Casino Slot Machine Malfunction
The slot machine giveth huge payout, the slot machine 'malfunction' taketh it away. The single mom of four was playing slots at the Resorts World Casino in New York when the machine flashed. Oct 08, 2020 The casino staff came over and told her the machine had made an error and malfunctioned. They shut off the machine, took it away, printed out a ticket and gave me $80.” Casino machines usually have a malfunction sticker that voids all plays and pays. Castillo said, “To me, it's cheating, may even be fraudulent.
We’ve all seen the small notice on the slot machine that says something like, “Machine malfunction voids all pays and plays.” Have you ever really thought about what you would do if it happened to you?
Stephen Wilkinson was playing his favorite slot machine at the Philadelphia Park casino in Pennsylvania when he hit the jackpot for $102,000. The machine lit up, the jackpot music started to play, and on the screen it congratulated him on his win of $102,000. People quickly gathered around and began congratulating him, in fact the women beside him was so excited she phoned her husband to tell him the news. Well, Stephen was in for a big surprise but it wasn’t $102,000.
After several minutes of casino employees huddled in deep discussion, they made their way over to Stephen to congratulate him on his win. Wrong! They made their way over to let him know that there was a machine malfunction, and he did not hit the jackpot. However, they would compensate him for the malfunction by providing him with two free tickets to their buffet. No, I’m not making that part up. They tried to reconcile the situation by giving him two free buffet tickets. Unless there was gold and diamonds on the buffet, that doesn’t seem like just compensation to me.
What do you think? Do you think the casino should have to pay the money, or are they not liable because they have the warning on the machine? What about if it happened to you, how do you think you would respond? What would you do?
Let’s take a look at similar situation that occurred, you may have a different reaction. This actually happened to a fellow gambler that I know and it happened on a video poker machine instead of a slot machine, but video poker machines are classified as “slots” and have the same malfunction warning on each machine. This story has a slightly different twist to it, but ironically it was for about the same amount of money.
John was in the casino when he noticed a single progressive video poker machine. A single progressive simply means that the machine is not hooked up to any other machines, the jackpot rises as someone plays that machine only. Many video poker single progressives have a large display above the machine that lets the customer know how high the jackpot is. John noticed a $1 denomination ($5 for max play) video poker machine where the display read that the jackpot was $104,000 for a royal flush. If you don’t play video poker, just know that a normal payout for a royal on a $1 machine is $4,000. The progressives are reset at $4,000 and move up as the game is played.
John knew something wasn’t right. It’s almost mathematically impossible for a $1 video poker progressive machine to get over $100,000 without a royal flush being hit. If it got up to $20,000 it would be big news and you wouldn’t be able to play the machine because it would be packed with people. John decided to play and see what happened. The entire time he played the jackpot was still listed as $104,000 and was increasing as he played. After about an hour, sure enough John hit a royal flush.
What do you think happened?
- A) The casino paid him the $104,000 that was advertised on the machine.
- B) They paid him nothing because there was a machine malfunction.
- C) They paid him the reset jackpot value of $4,000.
- D) They paid him some other amount.
If you guessed option C you would be correct. The casino explained to John that the progressive counter display had malfunctioned and they would not pay him the $104,000. John didn’t fight it too much because he knew there was nothing he could do. I think he was most upset at the fact that they paid him the minimum of $4,000, which is the reset amount, instead of at least compensating him something extra since it was a progressive. They claimed that the malfunction voided everything, and basically they were saying he’s lucky to be getting the $4,000.
What is your feeling on this situation? Is it different from the first story? Does it matter that John knew something was amiss when he sat down at the machine? I would love to hear your thoughts, and any similar situations that may have happened to you or someone you know.
At first i thought it was another of those malfunction voids play ridiculous $43 mil jackpots but this one is quite different
Here is the final ruling. I think the lawyers were incompetent for the plaintiff. Im wondering if the wizard could have testified and what his current opinion is
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ms-supreme-court/1326082.html
So Ms Eash spins the top symbols on a slot and wins a $1mil jackpot at IP in Biloxi
Only IP says malfunction. The machine only pays $8000
Gaming commission does investigation and uncovers following
Machine had 3 different settings
Standalone with $8000 max pay
Standalone progressive with $1mil cap
Linked progressive with no cap
IP requested standalone machine but IGT incorrectly set the machine as a standalone $1mil progressive
Even though the signage clearly stated the top jackpot was only $8000 its settings were for $1mil
The commission ruled in miss Eash favor as the machine did not malfunction and she truly had the 'lucky' spin per the odds
IP appealed
It climbed up to state supreme court
Which ruled in IPs favor
In the judgement there were two contracts examined
The IP lease agreement had an indemnity clause forbidding IP from recouping from IGT even though the mistake was traced to IGT. IP was considered unfairly on the hook
Secondly they concluded the signage stipulating a top payout of $8000 in full view constituted a valid contract which Miss Eash was held too.
She was awarded $8000 final judgement
IMO the plaintiff lawyers were incompetent. They should have made the mathematical argument that every person who had previously played had paid into the progressive so it was not IP but previous customers paying the jackpot
Also those customers were playing a game which probably violated state minimum payback (that is by paying only $8000 of $1mil the payback was then altered as to violate state law)
As such it was the signage that was wrong and therefore a void contract
Anyway its too late now but this really has made me upset all day lol
I doubt the difference between $8k and $1M jackpot would be the deciding factor between the game being below or above minimum payback requirement. The top jackpot is usually a small %. I'm not sure about top dollar.
IMO, since it showed the top payout being $8k, then the ultimate decision was correct in having IP pay her $8k. Well, maybe not 100% 'correct', but not a complete hornswoggle.
I don't know how those games are setup. Is it possible to set it to the normal setting (how it should have been) and manually adjust the top payout? I think so, since every now and then you'll see a top payout of some weird amount that's non-progressive. Or was it setup so that the top payout was $1M, making the frequency of the top payout super duper low?
What did the progressive amount supposedly start at? Seems like it was just set to a $1M base jackpot. (#4)
I doubt the difference between $8k and $1M jackpot would be the deciding factor between the game being below or above minimum payback requirement. The top jackpot is usually a small %. I'm not sure about top dollar.
IMO, since it showed the top payout being $8k, then the ultimate decision was correct in having IP pay her $8k. Well, maybe not 100% 'correct', but not a complete hornswoggle.
I don't know how those games are setup. Is it possible to set it to the normal setting (how it should have been) and manually adjust the top payout? I think so, since every now and then you'll see a top payout of some weird amount that's non-progressive. Or was it setup so that the top payout was $1M, making the frequency of the top payout super duper low?
Good questions
I dont have the answer
However gaming commission sided with patron that jackpot was legit win based on odds and settings
Higher courts overruled based on contract legality
I'm surprised the casino didn't try to negotiate once gaming ruled in her favor. Perhaps they did and someone suggested that since gaming ruled in her favor there would be no problem with the higher courts.
More often than not, I think gaming has made good decisions overall.
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I've heard a number of cases like this and all of them seem to go the casino's way, which I think is right. I used to have the opposite position on this matter, when I was younger and more idealistic.
If forced to take a side, I have to go with the IP. I'm sure there was a sign somewhere saying 'malfunction voids all pays and plays.' It was a malfunction, albeit human error, that caused the machine to incorrectly announce a $1M win. Plus, signage indicated the top win was $8,000.
I've heard a number of cases like this and all of them seem to go the casino's way, which I think is right. I used to have the opposite position on this matter, when I was younger and more idealistic.
I disagree that it was a malfunction. It was not a malfunction. The machine operated in the exact way it was programmed to operate. She won the jackpot with the correct reels. In other type of situations the machine would display a jackpot when there was no win. In this case the player got the correct symbols. Since they got the correct symbols for a jackpot then they should be awarded the jackpot. The argument is not if it was a malfuntion, but what should the jackpot be.
I do agree with the outcome. When everyone sat down they all played based on the 8k award. I would have fought for the million but knew in my heart that I was probably going to get 8k.
I would like to see a picture of the machine though. Was there anywhere on the machine that showed a progressive that was climbing, or was this just a standard machine where all of the screens showed fix wins?
If forced to take a side, I have to go with the IP. I'm sure there was a sign somewhere saying 'malfunction voids all pays and plays.' It was a malfunction, albeit human error, that caused the machine to incorrectly announce a $1M win. Plus, signage indicated the top win was $8,000.
I've heard a number of cases like this and all of them seem to go the casino's way, which I think is right. I used to have the opposite position on this matter, when I was younger and more idealistic.
Does this mean human error is considered within malfunction parameters?
That sounds a bit scary and catchall to me
For example if you knew your freezer needed to be set high to avoid an ice cream cake melting
And when you returned home your cake was melted because you had accidentally set it to low
Would you declare the fridge had malfunctioned? Or accept the fridge worked as it was supposed to and it was human error
Not trying to be argumentative. You yourself said your opinion has changed so this seems like a grey area
Casino Slot Machine Malfunction
I agree with others, there was no malfunction.
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