8.5 Million Dollar Casino Refuses To Pay
When Veronica Castillo won $8.5 million on a slot machine, her life instantly changed. But then the casino refused to pay her. Indian Casino Refuses To Pay Out, Says Rules Don't Apply After Man Hits $1.4 Million Jackpot. Source - Casinos exist for one reason, and one reason alone: to take your money. They do it legally, even if it’s under cloudy circumstances.
Woman Wins $8.5 Million Jackpot, But Casino Refuses To Pay By JJ Foster - 9/22/19 They Took Her Money Away Veronica Castillo isn’t a regular at casinos. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably heard Maribel Sanchez’s story. A couple of weeks ago, she won a jackpot worth $8.5 million at a Lucky 7s slot machine, but the casino refused to pay her, saying there had been a hardware malfunction. The story sparked fierce debate both inside and outside the gambling community. I’m not sure how often (if ever) this happens on countries where business and businessmen that run them conduct themselves in a “serious” and responsible way; but in my home country (Argentina) you hear about a case like this from time to time.
Veronica Castillo isn’t a regular at casinos. However, when she ended up going to one a couple of years ago, she had won a staggering $8.5 million after trying her luck on a slot machine. That is, until the casino refused to give her a cash prize. This sent Veronica down a rabbit hole as she learned exactly why the casino decided not to give her the money that was rightfully hers…
Veronica could never have foreseen that she would become the main character of this crazy casino story. As far as she was concerned, she was just looking to get away for the weekend with her mother. The Portland, Oregon woman took her mom to the Lucky Eagle Casino in Rochester, Washington. Despite not being a gambler, Veronica wanted to try her luck on some of the slot machines. In a way though, it actually made sense that Veronica was so interested in numbers…
Seeing that she is a mortgage consultant with nearly two decades worth of experience under her belt, it is safe to say that Veronica understands how money works really well. So when she was stripped of her $8.5 million winnings during her trip to the casino, she was convinced that something wasn’t quite right. For someone who knows numbers, things simply didn’t add up. However, she did not suspect anything when she entered the casino…
Immediately, Veronica was dazzled by the bright lights and sounds of Lucky Eagle Casino. In an instant, she understood what all the fuss was about and why people love going to casinos. All the signs pointed to her wanting to try her luck on some of the slot machines. These tall, mysterious machines are extremely popular due to how easy they are to use and their bright, luring lights. However, there was one particular slot machine that piqued her interest…
It seems that Veronica is a huge fan of dinosaurs because the slot machine that caught her attention was a prehistoric themed one called “Jurassic Riches.” Not thinking too much of it, Veronica had chosen her machine and was about to make her move. However, before she did that, she sat down and thought about some of the things she already knew about slot machines, and gambling in general. Nevertheless, this wouldn’t take anything away from how excited she was…
Ultimately, Veronica knew that there was a good chance that she would walk out of that casino empty handed. However, this didn’t stop her from going in there with her mother and having a great time. She was excited by the mystery. Having rarely gambled in her life, this was pretty much new territory for her. She was aware that casino games tend to favor the casino. However, she had limited knowledge about the intricate systems behind a slot machine…
It takes a lot of sophistication and ingenuity to engineer a successfully functioning slot machine. They usually include a random number generator and a number of intricate systems within the machine. This means that slot machines have a near-infinite amount of combinations to make the results as random as possible. As for Veronica, she wasn’t clued up on the intricacies of slot machines. All she was interested in was trying her luck, just once, and then she would get on with her life.
Unlike other casino-goers, who will spend an entire day on the same slot machine, pulling the lever until they get a cash prize, Veronica did things differently. Having not caught a gambling bug, all she wanted to do was choose a random machine, which she did, put a note in it, and see what would happen. So she inserted $100, pulled the lever, and hoped for a good result. Nothing could prepare her for what the slot machine would end up showing her…
When everything was said and done, Veronica couldn’t believe what she was seeing. On the screen of “Jurassic Riches,” it said that she had won over $8.5 million! $8,589,298.90, to be precise! She had never really won anything in her life and now, she had won a sum of money that was, without a shadow of a doubt, life-changing! Naturally, she was completing surprised by the outcome and in an interview, she recalled her initial reaction after seeing that figure of money.
In an interview with Inside Edition, Veronica was simply asked what it was like to win $8.5 million. Her answer was pretty understandable. “I was in shock,” she said. “[And] was excited.” She also reiterated her feelings in an interview with KOIN 6, saying the following: “I was very excited and happy…couldn’t believe it.” During those initial few minutes after winning the jackpot, the biggest question going through Veronica’s mind was what she could do with that sort of money…
Seeing that she was already a successful mortgage loan officer, Veronica was pretty happy with her life prior to this incredible moment. As a result, she was struggling to work out what she would do with such a large sum of money. One thing was for sure though, she could probably buy anything she wanted. Also, she would never have to work another day in her life. However, these dreams were about the be shattered in a matter of minutes…
As members of staff came towards her, Veronica assumed they were simply coming over to congratulate her for winning the jackpot prize. However, she assumed wrong. It turns out that the reason the staff members arrived on the scene was that they wanted to shut down the slot machine. “They come to me and say, ‘We have to shut off the machine,'” she said. But that was just the start of her terrible experience at the Lucky Eagle…
Not only did the workers at the casino shut down the “Jurassic Riches” slot machine, they also came to inform Veronica that she hadn’t actually won anything. “Then I was like asking ‘What about the prize?” she said. “And they said, ‘there’s no prize.’ It was horrible.” Completely confused and distraught by what they were telling her, Veronica had a million questions and demanded answers in that very instant. However, things only seemed to get worse…
While she had plenty of questions that she wanted answers to immediately, the staff at the Lucky Eagle desperately tried to appease her with some sort of instant compensation. However, Veronica couldn’t believe her eyes when one of the workers gave her a ticket worth $80. $80.35, to be precise! This meant that Veronica received a one-hundred-thousandth of what she thought she’d get. Nevertheless, she was still determined to find out the reason that her dream jackpot had gone wrong…
In short, the staff explained to Veronica that the slot machine she had been using had malfunctioned. Despite displaying the $8.5 million on her screen, it was actually a display error. Naturally dumbfounded by the explanation, Veronica couldn’t believe what they were telling her. Still unconvinced by their reasons, CEO John Setterstrom began to break down some key rules that would hopefully set the record straight – most notably, a sticker that rested on the side of each slot machine…
8.5 Million Dollar Casino Refuses To Pay
John Setterstrom was quick to explain that his casino was able to retrieve any crucial data to prove that what Veronica saw was actually faulty. “We have backup systems as well, and screenshot systems and systems that are built within the systems that can accurately depict and we can show it to the guest,” he said. More importantly, though, the CEO showed KOIN6‘s Lisa Balick some of the casino rules. One of them claims that “machine malfunction voids all pays and plays.”
Although the casino executives tried to explain to her what had happened, Veronica simply wasn’t buying it. As far as she was concerned, the casino was “cheating” and trying to avoid paying her what was rightfully hers. “To me, it’s deceiving, it’s cheating, it might even be fraudulent,” she said in an interview. “My first thought was ‘how many times did they have these kinds of instances and people walking away thinking they have won and going empty-handed?”
Lisa Balick, who works for KOIN6, took it upon herself to do some digging of her own, in an attempt to set things straight. When she called the CEO of Lucky Eagle Casino, John Setterstrom, she was surprised by what he had to say. “Obviously, $8 million, there’s no machine in the state that pays that,” he told her. “This has never happened there before.” Furthermore, the casino tried to make amends for what had happened…
CEO John Setterstrom revealed that in his 20+ years at the casino, he had never witnessed a situation quite like this one. He also said that he was planning on getting to the bottom of what exactly went wrong in the “Jurassic Riches” slot machine. And it’s not just the casino who launched a full investigation. The manufacturer of the machine, Rocket Gaming Systems revealed that they are going to work out the cause of the malfunction. That’s not all though…
Shortly after the slot machine fiasco, the casino issued a formal statement, proving that they were taking the situation seriously. They were as determined as Veronica to get to the bottom of the error. However, the casino also shared information in an attempt to prove that the slot machine had, in fact, malfunctioned. They also reiterated what John Setterstrom had confirmed in the interview, that the machine has a maximum jackpot of $20,000. But the casino wasn’t out of the woods just yet…
While the casino was adamant that the slot machine Veronica used had displayed an error, causing the confusion, they still wanted to apologize to her for the inconvenience. The casino issued a formal apology, expressing “deep regret” over what had transpired. The staff at the Lucky Eagle didn’t realize how machine errors can be traumatic for their users. Nevertheless, Veronica was feeling in the mood to forgive the casino for their faux pas. And that wasn’t all they did for her…
The casino didn’t just issue a formal apology to Veronica for the inconvenience. It also made a concerted effort to make her feel better, by supplying her with a number of freebies. In order to compensate her for her misfortunes, the casino gave her a weekend stay at the hotel free of charge, with meals included. However, this is certainly not the end of the story. As far as Veronica is concerned, she has some unfinished business…
Despite the casino trying their best to appease her, Veronica isn’t satisfied. She wants to get an attorney, in an attempt to get what she believes is rightfully hers. And if she doesn’t win her case, she at least wants to share her story with the world. “What I expect at the very least, is to create awareness about how the casinos work, when the players get the big winnings!” she wrote. Whatever happens, we hope that Veronica gets some sort of happy ending.
Michigan lawyer and YouTuber Letho’s Law sheds light on Oklahoma casino’s decision not to pay $8,469,498.95 USD to slot machine jackpot winner.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably heard Maribel Sanchez’s story. A couple of weeks ago, she won a jackpot worth $8.5 million at a Lucky 7s slot machine, but the casino refused to pay her, saying there had been a hardware malfunction. The story sparked fierce debate both inside and outside the gambling community. Consumer protection advocates cry foul, saying that the woman should be paid her winnings. Lawyers, on the other hand, say the issue is much more complicated and nuanced. So let’s take a look at what really happened in Newcastle Casino and uncover the truth.
Lucky Magic 7’s machine, similar to the one used by Sanchez at Newcastle Casino to get the $8.5 million jackpot.
The Sequence of Events
According to FOX25, Maribel Sanchez entered Newcastle Casino at seven in the morning to try her luck on a Liberty 7s slot machine. She set her wager amount at a dollar and twenty-five cents per spin. After a few rounds, she hit the jackpot and the machine told her she won $8,469,498.95 USD. Excited about her win, Sanchez took a picture of the winning graphic using her phone. In her mind, she was already thinking about how she would spend her money on achieving her life-long dream of buying a house.
That’s where things took a strange turn. Just after she took the picture, the slot machine turned off. A few moments later, Sanchez was approached by members of the casino staff. Instead of paying Sanchez her $8.5 million, the casino gave her back the $14.50 she had spent at the slot machine and bid her farewell.
“They told her we’re not going to pay you. It was an error, ” Sanchez’s lawyer, Bill Zuhdi, explains.
Furious about the injustice of the situation, Sanchez contacted Oklahoma’s FOX 25 news station, which reported on the event through their website and Twitter account. FOX 25 reporters then contacted the venue and the machine’s manufacturer, but neither gave any concrete information on what exactly happened.
Sanchez then went on to contact attorney Bill Zuhdi. On Monday, March 2, the lawyer filed a formal notice of prize claim in order to move the legal case forward.
How Modern Video Slots Work
So what exactly happened there and why doesn’t the casino want to pay up? In order to understand this, you need to understand how slot machines work these days.
Unlike their ancestors, modern slot machines are not purely random. Regardless of whether they display the results on a screen or through physical reels, all modern slots are fully computerized, networked, and algorithm-controlled. As a side effect of this, the payout percentages and jackpot payouts can easily be adjusted by the casino.
Because of this inherent degree of control, the system can be easily abused by unscrupulous casino staff members.
8.5 Million Dollar Casino Refuses To Pay Money
Slot Machine Tampering
In one of his videos, Michigan lawyer Steve Lehto, who runs a popular YouTube channel called Lehto’s Law, recalled a case from a few years ago. During court testimony, the defendant confessed to having used his access to the machines in order to configure them to pay large sums of money at certain times. His accomplices would then play the machines until winning. The money was then split 50/50.
And this situation isn’t in any way unique. Those who follow gambling news closely will have heard of several such cases that happened in the last few years.
In order to fight this type of malicious code meddling, casinos verify all payouts with their information on when wins should have been paid out. If the system sees a big win, but the server says that it wasn’t supposed to happen, they shut down the machine and tell the user there was a machine malfunction.
Basic slot machine diagnostics and repair procedure.
What Does the Law Say About Slot Machine Winnings?
So how are these ‘machine malfunctions’ interpreted by law? If you didn’t do anything wrong and played according to all rules, why wouldn’t you get paid? After all, it’s the casino’s fault, not yours, that such a situation happened. Let’s explore.
As explained by lawyer Steve Lehto in his video on the 8.5 million dollar scandal, in recent years, more and more new gambling laws have been coming into force, and most of them aren’t all that consumer-friendly. Lehto says that, because the people running land-based casinos have a lot of money, they can essentially have the laws written in their favor. Lehto gives the following example:
“If you’re counting cards at a blackjack table in Las Vegas they can come up to you, say you’re cheating, and kick you out” despite the fact that all you are doing is being a good player and “figuring things out”.
So, essentially, if you’re playing offline blackjack and you’re bad, you’re free to lose as much money as you want. But once you get good enough and start to understand such things as basic strategy and card counting, the casino has the right to ban you from their venue.
State and federal laws give casinos similar rights in other games as well.
So where does that leave Sanchez? In an uncomfortable place, that’s for sure. The casino reimbursed her for the $14.50 she spent on the ‘malfunctioned’ machine and pretended nothing wrong had happened. But something did happen. The machine outright told her she won 8.5 million dollars. And, at least according to Sanchez’s lawyer, the casino must honor this offer, because she did nothing wrong and played by the rules.
We’ll keep you updated on this story as it develops. In the meanwhile, if you want to make sure you get paid on every win, you’re probably better off sticking to online slot machines. Unlike land-based video slots, these are operated off-side by the service providers and cannot be tampered with.