ENOUGH TO DRIVE A PLAYER NUTS

26 December 2008

Slot glitch turns win of millions into hundreds

 

Christmas arrived early for a New Zealand woman this year, or so she thought. The woman was playing a land slot in Dunedin, New Zealand when it briefly showed a $A 36 million jackot hit...but she then found the machine was faulty and she had really won only $A 420.

Otago mental health worker Verna Brown said that for '' a brief, wonderful moment'' she thought she was a multi-millionairess after feeding $A 11.75 (NZ$ 14) into the poker machine at the Law Courts Hotel in Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island. But a malfunction light was flashing on the machine and rather than call in the receivers, the hotel called a technician.

Brown thought she had won nearly $A36 million ($NZ42million) - and even fielded a light-hearted marriage proposal from a fellow pokie player.

She said: "I went up to the bar and said, 'I just won $42 million' - I think the bar lady thought that I had had a few," she told the Otago Daily Times.

Hotel co-owner Eric Olsen said: "When I saw it, I thought I would have to sell the hotel and mortgage myself for 200 years!"

The faulty parts were sent back to the Japanese manufacturer and two-and-a-half weeks later unlucky Verna was told the truth - there was no instant fortune in her future.

However, she insists she has no need for the millions and was happy with her $A420 ($NZ500).