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Social media has resurrected a 10-year-old legal case that saw a New York woman apparently win a $43 million casino slot machine payout, only to be denied the cash.
A July 6 X post by Aisar, a finance and cryptocurrency founder, cited the 2016 incident, noting “A single mother who grew up in foster care put 40 cents into a machine, watched it display $43 MILLION, took a selfie, came back the next day and was handed $2.25 and a dinner reservation,” the post stated.
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The post cited Katrina Bookman’s near-$43 million “win” at Resorts World Casino in Queens, New York in August 2016, which included a screenshot of the slot machine showing the payout amount. But the winnings were written off by the casino as a malfunction, with a steak dinner and $2.25 offered instead.
There’s no public record that Bookman ever collected any other money.
“I feel like they did me real dirty,” Katrina Bookman told the New York Daily News shortly after the incident.
Bookman sued the casino, but a New York City court rejected the negligence claim in August 2018 and allowed the claim of “breach of contract” to proceed.
Experts say casinos never pay out on faulty machine cases
Ten years later, the story still has legs.
Aisar’s post triggered nearly 17 million views and 19,000 likes and was picked up by Yahoo News on July 7, as commentators lined up to share their opinions on faulty casino machines and how casinos are never held accountable.
Now, some gaming and legal experts say those critics have a point, even though courts have regularly backed casinos in faulty machine payout cases, mostly due to state regulations favoring gaming establishments.
“State gaming commissions are statutorily authorized to favor gaming facilities in cases where hardware malfunctions result in incorrect payouts,” Robert Tsigler, founder and lead attorney at The Law Offices of Robert Tsigler, told Moneywise.
According to Tsigler, statutory legal language has historically defined all hardware or software errors resulting from malfunctioning equipment as nullifying entitlement to listed payouts. Consequently, a hardware display error of $43 million will always be reduced to zero dollars or back to the player’s initial bet of $1.
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“Players also face physical notices from their machines and the administrative code that defines screen displays as non-binding informational displays,” he added. “Gaming regulatory bodies uniformly apply this rule and therefore provide players with few options for relief in administrative appeals.”
Even documented images of multi-million-dollar payouts on a slot machine screen won’t help a gaming consumer win a legal battle.
“The house typically has the edge on paper,” Nick Heimlich, owner and attorney at Nick Heimlich Law in San Jose, California, told Moneywise. “If the programmed odds don’t match the number displayed on the machine, the number displayed is deemed to be an error and is not an offer, as the odds have been approved by regulators.”
As a result, slot machine players are often surprised that a screen with millions does not necessarily mean it’s a commitment.
“That’s settled in the contract that no player reads,” Heimlich noted.
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Payment-denied slot players may finally get their due
While casinos have escaped culpability for now, they’re not bulletproof.
“The ability to enforce gets weaker when the language is buried, the casino takes its own time to claim the malfunction, or their own maintenance records indicate mismanagement,” Heimlich said. “For me, the documentation is the key to disclaimer disagreements. Cleaner records equal better results.”
Casinos may also be held more accountable for their pricing of slot machines going forward, and ordinary contract principles say why. “Businesses that benefit from a machine’s display should not be able to disown the display for free,” Heimlich added. “A payment of some established minimum amount for validated mistakes on manufacturer-confirmed mistakes will accelerate operators to better maintenance more than any fine.”
In the meantime, casino gamblers need to learn some lessons before celebrating a big payout.
“When you play an unverified jackpot as an unsigned contract, it’s worth nothing yet,” Heimlich said. “Don’t sign, post, or quit anything until the casino confirms it in writing. I’ve seen people take huge commitments for money that they didn’t have.”
Players who have had a payout voided due to alleged errors should also immediately request an enforcement inspection.
“That’s because the internal log data contained within the computerized memory banks of each machine is generally the best available evidence to dispute an invalidation of a player’s payout,” Tsigler noted.
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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Queens mom’s slot machine once showed $43 million — casino gave her $2.25 and a steak dinner, and courts backed it
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.