Man commits suicide at MotorCity Casino in Detroit

Jim Suhr

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2000 | 5:54 a.m.

DETROIT - A man fatally shot himself Wednesday while playing blackjack in the high-stakes gambling area of the MotorCity Casino, police said.

The man was playing a $100-minimum game in a VIP room when he shot himself about 4 p.m., Detroit police Inspector William Rice said. No one else was injured.

"He lost a hand and then he pulled out a weapon and shot himself," Rice said.

The man was from Michigan and appeared to be in his 30s or 40s, Rice said. Police were withholding his identity until his relatives could be notified. WXYZ-TV reported he was an off-duty suburban police officer.

"We're very disturbed about this," said MotorCity Casino spokesman Jack Barthwell. "It's a terrible thing to have happen any place."

It is illegal to bring a gun inside the casino, Barthwell said.

The casino does not have metal detectors, he said, but "we will review our security precautions and see if steps need to be taken."

Police said they were investigating how much money the man had been gambling and whether he had come to the casino alone.

"We're still trying to compile his betting history and whether or not in fact he's been here before," Rice said.

MotorCity's high-roller-friendly fourth floor features $100 slot machines and blackjack tables with minimum bets of $100 to $500. That area was closed while police investigated, Rice said. The rest of the casino remained open and people continued to gamble.

The National Council on Problem Gambling, citing various studies, says one in five pathological gamblers attempts suicide. A 1998 Harvard Medical School study estimated that 1.6 percent of the adults in the United States and Canada had experienced pathological gambling at some point in their life.

But it often is difficult to determine a specific reason why someone kills himself, said Carol O'Hare, executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling.

"Short of someone leaving a note that 'The reason I killed myself is ... ,' there's a lot of armchair detective work to determine what chain of events caused someone to do that," Ms. O'Hare said. "Frequently, what you have is things playing together. Many times you have drinking problems or marital problems."

Suicides at a gaming table or slot machine are rare, she said.

"That is why I'm stumbling here - because I don't know myself of any situation where a suicide was actually completed in a casino," Ms. O'Hare said.

In August, a 54-year-old German tourist died when he jumped from the roof of the nine-story Resorts Atlantic City parking garage in New Jersey.

He was the third such suicide at a casino building there in eight days. A gambler who had lost $87,000 at the tables jumped off a Trump Plaza roof, and a dealer at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino leaped to his death from the casino's parking garage.

"But that kind of violent suicide right on the casino floor is not one I'm aware of," Ms. O'Hare said.

MotorCity opened Dec. 14 as the second temporary facility to begin operating after Michigan voters approved a 1996 ballot proposal authorizing three casinos in Detroit.

The MGM Grand Detroit casino opened July 29, and the Greektown casino is expected to open in the spring.

Larger, permanent casinos with hotel rooms, conference facilities, entertainment venues and additional restaurants are expected to open by 2004, clustered on Detroit's riverfront.