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from the I-just-won-the-Jack-Not...-oh-wait dept.
A Queens gambler thought she hit it big until managers at the Resorts World Casino said her $43 million slot machine win was a technical glitch — and tried to pay her off with a steak dinner. Katrina Bookman was already thinking about what she would do with all that money back in August as she took a selfie beside the slot machine that said: Printing Cash Ticket. $42,949,672.76.
[...] "Upon being notified of the situation, casino personnel were able to determine that the figure displayed on the penny slot was the result of an obvious malfunction - a fact later confirmed by the New York State Gaming Commission," a Resorts statement said. "Machine malfunctions are rare, and we would like to extend our apologies to Ms. Bookman for any inconvenience this may have caused."
Money from the casino, like state lottery proceeds, help grow the state's educaton[sic] fund. Officials said payout maximums are put in place to protect that money.
Although the machine's screen displayed the multimillion-dollar jackpot, the printed ticket showed $2.25.
Is it a coincidence that 2^32=4294967296? Full story at NY Daily News.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by nobu_the_bard on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:06PM
It's a penny slot. She might have burned what, $1 playing? $2 and a steak dinner sounds like a pretty good return, much better than I'd have expected at least.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:09PM
And she thought she it was possible to win $42 million on a penny slot? How dumb is this woman?
(Score: 3, Informative) by edIII on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:37PM
Except it might be possible to win $42 million on a penny slot. I know for certain that you can win upwards of 11 million dollars. MegaBucks penny slot edition starts at a $10 million collective jackpot for all machines. It would take awhile to get that high, but I've seen MegaBucks get close to $50 million and it starts at only $10 million.
The part that may make her ignorant (stupid is a bit harsh), is that maximum payouts are listed on machines with the notably exception of the running jackpot payout.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1) by Desler on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:42PM
Megabucks is also a progressive game so the payout is much different than in this case.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:45PM
Asshole alert!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:58PM
Nope just not an idiot unlike you and the woman in this story.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @06:14PM
Ah yes, good old denial and tearing others down to make yourself feel better. There is still hope for you yet! As long as you don't say "yeah I'm an asshole but at least I'm honest about it" there is hope for you to recover some of your humanity. Yes other people are stupid, yes other people make mistakes such as (what I assume was your mistake) "she thought she it was possible".
Try looking up the generally agreed upon human virtues, then the various sins, and see where you line up on the spectrum. Currently you are displaying pride and wrath, sadly insecurity isn't on the usual list.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Wednesday November 02 2016, @09:21PM
Why wouldn't it be? For one thing, a penny slot is the minimum, it can easily reach 50 cents or more a spin. And a dollar can win you several hundred million in the state lotteries. So why shouldn't half that entry win one tenth the prize?
(Score: 2) by Desler on Wednesday November 02 2016, @09:44PM
Because outside of a progressive-type game, no penny slot has a payout percent in the 100s of millions. The max payout percent for most slot games is nowhere near that high.
(Score: 1) by Desler on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:12PM
Yeah, she should be happy to get comped anything. There's not a single penny slot in existence that is set up with payout percentages that would make this jackpot even remotely realistic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:47PM
Yes, every small time gambler knows that! What is she thinking!!!
Or maybe you're just a tool...
(Score: 2, Informative) by Desler on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:49PM
Clearly not much. Gaming machines are required to clearly spell out payout percents and win maximums. This is highly regulated stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @09:53PM
Highly regulated only when someone wins. There's never any verification on all the losing plays. How many people actually won but the machines told them they lost? We'll never know and just for that the machines should always pay out whatever they say. You guys are corrupt scum and that's not because of the odds, it's because of everything else the industry does.
(Score: 2) by Desler on Wednesday November 02 2016, @10:15PM
Highly regulated only when someone wins.
Not true at all. All aspects of the math of a game is regulated and tested not only by ITLs but many state gaming commissions do even further testing.
There's never any verification on all the losing plays.
Nope, malfunctions work both ways. There have been instances of machines reporting wrong things and players being compensated for it.
You guys are corrupt scum and that's not because of the odds, it's because of everything else the industry does.
Then don't gamble. Even the loosest of slot machines at 99% payback percentage (which does not actually mean what most people think it does) is still going to mean you're likely to lose all your money. Going into a casino and expecting to solve your money issues playing the slots is a fool's errand.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday November 02 2016, @08:02PM
Most machines also indicate their maximum payout, somewhere on the face or in the info panel.
So then lets make it worth the casino and game machine makers trouble to prevent these malfunction issues.
Legislate a default award set to some exorbitantly high payout required under state law any time the casino invokes the Malfunction Excuse. I'd suggest 50% of the highest possible payout that machine could ever deliver.
These failures would suddenly disappear over night.
Somewhere I read that the slot machine software is some of the worst software in the world for code quality. Absolute crap.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Desler on Wednesday November 02 2016, @09:46PM
These failures would suddenly disappear over night.
No they wouldn't.
Somewhere I read that the slot machine software is some of the worst software in the world for code quality. Absolute crap.
Some is, some isn't. The issue with gaming machine platforms is just the high amount of complexity. Especially when you have to have software that has to handle both class II and class III type machines.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 03 2016, @04:31PM
It's a penny slot. She might have burned what, $1 playing? $2 and a steak dinner sounds like a pretty good return, much better than I'd have expected at least.
I wouldn't reply, except you got to +4 insightful so I think there may be a misunderstanding here among solyenters...
A penny slot isn't what you think. Modern penny slots allow you (and indeed force you) to play multiple lines at a time. For example, imagine you get items lined up in the middle row, or the top row, or the bottom row. Each of those pays out, and each of those "lines" costs you a penny to play.
With modern slots you end up spending some 25-50 cents, or more, per pull of the lever. You can burn through $10 in some 5 minutes if you have bad luck even using minimum bets.
Chances are she lost far more than $1 playing.
(Score: 1) by nobu_the_bard on Friday November 04 2016, @09:20PM
I can't vote you up but I appreciate the correction. If it's not obvious I haven't played one in a long time.