CNN got their hands on the Las Vegas shooter’s court documents from 2013. While this doesn’t necessarily give us clarity on what could have been Paddock’s motive, it does give us more insight into his gambling obsession:
CNN – He was a nocturnal creature who gambled all night and slept all day.
He took Valium at times for anxiousness, and had the doctor who prescribed it to him on retainer.
He wagered up to a million dollars a night, but wandered around glitzy Las Vegas casinos in sweatpants and flip-flops, and carried his own drink into the high rollers’ area because he didn’t want to tip the waitresses too much.
This was Stephen Paddock as he saw himself four years before he opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers, killing at least 58 people in the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
The details are contained in a 97-page court deposition obtained exclusively by CNN. Paddock was deposed October 29, 2013 as part of a civil lawsuit against the Cosmopolitan Hotel, where he slipped and fell on a walkway in 2011.
What otherwise would have been a mundane proceeding offers fresh details about Paddock’s life and habits — for the first time — from the killer’s own mouth. The document has been turned over to the FBI, according to sources.
Paddock’s testimony offers little insight into what could have prompted last week’s attack. He said that he had no mental health issues, no history of addiction and no criminal record.
He had this Las Vegas doctor who prescribed him valium on retainer:
He said he was prescribed Valium “for anxiousness” by Nevada internist Steven P. Winkler. It was unclear how often he took the drug, but he estimated that he had 10 or 15 pills remaining in a bottle of 60 that were prescribed a year and a half earlier.
Paddock was asked whether he had a good relationship with the doctor who prescribed him the pills.
“He’s like on retainer, I call it, I guess,” Paddock said of Winkler. “It means I pay a fee yearly … I have good access to him.”
Winkler did not respond to an email or phone call seeking comment for this story. Reporters were turned away by a security guard after seeking access to the gated community where he lives.
He apparently loved video poker a lot as well, so much so that he’d gamble a million per night:
He described himself as being, at one point, the “biggest video poker player in the world.”
“How do I know that?” Paddock asked rhetorically. “Because I know some of the video poker players that play big. Nobody played as much and as long as I did.”
At the height of his play in 2006, he testified, “I averaged 14 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
“I’ll gamble all night,” he said. “I sleep during the day.”
“Each time I push the button, it will range from $100 to $1,350,” he said.
A lawyer asked how much he could end up betting on a given night.
“A million dollars,” Paddock replied.
“That’s a lot of money,” the lawyer said.
“No, it’s not,” Paddock said.
If a million dollars wasn’t a lot to him and he didn’t mind blowing it every night on video poker…at least for a while, then just how rich was this dude?
It’s also interesting that he’d spend this much on video poker but didn’t want to tip casino waitresses.
My earlier theory about why Paddock may have committed this shooting seems a bit errant now. I have no idea why he’d do such a thing.
Read the full article for more…