$42 Million Jackpot Was a Mistake, Casino SaysUpdated: 1 hour 7 minutes ago
Print Text Size E-mail More
David Knowles
Writer
AOL News (March 31) -- Playing a penny slot machine at a Colorado casino, a woman looked up to find that she had won a $42 million jackpot. The casino's response? Sorry: machine error.
The swift reversal of fortune occurred March 27 at the Fortune Valley Casino in Central City, approximately 39 miles west of Denver. Louise Chavez, who told reporters she earns $12,000 a year as a home assistant, was ecstatic when she thought she'd suddenly become a millionaire.
"All of a sudden I saw the light come on on top of the machine," Chavez said in an interview with "Good Morning America." "I'm like, 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God!' I've never had this feeling before in my life, never."
But then an attendant from the casino approached and informed Chavez that a technical glitch had occurred and she was not entitled to claim the $42,949,673 the machine was telling her she had just won.
"When a machine malfunctions, we are required to inform our guest and immediately notify the Colorado Division of Gaming as well as the machine manufacturer," Joe Behm, Fortune Valley's director of marketing and community affairs, said in a statement released to AOL News.
"I just felt like, you know, I was being cheated out of the money that I won," Chavez told Denver's KCNC-TV.
Behm explained that the slot Chavez was playing is a "wide area progressive" machine, whose jackpot keeps growing as players across a geographical region continue adding more money. The prize limit for Chavez's machine, which was posted in the casino, is listed at $251,000.
"Fortune Valley doesn't actually own the machines," Behm said. "It leases them. And the manufacturer makes the payouts."
According to Behm, WMS Industries and the Colorado Division of Gaming are conducting a "forensic investigation" of the machine Chavez used.
Don Burmania, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Gaming, said he suspects that a computer glitch is the cause of the problem.
The casino gave Chavez a free breakfast, a room for the night and a refund of the $20 that she put into the slot. No decision has been made yet on whether she will receive additional prize money.
"There are dreams and there are things I'd like to do -- helping my family, helping my kids," Chavez told "Good Morning America." "That's why I'm disappointed."
Filed under: Nation, Money, Entertainment
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
2010 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
