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…