A trove of documents recently released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that the shooter who killed nearly 60 people at a Las Vegas concert in 2017 was “very upset” about how casinos were treating him.
The documents reveal the strongest indication yet of a motive for the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
Stephen Paddock, 64, a regular gambler who had a penchant for video poker killed himself at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino before he could be apprehended. The documents provide the most detail into Paddock’s possible motive and gambling habits.
A fellow gambler told the FBI that “Paddock was very upset at the way casinos were treating him and other high rollers,” noting that roughly three years earlier casinos had started banning high rollers from certain events, hotels and even casinos.
The gambler described Paddock as a high roller with a bankroll of approximately $2 to 3 million who preferred playing video poker. The report states that the acquaintance of Paddock believed the stress about high roller treatment could “easily be what caused Paddock to ‘snap.'”
The gambler also added that he believed the Mandalay Bay hotel “was not treating Paddock well because a player of his status should have been in a higher floor in a penthouse suite.”
The documents were released last week in response to a public records request by The Wall Street Journal.
