Rod Stewart was ordered to compensate Rio hotel-casino for not returning the early payments he had received for a cancelled New Years Eve concert.

US district judge ordered the Rod Stewart to pay over 1.7 million sterling pounds to a Las Vegas casino. The singer will have to compensate the Rio hotel-casino for not returning the early payments he had received for a cancelled New Years Eve concert.

In addition to the 1.7 million pounds penalty, Stewart lawyers were also ordered to pay 87,730 sterling pounds in contempt-of-court fines and legal costs. Kristina Pickering, a lawyer for Harrahs Entertainment in Las Vegas, said they plan to ask the court to instruct Stewart to pay further lawyers fees and court costs.

US district Judge Larry Hicks decision resulted from a federal court verdict according to which Stewart should have return the early payments he received for the December 2000 New Years Eve concert. Stewart claimed he could not sing in the show after having a throat surgery few months before.