DISQUALIFIED MILLION DOLLAR WINNER GOES TO SUPREME COURT

16 January 2009

Mississippi woman thought she had won a slot machine jackpot of note...but it was a technical fault

 

A Mississippi gambler from Biloxi who feels she has been cheated out of a million dollar win by the land venue IP Casino has taken the fight to the Supreme Court this week, protesting that the slot machine she was playing had reflected a million dollar jackpot win way in excess of the $8 000 maximum win the casino claims is posted on the equipment.

The case dates back to 2006, when Florida Eash claims she was playing a $5 Double Top Dollar machine when she hit a jackpot, reports Associated Press. The machine displayed a screen informing her that she had won $1 million, also sending a signal to the casino's slot accounting system indicating a $1 million progressive jackpot was pending.

Attorneys for IP Casino said a programming mistake caused the machine to register an erroneous $1 million jackpot, and a long drawn out legal tussle commenced.

Initially, the regulating Mississippi Gaming Commission ruled that Eash should be paid the $1 million, but when the casino took the case to court a judge later came down on the casino's side.

"When a patron sits down to play a slot machine, such as the slot machine at issue, and looks at the payout schedule of that machine, the patron cannot expect the recovery of anything other than what it shows at that time on the faceplate of the machine," Circuit Judge Roger Clark decided.

Scott E. Andress, an attorney representing IP Casino, claims the Mississippi Gaming Commission ignored its rulings in previous jackpot disputes that only posted maximum jackpots are to be paid.

"Nowhere did she see she could win more than $8 000 when she walked up to that machine," Andress asserted.

Online Casino News Courtesy of Infopowa

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