Police arrested a convicted murderer on Tuesday after he walked away from a Gravenhurst prison and hailed a taxi to a casino.

Luigi Boni, 65, escaped Sunday from the Beaver Creek Institution, a minimum-security prison where he was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder in the death of his wife. He promptly caught a cab to a Casino Rama just outside Orillia.

Ontario Provincial Police managed to discover Boni’s whereabouts and contact him. He met police at the Barrie bus terminal Tuesday around 10:30 a.m. after agreeing to turn himself in.

“I have no idea why he wanted to go to the casino,” OPP Det. Brett Anderson said.

Boni, who was also serving time for breaking and entering, robbery and impaired driving, now faces a charge for escape from lawful custody. He was returned to the Correctional Service of Canada.

“By no means is this the first time someone has walked away from Beaver Creek,” where inmates are housed in five residential-style units, said Barrie police Sgt. Doug Henderson.

On Oct. 8, 2012, inmate Christopher Zach, who was serving a sentence for firearms-related offences, escaped; he was recaptured Oct. 22. The incident came a year after another inmate had escaped and was recaptured over the Christmas long weekend.

Beaver Creek offers “an open correctional environment that encourages offenders to take on responsibilities for day-to-day life,” according to the Correctional Service of Canada’s website. “Inmates pose a very low risk of escape.”

Boni has escaped from prison before. In August 1981, he broke out of the minimum-security Frontenac Institution near Kingston and robbed a Toronto Dominion bank branch. He was rearrested shortly after.

He is scheduled to appear at a bail hearing Wednesday in Bracebridge court.

With files from Russell Piffer and the Toronto Star archives