"We, uh, we fixed the *glitch*"
Posted on 12/13/2011 10:32:40 AM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
It wouldn’t matter whether it was at the gambling mecca of Vegas, or, as in the case of Behar Merlaku, at a little-known casino in the tiny Austrian town of Bregenz – if the bells and lights on the slot machine I’m on start ringing and flashing, telling me I’ve won $57 million, then of course I’ll be planning my retirement. But when Swiss national Merlaku went to claim his jackpot, owners of the casino simply said there’d been a “software error” and that the 26-year-old was therefore not entitled to the big money prize. Instead they offered him $100 and a free meal, which, hardly surprisingly, he rejected. Admittedly, it appeared that the top prize was for a five-slot match, whereas Merlaku had only managed to match four-slots, but with the machine’s screen and accompanying racket telling him he’d won, why wouldn’t he believe it?
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I’ll wager that at some point, somewhere, there was a disclaimer that anyone entering the casino had to “accept,” saying that the house is not responsible for software errors.
Casinos are basically honest?
$100?!!!
Sue the heck out of them.
Yeah, software error, that explains it...
That seems to be a recurring theme with casinos.
Are they going to give refunds to all the people who previously LOST on that machine which had a software error? Or do software errors only work to the house’s advantage?
who’s to say the jackpot wasn’t correct, and the 4 of 5 matches showing wasn’t the error?
I give the guy 1 million and hope he takes it.
Stay away from electronic slot machines. Especially the ones that have a really chintzy sound of coins hitting the pan.
Would love to be involved in this trial.
“So, if a software error means an illegitimate winner was declared, did the software refund money to people who took what they believed to be a legitimate gamble?”. Followed by “Has the Casino made any public offering to refund the money it then took from everyone who played in the casino?”.
Throw the book, this casino is an organized group, who illegitimately defrauded every customer who came in; potentially millions of dollars, invoke RICO statues; such that paying the ‘software glitch’ winner his winnings would be infinitely easier than sending the entire company to jail, and fines easily 10x the winning amount.
Sure seems to be an awful lot of these slot machines that suffer software glitches just when a big payout come along.
Some enterprising young lawyer could probably cobble together a class action lawsuit against these casinos and the manufacturer. I mean if they glitch as often as they do on the big payouts what’s to say they don’t glitch way more often and not payout when they are supposed to?
” Sue the heck out of them. “
In the neighborhood I grew up in, people such as these Casino owners would be branded as “Welchers”, and they could look forward to a short, painful, future...
This type of story is cropping up almost on a monthly basis, and a little ‘street justice’ would go a long way towards putting and end to it...
Especially the Injun casinos....they’ll play the ‘sovereign nation’ card at the drop of a hat.
I am pretty sure the odds and payouts are on the face of the machine. That is the contract entered into when (prior to) placing the money in the machine. 5 of 5 wins the big payou, 4 of 5 wins $100. Black letter law.
It doesn’t say “if the machine yells you won it means you won.”
I don’t know about the laws there but the laws here would be with the casino.
"We, uh, we fixed the *glitch*"
I only play the ones with the real spinning reels
That’s awful. I can’t imagine what that’s like to think you can retire with Millions one moment and learn it was a mistake the next. I’ve only misread a lotto ticket once and thought I won $100 but only got a few bucks on the ticket. Oh well win some lose some.......
If the damn machine tells me I’ve won then I’ve won. I’m not responsible for a malfunctioning machine...Sue!
I walked out of Morongo with 2800 bucks and a voucher to come back and spend a week end once
But the machine must have said 5 0f 5.
He was Swiss and probably couldn't read Austrian.
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