Man Robbed, Slain After Winning $88,000 at Track

A man who won about $88,000 Saturday at Hollywood Park, and then boasted about it, was robbed and shot to death when he returned to his hotel near Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said Sunday.

The victim was Robert Unger, 33, of Newport Beach, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said.

Unger was a frequent bettor at Hollywood Park, and was not modest about bragging about his successes, officials at the Inglewood racetrack said Sunday.

“He had reportedly been boastful about his winnings,” Jack Disney, a spokesman for the racetrack, said of Unger’s lucky streak.

Unger, he said, had purchased a $30 ticket on the Saturday Late Triple--picking the winning horses in the seventh, eighth and ninth races--winning more than $72,000. He also played three $2 wagers in the Pick Six--selecting five of six winners in races four through nine--giving him another $16,000.

After taxes, Disney said, Unger netted more than $72,000 for the day.

Then, according to track officials, Unger did an unusual thing after the last race, which ended about 6 p.m. He insisted on walking out with his cash winnings in his pocket. Normally, big winners convert their cash to a check.

“He wanted all cash,” said Alex Augusta, Hollywood Park’s director of operations.

The park’s policy, he said, is to give a winner up to $10,000 and the balance in a check.

“But he demanded cash and so he had to sign a release, and he was given cash,” Augusta said.

Racetrack officials said they provide escort security to the parking lot if it is requested. But Unger asked for no such help.

Unger was shot a few minutes before 7 p.m. Saturday after he parked his car in a visitors parking space at the Stouffer Concourse Hotel, 5400 W. Century Blvd., according to Los Angeles police. Unger had rented a suite at the hotel for about a month, a hotel employee said.

David French, a hotel security guard who arrived on the scene moments after the shooting, said it appeared that Unger was shot in the chest while still in the driver’s seat of his late-model gold Jaguar, and then rolled out onto the pavement.

French said it appeared that Unger had given his assailant some cash, but that “several thousand was left over” when police arrived.

“I got his heart going, but he was pronounced dead at Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center,” he said.

Unger had two friends with him when the robbery attempt occurred, French said.

“The friends fled and then came back after the shooting,” he said.