Israeli businessman Tony Bargig, a casino owner in Prague once known in Israel as the “King of Slot Machines,” was killed early Thursday in the Czech capital. He was 54.
No official details were immediately released about the circumstances of his death or the identity of any suspects.
Bargig was well known in the area of Rishon Lezion, Be’er Yaakov and nearby communities in central Israel, where his family has long-standing ties. 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. A soccer field in Be’er Yaakov was later named after him.
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. Prosecutors said several slot machines operated at each site, and the case included hundreds of prosecution witnesses.
Israel prohibits most forms of private gambling, allowing only state-regulated lotteries and certain sports betting activities.
In 2020, Bargig was sentenced under a plea deal to 15 months in prison, forfeiture of 1 million shekels and a 350,000-shekel fine.
He later fought the Israel Tax Authority over demands that he pay taxes on tens of millions of shekels in income allegedly linked to the gambling operation. During the proceedings, the Tax Authority said it relied on notebooks and other evidence seized in police raids on gambling apartments, including records of cash withdrawals and money transfers used to fund the operation. Bargig disputed the scale of the income attributed to him and pursued appeals seeking to reduce the tax assessments.
In recent years, Bargig lived and worked mainly in Prague, where he owned gambling and casino businesses.
Czech authorities had not issued a detailed official statement on the killing, and the investigation was in its early stages.