Casino Crime Roundup: Unfounded Bomb Threat Leads Visitors to Flee Cardroom

Posted on: August 8, 2024, 12:20h. 

Last updated on: August 8, 2024, 10:16h.

Ed Silverstein Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

A bomb threat was relayed to California’s Hollywood Park Casino on Tuesday. The property was searched and no explosive device was found.

Inglewood Police Department
An Inglewood Police Department car, pictured above. A bomb threat was investigated by officers at a cardroom and turned out to be unfounded. (Image: Flickr)

The bomb threat and the false rumor of a shooter led cardroom visitors to exit the Inglewood, Calif. gaming complex.

Once they started leaving, people started panicking,” Randal Taylor of Bonita Springs, Fla., told Los Angeles TV station KTLA. “There was a mad rush of people running, hiding under the tables because they thought it was an active shooter.”

Inglewood Police Department officers and a bomb squad responded.

Later, Taylor heard a rumor someone made the bomb threat after the person lost money at the cardroom.

Trinidad Casino Visitor Has Chainsaw

A man at a casino on Trinidad threatened employees and visitors with a chainsaw, firearm, and a pipe last Friday night, police said.

The incident took place at Cher-Ae Heights Casino, according to the Times-Standard, a local news outlet.

The suspect was identified as Michael Black, according to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. He was apprehended the following day. It’s unclear if he was ever charged.

Pittsburgh Card Marking

A card-marking operation at Live! Casino Pittsburgh led to the arrest of two men on Friday after playing Mississippi Stud.

The duo was able to collect $12,175 from the plot. The loot was turned over to state police.

The two men, who were identified as Bahri Sahpolat, 47, of California, and Serdar Ozmen, 44, of Maryland, were playing cards with an indented deck, police said. They were at the casino last Thursday and Friday.

They confessed to card marking and Sahpolat gave troopers $5,210 and Ozmen gave them about $7K, according to TribLive.com.

The two were charged with use of a cheating device, theft, receiving stolen property, and trespass. Neither was given bail. They are due in court on August 14.

Slot Machine Dispute

A man was arrested after getting into a dispute on Friday over a slot machine at a Joliet, Ill. casino.

Gary Lobello, 51, of Plainfield, Ill., was charged with battery following a dispute at the Hollywood Casino on Friday, according to the Joliet Patch.

The incident began as a 67-year-old man was playing a slot machine. He left the machine to use an ATM. When he returned, a woman had begun using the slot machine and the two began to argue.

Lobello saw that the woman, who was his wife, got into an argument with the man.

“Lobello approached the male, grabbed him by his jacket, and threw him to the ground,” according to local police.

Lobello and his wife left the casino after the dispute. He was later arrested at his home.