Deutsche Bank did not intend to own a casino outright, but it was forced to jump into the ownership game when developer Ian Bruce Eichner couldn't meet his debt payments last year. The bank had no choice but to foreclose on the Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino complex in Las Vegas, which Bloomberg calls the "most expensive debacle in the city for a single lender."

The project is "now two years behind schedule, $2 billion over budget and under water--literally." Apparently, the construction guys breached an aquifer, which flooded the site, requiring constant pumps. The banks has its hands in other projects as well, unfortunately.

It's also a creditor of Station Casinos and the unfinished Fontainebleau, which has been called an "impending disaster" by Stephen Wynn. It boils down to the economics of the travel industry. A revival in business may prove the right tonic, but that might not be until after the bank is forced to swallow larger losses.

For more:
- here's the Bloomberg article

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Deutsche Bank faring well--or not