Tony Bargig, a 54-year-old Israeli casino owner and former gambling kingpin, reportedly murdered in Prague in a case still under investigation.

Israeli businessman Tony Bargig, a casino owner in Prague once known in Israel as the “King of Slot Machines,” was killed early Thursday on Seifertova Street in Prague 3. He was 54.

No official details were immediately released about the circumstances of his death or the identity of any suspects.

His suspected murder drew comparisons in Israel to the 2002 assassination in Prague of Felix Abutbul, a notorious Israeli underworld kingpin.

A former soccer player, Bargig was the son of Nino Bargig, a veteran soccer coach who died in 2023 at 84. Nino Bargig was a prominent figure in Israeli soccer and coached several mid-tier teams over the years, including Hapoel Rishon Lezion, Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Hapoel Jerusalem, Hapoel Yehud and Maccabi Sha’arayim.

Alongside his business activity in Prague, Tony Bargig’s name had previously surfaced in one of Israel’s largest gambling cases. According to an indictment, he operated a network of about 15 gambling houses from 2008 to 2014 in Rishon Lezion, Be’er Yaakov, Mishmar Hashiv’a and other communities.

Bargig was previously convicted in 2004 and 2009 in connection with illegal casino operations and violent crime-related cases.

The proceedings involved extensive witness testimony and were described as one of the larger gambling-related investigations handled by Israeli authorities in recent years.

He was also reportedly under police surveillance in 2012 over suspicions of continued involvement in the casino underworld.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz previously reported that his wife works as a police officer and was later reassigned to a lower position, with reduced clearance, due to her links to Bargig and his brother.

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