Peter J Tsakanikas

Peter J. Tsakanikas, a 1994 Republican congressional candidate seeking the Florida seat now held by Harry Johnston, has gone bankrupt twice and is a self-described former gambling addict who once racked up nearly $100,000 in debts to Atlantic City casinos. Tsakanikas, who now says he makes more than $1 million a year from his company, Tsakanikas Global Technologies, says his problems are well behind him. Tsakanikas filed for bankruptcy in Virginia in 1984, listing more than $600,000 in debts. Tsakanikas said gambling debts as high as $96,000 and a divorce in which he gave up everything forced him into bankruptcy. In 1982, the same year Tsakanikas made an unsuccessful bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Virgina, he was found guilty in U.S. District Court of failing to pay Resorts International in Atlantic City $15,000. Tsakanikas racked up the debt in a Memorial Day weekend gambling binge in 1981. It was not the first time Tsakanikas faced serious financial woes. He filed for personal bankruptcy in 1974, the result of a business failure he now chalks up to the vagaries of life as an inventor. Tsakanikas blames his past financial woes on gambling. He said he kicked the gambling habit in 1992.