The Las Vegas gunman kept unusual hours when traveling between casinos, often sleeping all day and gambling hundreds of thousands of dollars each night, according to a 2013 court deposition.
Stephen Paddock volunteered information related to his pervasive gambling habit, saying “I’ll gamble all night,” and “I sleep during the day” when he was interviewed for a 97-page court deposition, obtained by CNN.
The deposition, filed four years before Paddock executed the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, was part of a lawsuit that he filed against the Cosmopolitan Hotel after injuring his hamstring in a 2011 slip and fall incident.
The deposition speaks to the extent of Paddock’s gambling habit, describing his day-to-day routine as entirely based on his all night gambling sprees.
Paddock said he wagered up to $1 million per night, but admitted to retrieving his own drinks so as to avoid tipping cocktail waitresses. His odd behavior at the casino also extended to his attire; his typical casino outfit featured black Nike sweatpants and flip flops.
Paddock described a nomadic lifestyle in his testimony, saying he travelled between casinos roughly 95 percent of the time, staying in free hotel rooms offered to him by virtue of his status as a high dollar gambler. He admitted to spending up to 14 hours per night in front of video poker machines during the height of gambling habit in 2006.
It does not appear that Paddock, who described himself as “biggest video poker player in the world,” utilized any hotel amenities beyond the casino. When asked if he ever spent time by the pool he responded “I don’t do sun.”
The mass shooter also testified to receiving prescribed valium by Dr. Steven P. Winkler, a Nevada internist he claimed to have kept “on retainer.”
Paddock said he received the Valium prescription for “anxiousness.” The drug can cause rage, aggressiveness and irritability, according to the manufacturer’s website.
When asked whether he had a good relationship with Winkler, Paddock responded affirmatively, explaining, “He’s like on retainer, I call it, I guess … It means I pay a fee yearly … I have good access to him.”
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