Take about a roller coaster of emotion. One minute you’re on a rocketship to the moon, already planning what kind of exotic cars you’re gonna cop, the next you’re calling your lawyer figuring out how you’re going to sue the Resorts World Casino. Because that’s exactly what Katrina Bookman went through.
Via ABC:
It was casino chaos in this video shot by Katrina’s partner after she reported her huge winnings. She was surrounded by customers and casino personnel and security. Escorted off the casino floor, she was told to come back tomorrow for the decision. Katrina remembers her next day visit to the casino, “I said ‘What did I win?’ [And the casino rep said] ‘You didn’t win nothing.'” Katrina says the only winning the casino offered was a steak dinner.
“They win and the house doesn’t want to pay out. To me that’s unfair,” says her attorney, Alan Ripka. Ripka says, at the very least Katrina should win the maximum allowed on the Sphinx machine the casino says it’s $6,500.
The state gaming commission told us Katrina’s machine malfunctioned. Stated on all machines “malfunctions void all pays and plays.”
To make the story even more heart-wrenching is when you consider what Bookman went through as a child, and how she planned on using the money. She was raised in foster care, homeless as a teen, and has raised four kids, who graduated high school, all by herself. And with the money, she was planning to buy a barber shop for her son and give back a huge chunk to her community. Sucks for a stand-up woman like this to get screwed.
Casinos, man. Scum of the earth. Gambling is cool, but casinos are cheap, crusty businesses that prey on the dreams of the poor. Especially these ones outside of Vegas and AC. I’ll sports gamble and play poker every weekend, but you’ll never catch me at a casino. The only thing good to ever come out of a casino is the 1995 Martin Scorsese classic.
The New York State Gaming Commission said it pulled the slot machine immediately after the incident – fixed it – and put it back out on the casino floor where it is today. When asked whether the casino can award the max pay-out, the gaming commission says by law it can’t do that. She’s only entitled to her winning, just two dollars and 25 cents. Katrina plans to sue the casino, and we really hope she wins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcqeZul_BmM
[h/t ABC]
