Walking into a casino or online casino ph usually brings one thought—winning. But even though winning might not always happen in gambling, the hope stays alive.
A big win on the slots or a lucky hand in poker pushes people to try anyway. Some dream of beating the odds and walking away rich. Yet, sometimes what looks like a big win turns out to be fake.
For Katrina Bookman, the huge $43 million jackpot she saw on the slot machine screen ended up being nothing but a letdown.
In August 2016, 44 y/o Katrina Bookman went to Resorts World Casino in Jamaica Queens to try her luck on the slot machines. That day she picked the Sphinx Wild game, a simple slot with five reels created by International Game Technology.
She bet 40 cents per spin on a game with 40 possible ways to win. Suddenly the screen flashed and froze. Excited from what she saw she snapped a photo of the screen which showed this message
“PRINTING CASH TICKET: $42,949,672 PLEASE REMOVE TICKET”
Bookman was thrilled over the win. She thought about her tough past moving between foster homes and living homeless for a time.
In an interview with ABC-7 NY Bookman said that she couldn’t stop thinking about how the money would change her family’s life. She talked about all the struggles she went through and how hard it was.
She had raised four children on her own. Feeling hopeful she planned to give $1 million to her son so he could live his dream of opening a barbershop.
But that joy didn’t last long. Staff from the casino asked her to leave the gaming area and told her to return the next day for an “official decision.”
Bookman was shocked by the words, but she asked the key question again
“I said, what did I win?” They replied, “you didn’t win anything.”
She claimed the top managers at Resorts World Casino told her the huge jackpot was just because the machine broke down. To make things worse, they gave her $2.25 – what they said she really won – and offered her a free steak dinner as well.
Feeling extremely let down, Bookman turned down the offer and quickly reached out to a lawyer.
In a statement to CNN Money, Dan Bank from Resorts World told everyone why her win vanished
“Casino staff figured out the number on the machine happened due to a clear glitch – a fact that the New York State Gaming Commission also confirmed.”
Had the $43 million been given, Bookman would have smashed the record for the biggest slot win in America, which is over $39 million. That record came from a win at the Excalibur casino in Las Vegas in 2003. However, the 2003 jackpot was won on a Megabucks machine, starting with a massive $10 million in the pot.
Bookman wasn’t playing a Megabucks machine. She was on Sphinx Wild, a regular slot game. Sphinx Wild doesn’t join any big networks for progressive jackpots. The highest reward on this game is $6,500. Quite a decent payout, but really small compared to what Bookman thought she had won.
Like almost all slot machines, the Sphinx Wild at Resorts World had a rule written on it
“MALFUNCTION VOIDS ALL PAYS AND PLAYS”
Resorts World, along with the state gaming commission, said this rule protects the casino in situations like this. They added that Bookman should have known a regular machine couldn’t give out the biggest jackpot in the country.
Still, Bookman wouldn’t give up and hired lawyer Alan Ripka to help her fight the case.
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