Woman who won $43,000,000 was offered a steak dinner instead of her winnings by casino
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: ABC7
A woman believed she had made a life-changing amount of money to end up being offered a steak instead.
Katrina Bookman visited the Resorts World Casino in Jamaica, New York, when she decided to try her hand at the slot machine.
The odds aren't great on slot machines; there's only being a one-in-5,000 to one-in-about-34-million chance of winning the top prize when using maximum coin play, according to Investopedia.
But Katrina thought she'd beat the odds when a eight-figure sum came up on the screen for her.
Advert
At that moment, Katrina said her whole body went 'numb' thinking that she'd just made a life-changing amount of cash - but her dreams were soon crushed.
Informing a staffer of huge win, Katrina returned to the casino the following day to receive the devastating news that she hadn't won as much as she thought.
According to the New York State Gaming Commission, her slot machine had 'malfunctioned' and had only won $2.25. Ouch.
The machine had a disclaimer stating 'malfunctions void all pays and plays' and as a result the commission said that they were required by law to give Bookman only what she'd actually won.
But, as a gesture of good will, the casino offered Katrina a free steak dinner - a far cry from the millions of dollars she thought she'd won.
She was also offered an apology. A spokesperson for Resorts World, Dan Bank, told CNN at the time: “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.
“After explaining the circumstances to Ms. Bookman, we offered to pay her the correct amount that was shown on the printed ticket. Machine malfunctions are rare, and we would like to extend our apologies to Ms. Bookman for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Katrina went on to file a suit against Resorts World Casino, Genting New York LLC, and software provider IGT insisting that they paid her the millions of dollars she was told she'd won.
Doubling down on the machine malfunctioning, Katrina's lawyer went on to say that they should at least pay her client the maximum jackpot on the machine - $6.500.
Much to her dismay, a judge went on to rule in the casino's favor and Katrina received no money.