After a slot showed a $43 million win, an investigation by the casino, slot provider, and the NYGC determined a malfunction win worth $2.25! (Photo by R M on Unsplash)
Imagine a slot machine telling you that you’ve made generational wealth in a single spin, only for the casino to tell you it’s all a big mistake, so here’s a steak dinner instead.
What would your reaction be? I know I’d be fuming. They can shove the steak dinner for starters; I want to walk out of there with some cash in my pocket.
Believe it or not, this happened to a lady in New York playing a land-based slot machine called the Sphinx, which is an International Game Technology (IGT) game. The entire ordeal ended with the player taking the case to court in a battle against one of the Big Apple’s large land-based casino entertainment establishments.
While Katrina Bookman was at the Resorts World Casino in Queens, New York, she decided to play one of the slot machines. She was in shock when the symbols rolled in, and the video slot’s display showed she had won what would have been the biggest slot machine jackpot in US history—a mind-numbing $43 million. Reports don’t say whether she screamed or was, but she was probably in denial, but at the same time thinking, well, that’s me set for life.
Yet, the denial side of her mind was, unfortunately, what was about to become reality.
What is a jackpot? If you are new to casinos, then you can find out exactly what jackpots are and how many of them create overnight millionaires by visiting our ‘How Progressive Jackpots Work’ guide.
Katrina was told the $43 million jackpot was a mistake
Katrina recorded her enormous success with a selfie, but the situation soon turned sour. The following day, when she returned to collect her multi-million dollar winnings, an employee at the casino delivered the heartbreaking news that “she didn’t win anything”.
After recovering from the shock news, the machine appeared to malfunction, and the total winnings amounted to $2.25. Even the New York Gaming Commission (NYGC) said that the casino, by law, could simply pay the amount won according to the slot’s pay table.
A disclaimer on the slot machine stated that “malfunctions void all pays and plays”, hence the NYGC-backed Resorts World Casino.
Million Dollar Win Turned into a Steak Dinner
A bit of an insult, like it was nothing, the casino offered Bookman a complimentary steak dinner. This goodwill gesture is hardly a fitting consolation to the woman who had thought she had become a multi-millionaire and dashed her dreams in seconds.
Dan Bunk, spokesperson for Resorts World, told CNN the casino and the NYGC confirmed that the win was a slot malfunction. Ms. Bookman was offered the correct payout
Bunk also said, “After explaining the circumstances to Ms. Bookman, we offered to pay her the correct amount shown on the printed ticket”. When I write what the casino mentioned as the ‘correct price printed on the ticket’, I am not talking about the amount shown on the slot machine’s screen, which Ms. Bookman took a picture of.
What was the correct price? It was whatever the casino said it was. This amount will have been correct for the symbol combination or feature she rolled in.
Ms. Bookman Filed a Legal Case Against the Casino
The casino may have apologised and said that slot malfunctions rarely occur, plus offered probably the most depressing steak dinner she’d ever eaten, but Ms Bookman wasn’t going to take the casino’s explanation lying down.
A year later, Ms. Bookman sought legal advice. Her legal rep described the casino’s claims as ‘ridiculous’. The lawsuit stated that the slot machine had made all the correct jackpot-winning sounds and graphics. That included bells, noises, and light. What’s more, a message clearly stated she was now a newfound millionaire.
Ms Bookman’s lawyer made some very good points. Alan Ripka (the lawyer) stated, “You can’t claim a machine is broken because you want it to be broken.” He also questioned whether the slot was being properly inspected and maintained. As a result, he said that his client was entitled to the amount displayed on the machine at the time of the win.
The lawsuit sought damages against the casino and two game machine companies for failing to maintain the machine in running order.
Casino Claims the Payout was Worth $6,500
A casino spokesman stated that the machine’s maximum payout was $6,500, so a million-dollar win was not possible in the first place. He was almost certainly going by the slot’s paytable, which, in all honesty, was correct. If this is what they were saying, if the NYGC caught the casino and game producer providing false information, it would have been a crime. Therefore, we can safely assume that there was a malfunction. Yet, according to Ripka, the casino offered no explanation for how the machine malfunctioned.
The case was eventually settled out of court. This usually means the plaintiff would have had to settle for the slot machine’s maximum payout. However, there may have been additional paid on top.
Whatever the outcome was, we will likely never know, as out-of-court settlements are normally sealed. That means future cases cannot use the case to set precedence.
What is the Casinoplusbonus news team’s opinion on the matter?
Slot machines do have malfunctions written into their terms of service, so from the casino’s perspective, yes, the payout of this magnitude was never justified. Yet, there is some responsibility from the casino’s side. It was a flaw with the slot machine, and the software provider, casino, and NYGC confirmed this. It is literally just a case of hard luck and a cruel piece of hard luck at that.
Yet, there is a case for damages as there may have been a failure to maintain the slot. Showing someone such a substantial win and taking it away does have psychological effects. Therefore, the casino should have at least given her compensation.
How much compensation should she have received? What do you think? I would say damages should have been at least $100,000. It’s not as if the casino can’t afford it!
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