Shooting at Online Gambling Hotbed Highlights Costa Rica Crime Escalation

News on Wednesday that there was a shooting outside the popular San Jose, Costa Rica online gambling hangout of the infamous Hotel Del Rey has sent shockwaves through the sector.

Known for its promiscuous women, many of whom demand $300 per night for their sexual offerings, the Hotel Del Rey is located in what is called “Gringo Gorge”, a normally “safe” two block section of an otherwise cesspool.  Gambling911.com’s own Jenny Woo once filed an investigative report about the Hotel Del Rey, working undercover, and intermingling with resident whores and “customers”, also known as “johns” (see photo).  Ironically, it is perhaps the first travel destination in which Ms. Woo, Senior International Correspondent for the Gambling911 website, did not get hulled between wind and water. 

San Jose is one of the most dilapidated cities on Planet Earth.  While you will find tons in travel guides about the beauty of Costa Rica, one would be hard pressed to find any positive mentions of the capital city.  Its best asset could very well be sex tourism, though there are a few good Italian restaurants in and around the town.  Some parts of San Jose make the slums in my native India look like resorts.

A Gambling911.com associate was once stripped and nearly raped by a rogue taxi driver and his transvestite friends, who the associate managed to fight off, a few blocks north of the Hotel Del Rey. During the ensuing attack, one of the vicious transvestites whipped out his pre-op male organ and attempted to insert it into the individual's backside but the associate, after flopping around drunk on the ground for several minutes, managed to escape with nothing more than his underwear, which he s*** in out of fear.  The assailants were never captured and the associate never retrieved his clothing or gold watch either.  

That, however, was a petty crime.

On any given night, groups of young thugs (known as "grasshoppers") leap out of shrubbery and mercilessly stab their victims, leaving them for dead.  

The crime wave in all of Costa Rica (not just San Jose) is out of control due mostly to the increased drug trafficking through that region.  While not on the scale of – say Mexico, the Costa Rica President has ordered 7000 U.S. Marines to patrol the Central American nation.  Costa Rica does not have an army of its own.  Guns, however, are everywhere.

John Holtz of Inside Costa Rica writes:

“’Guns R Us’ could be our national slogan instead of “Pura Vida”. We are a country of guns that lectures other countries about not to have guns because…guns kill and we don't like that. After all, we are a nation of peace and no military, blah, blah, blah.”

He adds: “Increasingly, more and more crimes are being committed with senseless violence in the form of beatings, stabbings and shootings in addition to the acts robbery or theft that are almost of secondary importance. Violence has turned into a sport of sorts.”

Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com