Gunman in Vegas Mass Shooting was Also an Online Gambler
In addition to being a high rolling gambler in Las Vegas, a gunman who massacred 59 people and injured more than 500 others Sunday night was also believed to have wagered online.
Stephen Paddock, 64, seemed like an ordinary man until his Sunday killing spree, according to those who knew him. Over a dozen weapons were discovered in his 32nd floor hotel room at the Mandalay Hotel in Las Vegas. Paddock opened fire from that room using semi-automatic guns to fire upon crowds attending the Harvest Fest Country Music event in below. He killed himself before armed police blasted their way into the room.
Paddock was a high rolling gambler known to the casinos in both Vegas and Reno, according to initial reports. His specialty appeared to be high stakes poker.
His brother Eric told media outlets their entire family took over the top floor of Reno's Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, at the casino's expense, a result of Stephen’s extensive play.
He'd also been given a 'Seven Stars' designation in all Caesar's Entertainment casino properties - an invitation-only status given to the top-spending frequent gamblers, NBC reported.
He was reported to have racked up several gambling transactions in the “tens of thousands” of dollars in recent weeks. It was unclear if those were wins or losses.
“He did a little online gambling and he also did it in Vegas. And that was one reason he was going back and forth to keep the gambling going, and he did it online here,” a former neighbor told the press.
Don and Sharon Judy, who lived next door to Paddock and his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, when he owned a house in Melbourne, Florida between 2013 and 2015, said he was “very friendly” and “lived by gambling”, according to a report in the Telegraph.
“He was very open about that. He said he traveled all around to his different homes, that he gambled,” Mrs Judy told Florida Today.
Mrs Judy said he had once shown her how he had won $20,000 via online gambling on his smartphone.
It was not immediately clear what websites he played on.
