It would've made video gaming history; the largest slot machine jackpot win in casino history. But the multi million dollar jackpot turned out to be fool's gold. And when she went from nearly 43. Katrina Bookman captured national attention last year when she played a 'Sphinx Slot Machine' at Resorts World Casino in Queens, New York, and it appeared as though she'd won $43 million - which.
The cards are always stacked in favor of the casino. Casinos exist for one reason, and one reason alone: to take your money. They do it legally, even if it's under cloudy circumstances.
An Oregon woman landed on the $8 million jackpot while playing the slot machine at a Lucky Eagle Casino, but walked away empty-handed when the casino told her the machine malfunctioned.
Consider the case of an Alabama man who put $5 into an electronic bingo machine at the Wind Creek Casino in Montgomery, Alabama. The casino is on tribal land operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. To the gambler's amazement, 'several noises, lights, and sirens were activated' when the machine announced that Jerry Rape had hit The Big One. The bingo machine indicated a jackpot of $459,000, then $918,000, and finally settled on a 'payout multiplier' of $1,377,000, according to the gambler's lawsuit.
The casino took Rape's payout ticket and made him wait for about 24 hours before saying no dice. He wasn't getting the monster payout. The machine, he was told by the tribe's casino, had 'malfunctioned.' (PDF)
It gets worse
The gambler sued the casino in the tribal court of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. But the suit was dismissed. The court declared that sovereign immunity prevailed—that the tribe was an independent nation and immune from being sued.
'They said they were immune to any kind of fraud that I made in the complaint,' the gambler's attorney, Matt Abbott, told Ars in a telephone interview. 'They said rules don't apply to them, [and] 'have a nice day.'
Advertisement Unable to lodge a claim in tribal court, Rape rolled the dice with Alabama's state courts and sued the tribe there. On Friday, seven years after Rape thought he had hit the jackpot, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that Rape could not sue the tribe in state court—the proper venue was tribal court. That's because the Poarch Band of Creek Indians is a nation of itself, and that's where disputes occurring on that land should be litigated, the court found.
The Alabama high court noted that it found itself in a 'Catch-22' of sorts. It said it couldn't decide the dispute even if the tribe wasn't entitled to sovereign immunity.
'The activity out of which Rape's claim arose, however, was gambling. If it occurred on land within the regulatory and adjudicative jurisdiction of the State of Alabama, that activity was illegal. Specifically, that land is located in Elmore County and, therefore, is not located in one of the counties in Alabama where even the game commonly and traditionally known as bingo is permitted,' the court ruled. (PDF)
It is well established that this Court will not aid a plaintiff seeking to recover under an illegal contract but, instead, will simply leave the parties where it finds them.
This is the third time we've seen a gambler hit an enormous jackpot only to be told that it won't be paid because the jackpot was a result of an electronic 'malfunction.'
Meanwhile, the Alabama gambler's attorney, Abbott, told Ars that his client's legal avenues have now been exhausted. 'It's over,' he said.
The tribe said the Alabama high court did the right thing. 'We are pleased that the Court affirmed the ruling in favor of the Tribe,' spokeswoman Sharon Delmar said.
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An Arizona casino has been locked in a battle with a patron who says he won $50,000 on a slot machine earlier this year but was only paid $4,000, reports Wednesday said.
Ryan Sherry, 47, said his slot machine at Scottsdale's Talking Stick Resort and Casino indicated three red double 7's on the screen in April, which would yield the $50,000 jackpot, ABC 15 Arizona reported.
'I jumped up, I was so excited!' Sherry told The Arizona Republic.
But when he asked to cash out, the machine only paid out $4,000, the station reported. The manager told him the machine paid out correctly, the report said.
But Sherry took his case to the tribal government, writing a letter and sent a photo of the number combination on the slot machine, according to ABC 15. Slotsofvegas com no deposit bonus.
“Why is this not $50,000?' he asked. 'Look at the numbers, all the colors match, why is it not $50,000?'
Sherry said an investigator told him the machine had a light bulb out, making an orange '7' look red, the station reported.
A man claims that he was ripped off by an Arizona casino after winning $50,000 on a slot machine. The casino says he was paid fairly.
'That doesn't seem right,' Sherry told The Republic. 'If it's showing one thing, the reason why you have pictures up here is to give you a snapshot of what you're getting close to, or what you should be paid out. If it's something different, the machine is not actually working properly.'
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Salt River Prima-Maricopa Indian Community's tribal gaming officials had also told him that the machine paid out the correct amount, the paper reported.
The gaming officials said he could take his case to tribal court, after he filed at least two grievances. But he told ABC 15 that he worries that still wouldn't help. The rules vary significantly from state or county courts, and from tribe to tribe, The Republic reported.
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Sherry said he won't be going back to Talking Stick, after six months of fighting for the $50,000 he believes he's owed, ABC 15 reported.
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“Hopefully this does not happen to you, but the only one way you can actually guarantee that this is not going to happen to you is don’t go to the casino,” he said. Lightning link slot grand jackpot.