A Casino Disaster Without any Casualties

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Posted: February 14, 2020

Updated: February 17, 2020

  • 450 kg of dynamite
  • The background of the bomber
Casino disasters are viable threats to your life. While gamblers are enjoying their time at full comfort in the dim lights of a casino room next to a roulette table, they don't even know what kind of dangers are awaiting them. In the shadows of every corner, in the quiet whirling of the roulette table, there is death and it awaits its new costumers. Actually, death is everywhere in the everydays. This is the most important thing in life. The difference between birth and death is that you don't know that you are going to born but you know that you are going to die. Online gambling sites in the US, are a great way to find your favorite online casino and playing there from the safety of your room can drastically increase the chances of survival. CyberSpin Casino, for example, has a great variety of games.

Harvey's Resort Hotel Bombing

On August 26-27, 1980 losing all your money at the flashing lights of the slot machine was not the only danger that awaited gamblers who enter the casino. Let me phrase at the beginning that this casino disaster was demanding no casualties. However, the story behind it is far more interesting than a boring casino fire. It's all started with WW2 when John Birges was flying planes at the German Luftwaffe. The Soviets were capturing him and he had to serve 25 years of hard labor in a Siberian gulag. Eight years after he was released and was returning to Hungary. This was happening in 1956 unfortunately for Birges this was the time when Soviet tanks were rolling into Hungary to surpass the ongoing uprising. It is easy to understand that Birges had more than enough of hanging out with the Soviets so he was immigrating to the US.
He was flying an ME-109 before the Casino Disaster
He was flying with this machine during the war. ME-109 Kogo [CC BY-SA]

Making the American dream come true - The background of the casino disaster

He decided to move to the US. He was one to realize the American dream and he made a very successful landscaping business. However, his lack of self-control came into the picture as he became a regular in Lake Tahoe casinos. By 1977 his wife was dead and he took into a dive so deep he never did with a plane. By the beginning of 1980, he was losing over $750,000 ($2.3 million today). That's when he decided to make one of the biggest home-made bombs. The bomb was containing 450 kgs (1000lbs) of dynamite that he stole from a construction site. Building a bomb this size was taking a lot of time. At the beginning of 1980, one of his two sons was dating a girl. He happened to tell her that his father is building a bomb. Later they were separating from each other and the girl was going out with someone else. After the bombing incident, the girl and his new boyfriend were hearing that they are giving prize money to someone who has information on the bomber of the Harveys.

There is no perfect crime

the casino disaster
Federal Bureau of Investigation [Public domain]
Back to 1980, August 26-27 someone is claiming $3 million ($9.3 million today) from Harvey's. Otherwise, he is going to activate a bomb inside the casino. The bomb designation was so well that the FBI wasn't able to move it or disarm the bomb. Instead of paying the money they were deciding to detonate the bomb inside the casino. The casino was destroyed but no casualties happened. However, Birges was dying in jail at the age of 74 in 1996. Well, that's for today we have a different casino disaster I suggest you look up our previous article. In this case, a fire turned the building into a haunted casino. While there were no casualties happening, you can never know. It is better to stay at home and hit up online casinos in the US. At CyberSpin Casino you can play live roulette without the fear of being bombed or suffocating from some electric fire's deadly fumes.  
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