A punter at the Newcastle Casino in Oklahoma thought that she had her Friday started off the perfect way until casino management broke the news that a machine malfunction was responsible for the $8.5 million jackpot she won.
On Friday morning, a woman called Maribel Sanchez chose to play the Liberty 7s video slot, a traditional one-line, a three-reel game that plays on the patriotism of gamblers’, using blue, red and white as its color scheme. The minimum slots bet set at 10 cents per spin, and the max bet is $30. Sanchez was allegedly wagering $1.25 when she got lucky and hit a jackpot of $8,469,498.95.
Read below to learn more on this story, or check out other casino news stories!
Did the Slot Machine Crush?
In a talk with Fox 25 News, Maribel’s daughter, Linda Sanchez, said that immediately after her mother won the jackpot prize, the device she was playing with shutdown.
Maribel was smart enough to take a picture of the casino machine’s screen to verify the amount she had won, and it reveals $8,469,498.95. Still, she complains that management at Newcastle Casino refuses to give her the prize.
The gaming venue belongs to the Chickasaw Nation, which remains one of the largest tribal gaming operators as far as Oklahoma is concerned.
Sanchez has now been engaged in a claims process and has got herself a lawyer in preparation for possible legal action against the casino property where she played.
Sanchez’s lawyer, Bill Zuhdi, said that Ms. Sanchez’s legal position is a clear one -she put money in the slot machine, she hit a jackpot of approximately 8 and 1/2 million dollars. She wants to be paid her winnings immediately.
These things used to happen a lot on traditional casinos, but with online casinos there is nothing stopping you from winning a jackpot at new slots.
This is not the first case of such.
Slot machine errors that involve large cash prizes are not a new phenomenon (and this is one of the reasons that more and more players head to online online slot game). One of such cases occurred in 2017, where a gambler at Resorts World casino in Queens, New York believed she had won almost $43 million on the popular Sphinx slot machine, only for the punter to be told by the operator of that gambling venue that the slot had an error.
In 2015, it wasn’t all smiles for a 90-year-old grandma from Antioch, Iowa, as she thought she had won a whopping $41,797,550 on the slot machine called Miss Kitty penny at the Isle Casino Hotel in Waterloo. However, the casino management there broke it to her; the maximum payout for that slot machine was $10,000.
Typically, casinos always have labels on their gaming machines that saying something about how “malfunctions void all plays and pays,” and luckily for Newcastle, that is the case.
If precedent repeats, then Sanchez has a boatload of work ahead of her to obtain her $8.46 million jackpot, because courts have historically judges in favor of the casinos it cases of machine errors, software snafus, and malfunctions.
Barrister Zhudi says that the casino has refused to pay his client what he believes the facts will support- that she legally and legitimately won the $8,469,498.95, prize money and therefore, should have received payment, and she should be rewarded immediately. Investigations are still ongoing so as to pursue the complainant’s legal options.
If you fancy playing with casino offers, knowing that no one will steal your money follow the link above to come at Slots Baby!
*Any Free Spins/Welcome Bonuses References are subject to the following: NEW PLAYERS ONLY, MIN DEPOSIT £10, MAX BONUS EQUAL TO LIFETIME DEPOSITS (UP TO £250), 65X WAGERING REQUIREMENTS AND FULL T&CS APPLY