Why The Unknown Motive In The Las Vegas Massacre Is So Unsettling

[Awsi Dooger]

15. Many low profile nutcases in gambling circles

I'm not particularly surprised because I lived in Las Vegas for 25 years. While I wouldn't have forecast something on this scale we always believed something was possible. I distinctly remember a friend of mine named Harry isolating various guys in town and saying, "You know he could do that...walk in and blow away the entire crowd...and not think anything of it."

Initially I would make fun of the wackos and tell them how ridiculous their theories were, like my friend Ron who thought there was a secret camera inside the Caesar's Palace betting board designed to monitor him alone. But then I wised up -- circa fall 1992 -- when a few of the wackos described their obsession with guns, and size of their stash. They were paranoid about Clinton actually denying another Republican term. In that case they would have to find the nearest gun shop and buy as much as they could afford.

The oddity in this case is that Paddock was primarily a high stakes video poker machine player. I can't say I knew many of those guys. The high limit machine rooms are small and typically cater to gamblers who don't live in Las Vegas. That describes Paddock, from what I understand.

The guys I knew who played video poker did it on the quarter "full pay" machines, which were Jacks or Better machines with 9/6 pay table, as in 9 coins for full house and 6 coins for a flush. Some of the casinos actually set those machines at 101% payback or slightly above, but only with optimum play. They would gamble that people would not use optimum strategy. That was true for tourists but local wise guys would play every hand perfectly and also have a Players Card in the slot, racking up points and other benefits (comped food, etc.). Eventually the casinos severely cut back on those "full pay" machines and changed them to 8/5. That eliminated the advantage. Until Paddock I hadn't heard much about video poker in recent years, after the pay tables were changed.