A 60-year-old Ohio man has learned that Ebola is not a laughing matter.
Emanuel Smith was arrested on a charge of inducing panic after he told a dealer at Casino in Cleveland that his wife had contracted a deadly virus.
According to the Ohio Casino Commission, the gambler went into other dealers, claiming that his spouse travelled to Cleveland from the Ebola-stricken region of West Africa and that he was gambling to avoid seeing her.
It was later determined by police officials that Smith, who is divorced, and his ex-wife do not have ebola and have not been to West Africa recently.
Smith’s gallows humor ’caused panic’ in the casino, a portion of which had to be temporarily closed down resulting in ‘a large financial loss’ for the owners, according to court filings cited by The Smoking Gun.