Casino patron robberies

Police in two cities are looking at two similar robberies, trying to determine whether someone might be targeting jackpot winners leaving a popular casino in Catoosa. <br/><br/>News on 6 anchor Tami Marler

Friday, July 29th 2005, 2:40 pm

By: News On 6

Police in two cities are looking at two similar robberies, trying to determine whether someone might be targeting jackpot winners leaving a popular casino in Catoosa.

News on 6 anchor Tami Marler says Thursday night; a man left the Cherokee Casino with jackpot winnings and was held up in the driveway of his home. The same thing happened a week ago in Broken Arrow.

â€œEvery time the bells ring someone's winning." When you're dropping your money in the machine, you want to hear the bells ringing. It also tells everyone around you, you're a winner.

Police are looking into the possibility the suspect followed a 66 year-old man home after seeing him win a jackpot, then robbed and shot him outside his home. David Stewart with Cherokee Nation Enterprises: "Our surveillance and safety on premises is absolutely unparalleled. We have 800 cameras here, and we will undoubtedly help and assist Tulsa Police Department in the acquisition of this suspect."

Cherokee Casino has eyes in the sky, some you can see, and others you canâ€™t; to make sure the million dollars they give away every day stays safe while it's on their grounds. When you're on casino property, there's millions of dollars in surveillance and security to protect you, but once you leave the grounds, there are some things you need to know to protect yourself. David Stewart: "First of all we recommend people would take winnings in the form of a check, that's the first thing and then also for us to escort our patrons and guests to their car, and the third thing we would recommend is just be aware of the surroundings and what they're doing as they go home."

"As they pulled up in their driveway and got out of their car, they were approached by a white male who was armed with a pistol." Captain Paul Kroutter says Broken Arrow Police are investigating a week-old case that's similar to the one in Tulsa.

"They've got fairly good video surveillance there at the casino. I'm hoping we can get a photo of the suspect or the suspect vehicle that will help us. We would like to get this person off the streets as soon as possible. There are some similarities to what occurred in Tulsa last night with their victim. In our case, the victims were fortunate that they did not get shot. Even though the suspect threatened to shoot them."