Lou Menniti - THE COURIER-MAIL JULY 23, 2014

BOOKMAKER Robbie Waterhouse has sued a Clayfield property developer for more than $500,000 in gambling debts.

Clayfield property developer Lou Menniti yesterday told The Courier-Mail he’d racked up the debts by putting bets on for other people.

Both Mr Menniti and Mr Waterhouse’s legal team yesterday confirmed they had reached a settlement for the debt, which ballooned to $540,000 when interest was taken into account.


Mr Menniti yesterday claimed he racked up the debt placing bets for other people.

“I was putting bets on for other people, it was over a few years,” Mr Menniti said at his construction company office.


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“If someone rings me up and wants to put a bet on, I will put it on for them.

“They are just friends who want to put $1000 on an (AFL) game or on the horses.”

Mr Menniti said he had agreed to pay the debt off in several instalments as part of a deal negotiated with Mr Waterhouse by Brisbane bookmaker Ray Karangis.

Mr Waterhouse’s lawyer, Gold Coast-based solicitor Tony Freestone, said the claim had been resolved but he conceded it had not been formally withdrawn because “there are things you leave hanging”.

Mr Menniti was most recently in court last year when he bankrupted AFL player Brendan Fevola over a $13,000 debt.

In January Mr Menniti was part of a police sting which busted two men outside his Clayfield home who allegedly planned to kill him.

The men are alleged to have been disgruntled former tenants at his Tweed Heads fish and chip shop. They have been charged with conspiracy to murder.

Mr Waterhouse, who lives in the Sydney, is a registered bookmaker in Victoria.

Mr Waterhouse did not answer calls yesterday.