Video of the week #44 Las Vegas Woman Hits Jackpot, Casino refuses to pay.

[Joeylc]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/XFj_1F6R52s&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/XFj_1F6R52s&rel=0</a>

[Brianzz]

The gaming commission ruled on this in August.

1. Case # 2006-7393L
Aurea Privee
v.
Fiesta Henderson Casino Hotel
HEARING EXAMINER RECOMMENDS:
Agent’s decision awarding payment of $852.06 be affirmed. Further recommend Petitioner’s claim of
$1,000,000.82 be denied.

[stayouttadabunker]

Why?
Because someone at the casino screwed up?
What?, they don't know how to program a Mikohn sign correctly?
I'd say that's the casino's fault...but a "malfunction"?
Questionable...however, to argue against myself -
the word "malfunction" is an extremely broad sword...

[Brianzz]

What I think happened was since it was a bank of VP machines the progressive never reset on that machine when other machines on the bank hit it, but surely someone working there would have noticed that machine having a 6 digit jackpot while all the others had a 3 digit one.

[stayouttadabunker]

LOL...yeah right,...listen to this stupid prank we were pulling on people one day at work...

I dropped at piece of crumpled paper on the floor to see what would happen?
Me and security watched it on PTZ cams...
People walked by it all day without picking it up...even the cleaning lady...jeesh!

So, I copied a $20 bill on a printer and copied the backside too...
cut it around the right size ,wrote in small letters with a pen, the word "FAKE", crumpled it up and laid in the same spot.

One guy picked it up in about 20 seconds...
I had to go ask him to remove it from his breastpocket and informed him that it was fake.
We laid it down again and a lady picks it up and puts it in her purse about 1 minute later.

[reho33]

So that means that if a casino just doesn't want to pay out at all they can hide behind the issue of "Malfunction"?? This was an obvious mistake but if I was playing an S2000 for example, non progressive, and I hit the top award, the casino can just say "It malfunctioned and as you know sir and as is printed on the machine Malfunction voids all pays and plays, good day" Then they would just hope that you wouldn't take it to the next level and stir the pot up. Even if the slot was examined in the lab, anyone there just could say "Million to one shot, static electricity stopped the game, etc." I'm dumfounded?????

[stayouttadabunker]

Right,
It would take a team of slot scientists to determine what happened and
whether of not the machine "malfunctioned" if you were to fight it in court.
You better have some big time cash if you want to fight a casino that doesn't want to pay out.
If it's a high profile case, a lawyer looking to win the next election might take the case on a "pro bono" status,
but that's highly unlikely too...LOL
basically, you gotta win when the casino has it's dumbest employees working that particular shift.

[jdkmunch]

I side with the casino on this one.  I mean it was clearly a progressive with a top award of $800.  Nowhere was there reference to wining $1,000,000.

[stayouttadabunker]

I wonder if the machine itself clearly showed to the player that it was rigged up to be a progressive machine?
Should there be signs or placards pasted ON or inserted IN the machine stating that?

[jdkmunch]

I'm all confused.... I don't know if I can talk to you stayout with a new avatar.

[stayouttadabunker]

I'm all confused.... I don't know if I can talk to you stayout with a new avatar.

LOL...she's Misty...a boxer I have...unbelievably good-nature and loving...like me! LOL
The best thing is when I'm sitting down watching a show or something...
she puts her head on the front of my chair wanting attention...don't we all?

[StatFreak]

I'm all confused.... I don't know if I can talk to you stayout with a new avatar.

LOL...she's Misty...a boxer I have...unbelievably good-nature and loving...like me! LOL
The best thing is when I'm sitting down watching a show or something...
she puts her head on the front of my chair wanting attention...don't we all?

Wow, Misty didn't last long.  I was going to ask if she ate your cat avatar, but I see that she's been preempted by Dilbert.

[daddy2yea]

Ok by her own admission she was a regular at the casino.  Anybody thats plays video poker on a regular basis knows there would never be an million dollar payout for a Royal Flush on a penny poker machine.  She knew it so did others that played the machine, but no one spoke up hoping to get one over on the casino. Then when the Royal Flush comes now I'm the clueless gambler "yeah right".  I agree with the casino on this one.  Mike

[Op-Bell]

The gaming commission does not have the final word - its decision is subject to judicial review. There is case law and precedent. I can't quote the exact case, because a lawyer borrowed my Nevada law book and I never saw it again 

But from memory, some time in the 1970s a slot malfunctioned and its reels coasted to a stop on the jackpot. The machine, of course, didn't pay, and the player went up the line until the case ended up in court. The judge ruled that when a player inserts money and the machine accepts it per pro the casino, that constitutes a legally binding contract between the player and the casino on the terms stated on the machine's front, which were that when it showed a jackpot line, the player would be paid some amount of money.  The reels showed a jackpot line, so the casino was liable to pay it, which they did. The "malfunction" disclaimers went up on all the machines in state right afterward.

Now I'm not a lawyer of course, but it seems to me they can only use the disclaimer in this case if the machine itself malfunctioned. Clearly it did NOT malfunction. It not only detected and announced the royal, but it announced the million dollar payout. The precedent above would seem to hold, that what it says on the machine is what the casino has to pay. The case would  hinge on what was on the display before the game started, which is what the contract holds the casino to. Whether it said $1,000,000.82 or $852.06, she should receive the amount it showed before the game, which I have no doubt was $852.06.

My guess - it wasn't quite made clear in the movie, but it was implied - is she was dealt a pat hand. Some IGT poker progressives make a distinction between a drawn hand (~40,000:1) and a pat hand (~650,000:1), the pat hand getting a much bigger payoff. They probably set the reset amount for drawn hands but forgot all about the other one, since it doesn't come up on any particular machine more than about once every six months. Incidentally, "penny poker" doesn't mean a thing. She had to be playing playing $1 a hand (100 credits) if the royal was ~$800.

[Buzz]

Op If you look at the video at 1.25 the pic of her hand shows at least two cards were held

[knagl]

My guess - it wasn't quite made clear in the movie, but it was implied - is she was dealt a pat hand. Some IGT poker progressives make a distinction between a drawn hand (~40,000:1) and a pat hand (~650,000:1), the pat hand getting a much bigger payoff. They probably set the reset amount for drawn hands but forgot all about the other one, since it doesn't come up on any particular machine more than about once every six months.

That does not appear to be the case here.  Look at the paytable from the video:



This machine did not have a different payoff for a dealt Royal vs. a drawn Royal.  Either a dealt or drawn one would have locked up with the over $1 Million prize, too.  ...and I didn't catch it at first, but Buzz is right -- you can see cards were held in the screen capture above.

The line right below the Royal was 5000 credits, or $50 which is the normal payout for a Straight Flush on a $1 total bet (she bet 100 pennies).  While the overhead sign did say $800-something, the machine she was playing showed a jackpot of just over $1 Million when she played.  Given that, the casino was accepting bets with a payoff of a million bucks for a Royal on what appears to be a 6/5 Bonus Poker game.  (With a $1 Million Royal payout, that game had a player return of 4,378.2149% (yes, a four-thousand percent player advantage!))

I don't think this was a malfunction.  The machine was trying to pay out exactly what was offered to the player when she wagered her money.  It was a HUGE MISTAKE on the part of whoever programmed the machine, but does a big mistake qualify as a malfunction?  I agree, the jackpot should have started at $800 and not gotten anywhere close to a million, but that was on the screen due to a programming mistake, not a "malfunction".


In contrast, the M Resort in Las Vegas had a similar "oops" on their opening day.  On a bank of $0.25 video poker (where the top award should be $1,000), they mistakingly programmed the progressive to start at $10,000 (they added an extra zero).  Someone hit the Royal and, after a brief delay, the M Resort paid the person the full $10,009 (source).

[stayouttadabunker]

[ Quote ] but that was on the screen due to a programming mistake, not a "malfunction"

This is the part that will get argued in court...big time

[Foster]

If i was in charge of the Casino I would not want to pay it either.
BUT the negative publicity and legal costs may cost the casino more than the one million dollar and change jackpot would cost in the long run.
 

[Op-Bell]

There was a case about 12 years ago, I don't remember all the details, at an Indian casino in Arizona or New Mexico, where a woman hit one of the wide-areas for about $350,000. IGT, who was responsible for paying the jackpot, claimed it was a malfunction and refused to pay it, but the casino paid up after a while because of the bad publicity. The slot manager committed suicide shortly afterward.

Fiesta is a Stations property. Stations is in Chapter 11 at the moment. The owners are Colony Capital and the Fertitta family, who claim they are unable to make interest payments on the $2bn they borrowed to take the company private. Colony Capital is a California-based private equity fund, owned by Tom Barrack, who lost 60% of his personal fortune this year in the real estate crash but still has a comfortable billion, while Colony Capital has assets of $37 billion. Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta made the Forbe's billionaire list last year, but seem to have dropped off the list this year - they must be down to their last $800 million or so.    Hard times all round, clearly.