-sized Elvis impersonator in the 1992 Nic Cage comedy Honeymoon in Vegas (speaking of lore!), a little poker debt is the perfect accessory for his modern-day lounge singer persona. And Bruno Mars knows how to accessorize, dammit.
