This story is just appalling: a disgruntled patron shot a Trump Taj Mahal casino executive in cold blood, allegedly because he was frustrated by his roulette losses. From the AC Press:

Despite his claims that he racked up millions of dollars in gambling losses, the accused killer of a casino supervisor actually won $1,100 this year playing roulette at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, a Trump executive said.

Gambling records dating to 1995 also show that Mark E. Magee lost $6,435 at the Taj Mahal’s gaming tables in the past 14 years, according to Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.

Juliano said the casino’s records suggest that Magee lied when he told police investigators that he was a compulsive gambler who has lost millions over the years. Magee also claimed that casino had cheated him by rigging the games.

“He’s lost $6,435, so his math is a little off,” Juliano said mockingly in an interview Saturday.

Calling Magee’s cheating allegations “ludicrous,” Juliano said New Jersey’s tightly regulated casino industry and the Taj Mahal’s own financial controls make it virtually impossible to fix games.

“I think it’s important to refute the idea that anything could happen because it’s impossible because of the controls we have in place,” Juliano said.

Magee, 57, of Norristown, Pa., is accused of gunning down Taj Mahal shift manager Raymond Kot near the casino floor on Wednesday. He has been charged with murder and weapons offenses and is being held in the Atlantic County Jail on $1 million cash bail.

Police investigators in Norristown said Magee claimed that, in the past three or four years, he would always be winning at the roulette table until a casino manager he knew as “Ray” — apparently referring to Kot — would arrive. Magee said he believed Ray would then make a call to someone to rig the game, and the losses would start.

“His intent was to kill someone from upper management from the casino because they were responsible for him losing his money,” Norristown Detective Raymond E. Emrich wrote in a police affidavit.

Trump executive says alleged killer lied about gambling losses, rigged games.

Most of you know that I used to work at the Taj, and I remember Ray Kot from my time there. We didn’t know each other socially or anything, and interacted about as much as you’d expect a very junior surveillance operator and a senior casino manager to. But I remember him as a nice guy who knew his job well and seemed to enjoy doing it.

Magee’s claims are ridiculous. Even if you accept the dubious proposition that a casino manager could somehow affect the outcome of a roulette game by making a phone call, the story makes no sense. If he started losing every time Kot came on shift for the past three or four years, why didn’t he just cash out and walk over to Showboat or Resorts when he saw Kot arrive? There are covered bridges to both properties, so he wouldn’t even have to go outside. It would take maybe ten minutes to cash out, walk over, and buy in. It’s tragic that a good man with a family lost his life for something as senseless as this.

That being said, this murder might prompt casinos to review their security profiles. I can’t see American casinos installing metal detectors at the door like Macau casinos do, but increasing on-floor security and giving them better training in recognizing and dealing with situations like this–where a distraught man was apparently stalking Kot–wouldn’t infringe on the freedom of guests and would greatly increase the safety of both guests and employees. There was recently a murder at Caesars Palace here in Las Vegas, where the victim–a casino restaurant employee–and the alleged killer knew each other. In an open society, there will always be tension between crime prevention and liberty, so there’s no easy answer to this problem. This murder could have happened anywhere–in a restaurant, a hospital, or a school. But people often have the presumption that casinos are safer than other institutions because of the increased security profile. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.