Indiana woman claims Blue Chip Casino owes her $28M

Feb 10, 2014, 2:16 pm (95 comments)

Gambling

Casino blames software glitch

Imagine feeling as though you are a multi-millionaire — surrounded by well-wishers — and then being told something must have gone haywire in the slot machine, and it was out of order.

Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City says a software glitch cause a colossal dollar amount to flash on the slot screen, just after a northwest Indiana woman sat down to play. She says it happened inside the Blue Chip on January 11, at a penny slot machine like this called "China Shores."

"They give you a player's card. I inserted it into the machine and within 5 minutes um I think I was in shock," said Jennifer Carmin, casino customer.
Jennifer Carmin, who owns a small ad agency in Hobart, Indiana, saw ten numbers and a dollar sign.

ABC7's Chuck Goudie asks: "Did you know what those numbers meant?"

"I think I was still in shock and I said 2,800; 28,000. It just didn't click and then somebody stood behind me and they — she — they kept saying you won, you won 28.9 million and then that's when I looked and that's a lot of commas," said Carmin.

And she says a casino employee saw it.

"She was next to me. All I heard and saw, she started screaming 'supervisor!' at the top of her lungs. So I saw the numbers, heard 'supervisor!' and within 30 seconds a gentlemen approached me from the casino. He said 'Don't touch the machine,'" said Carmin.

In the chaos, she took a couple of pictures.

"I was scared. I put my hands up. I didn't know what was going on. He said 'We don't know how this happened, what's going on and he's like what did you do?' My heart, it just felt like it was pounding out of my chest. I said 'I'm a very excitable person and you are causing me stress right now. You're kinda scaring me.' He said, 'Don't touch the machine! Clear the machines! We have to shut down the machines!'" said Carmin. "They said they have to speak to the Gaming Commission."

In the lower level state gaming office, she filed this complaint and says instead of $28 million, the casino offered steak dinners to her and her boyfriend.

"I mean what are two steak dinners? I don't even like steak. I tried to explain that to them, they thought that was funny. I said I don't think that's funny. I'm pretty shaken up by this situation," said Carmin.

A few days later this letter from Indiana gaming regulators promised "a thorough review" and the state has hired an independent gambling equipment testing firm to help figure out what happened.

Blue Chip executives would not speak on camera. They did send the I-Team a series of diagrams that blame computer error for the mistaken $28 million figure. They say it appeared on Jennifer Carmin's customer account screen; as a "current balance" of promotional credits; but that it that it was not an actual cash jackpot with bells and whistles.

"You don't want to make the player feel like they did something wrong," said Cory Aronovitz, Casino Law Group.

Chicago attorney Cory Aronovitz is a gaming law expert and teaches casino law at John Marshal Law School. He says disclaimers posted on slot machines allow casinos to void payouts if there is a malfunction.

"I think after the emotion subsides, most reasonable people would say 'Yeah, that doesn't make sense. I was wagering 50 cents and it said $28 million and there was nothing on the sign that said i had an opportunity to win that.' Clearly it was an error," said Aronovitz.

Carmin says she didn't see any disclaimer, only the $28.8 million.

"I'm thinking I'm gonna pay off my mom's house. I'll pay off my best friend's house. I'll set something aside for my son. You have all of these all of a sudden dreams," said Carmin.

Goudie asks: "Do you think you actually deserve the 28 million?"

"They're always taking my money and I don't say: 'Umm is that computer wrong or did you overcharge me?' So I mean, yes, to answer your question," said Carmin.

In a phone conversation Blue Chip Casino executives told us the slot machine manufacturer has already fixed whatever software bug caused the problem. But the Indiana Gaming Commission hasn't figured out what caused it or what should be done. The state gaming director says he can't remember a claim of this magnitude by a casino patron.

Thanks to picnic for the tip.

WLS-TV

Comments

ogivens15

Pay the Lady.............

IPlayWeekly's avatarIPlayWeekly

Wow, interesting story... depending on how the ruling goes.  Any casino can say "software glitch" and not pay.  She's due something but not the full 28 milion (maybe a few hundred thousand or possibly even a 1 million)  Thats a nice software glitch.

faber98

Quote: Originally posted by IPlayWeekly on Feb 10, 2014

Wow, interesting story... depending on how the ruling goes.  Any casino can say "software glitch" and not pay.  She's due something but not the full 28 milion (maybe a few hundred thousand or possibly even a 1 million)  Thats a nice software glitch.

she should have take the steak dinners and given them to someone who likes steak. they owe her the amount she bet on that pull (.50) in the way of a credit on her next trip there. she deserves that at least but no more.

Saylorgirl's avatarSaylorgirl

Quote: Originally posted by faber98 on Feb 10, 2014

she should have take the steak dinners and given them to someone who likes steak. they owe her the amount she bet on that pull (.50) in the way of a credit on her next trip there. she deserves that at least but no more.

You can't play a penny machine and expect to win 28 million dollars.  I agree a couple of dinners and a free night at the hotel is all they need to pay out.

MDguy

Who expects to win 28 million off a penny slot?  Even so 2 steak dinner coupons was pretty lame.  At least offer to comp hotel and maybe offer a few hundred dollars in casino credit.

Jani Norman's avatarJani Norman

Carmin says she didn't see any disclaimer, only the $28.8 million.

"I'm thinking I'm gonna pay off my mom's house. I'll pay off my best friend's house. I'll set something aside for my son. You have all of these all of a sudden dreams," said Carmin.

 

Talking about see your life flash before your eyes, how do you see in your mind all this being done without one red cent in your hands.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by Saylorgirl on Feb 10, 2014

You can't play a penny machine and expect to win 28 million dollars.  I agree a couple of dinners and a free night at the hotel is all they need to pay out.

When Ohio had its Buckeye5 game they paid $100,000 for a 5of5 match and it was clearly posted on the play slips that total payouts were capped at $1M regardless of the number of winners.  So when a player brought 20 tickets that matched 5of5 and thought he won $2M and sued, he lost the case because the discliamer was where he could have read it. 

The casino should have posted the maximum a player could expect to win on a penny machine if a certain amount was unreasonable.

Before Ohio's Super Lotto Plus(6/49+1) went down the drain Ohio posted the most one of its ticket could win was $20M regardless of the jackpot size and people stopped playing it 'cause jackpots of $50M+ didn't attract them but at least they knew the maximum they could win before they brought a ticket.

If I buy a $1 MM ticket and match 5of5 plus the bonus ball, I don't want to hear someone saying I shouldn't had expected to win such a large jackpot with just a dollar after it's done.

LottoMetro's avatarLottoMetro

She probably knows she'll lose and is just trying to squeeze a settlement out of them. $28 million on a penny slot....excluding the hold that doesn't contribute to the progressive, that would be nearly 3 billion pennies without a jackpot payout! Eek

HoLeeKau's avatarHoLeeKau

They should pay her the top Jackpot amount that the machine she was playing would pay for a 50 cent bet.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by LottoMetro on Feb 10, 2014

She probably knows she'll lose and is just trying to squeeze a settlement out of them. $28 million on a penny slot....excluding the hold that doesn't contribute to the progressive, that would be nearly 3 billion pennies without a jackpot payout! Eek

Coin Toss would know the answer to this situation.  He was a Pit Boss at the Casino's in Vegas.
Come on CT- throw in your 2cents here,straighten the Forum out with your insights Ol Chap.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by LottoMetro on Feb 10, 2014

She probably knows she'll lose and is just trying to squeeze a settlement out of them. $28 million on a penny slot....excluding the hold that doesn't contribute to the progressive, that would be nearly 3 billion pennies without a jackpot payout! Eek

"If a crystal ball showed you the future of the rest of your life, and in that future you will never win a jackpot, would you still play?"

Such a crystal ball would probably only be right 99.9999% of the time which means I still have a 0.0001% chance of winning. Eek

THRIFTY's avatarTHRIFTY

I would never spend my money on Casinos. I do not trust Casinos.

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

That's just it. When you win big money, and they don't want to pay, they call it computer glitch. When you lose big money due to a computer glitch, nobody bothers to inform you about it and refund your money. JUST PAY THE LADY.......at least $2.8M. She deserves at least that much. This is America.US Flag

luckyshoes's avatarluckyshoes

Honor the bet.

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