Posted on 09/20/2006 9:46:03 PM PDT by jdm
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — A struggling actor has been paid nearly $260,000 by a casino after he was initially denied the money when managers said his apparent win was a mistake.
Freddy Howard, 53, of Sunny Isles Beach, took part in a free promotional game, the Swipe and Win Progressive jackpot, while at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino near Hollywood on Aug. 29. Howard swiped his Players Club card, and a hostess and supervisor broke the news: He had won $259,945.75.
Howard was showered with attention and presented with a giant cardboard check.
Then casino managers broke the bad news — a computer glitch had caused an error and he was not a big winner.
On Tuesday, the Hard Rock paid him anyway.
“We are making this payment as a gesture of goodwill, and I am pleased to tell you that Mr. Howard has accepted,” said Allen Huff, chairman of the Seminole Gaming Commission.
However, Huff said Howard used a Players Club card that belonged to his father and was not eligible to win, even if there had not been a mistake.
Howard had hired a lawyer and also threatened to picket the casino.
“Honestly, I just want to be gathered together with relatives and with friends and thank God once again for this whole thing,” Howard said.
He said he agreed not to discuss the details of his deal with the casino.
Officials said an independent testing facility, Gaming Laboratories International, determined a communications glitch between computers had created the problem that indicated Howard had won.
Then casino staff added to the problem.
“We became overexcited at the operations level,” said Seminole gaming chief executive officer James Allen. “Our marketing team’s job is to create excitement, and, candidly, they went a little too far.”
my jury's still out on this one-- the fact that he was playing with his father's card is pretty damning; it means he was unequivocally ineligible. Meanwhile, the casino also acted pretty reprehensibly. yikes.
Playing with a card that is not yours should have no bearing on whether he won the jackpot or not. Only if the machine stated that rule on the machine or posted elsewhere in the casino. People are always leaving their cards in the machines. (forgetting them). Cards are only used to track play.
What kind of actor is in Florida? Wrong Hollywood dude...
I dont know what the rules are so unless its forbidden in writing i doubt they can whine about it
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
I wonder what his dad has to say about it?
In other words, people are being fired!
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