Indiana casino withholds $29M slots payout, claims software glitch

blue-chip-casinoIndiana’s Blue Chip Casino has found itself in the middle of what could be a long and very costly legal battle, all because of an allegedly malfunctioning slot machine.

Jennifer Carmin sat on the China Shores penny slot machine last January 11 at the Blue Chip Casino and found herself staring at an insane dollar amount flash on the slot screen in front of her face.

How insane of an amount? Try $29 million.

Believing she had just won a colossal payout, Carmin instead found herself empty-handed as the casino decided to withhold her supposed prize, blaming a software glitch for the error and, instead, offering her and her boyfriend a pair of free steak dinners instead.

According to a report from the local ABC station, Carmin is going to fight the casino for the money, believing that she had won the slots fair and square. The issue has been brought up to the Indiana Gaming Commission for deliberation.

No timetable has been set on when a decision is going to be made, but needless to say, there’s a lot of money hanging in the balance on this claim, something the state gaming director admitted to not having experienced a claim of this magnitude by a casino patron. The commission did promise to make a “thorough review” of the claim before coming out with a decision, although in all honesty, this has “settlement” written all over it.

Jennifer Carmin will likely get some money; it just won’t be $29 million. Far, far from it. As far as her claims go, she’s well within her rights to fight for money she thought she won. But on the flip side, the Blue Chip Casino also has a case to stand on, specifically the disclaimers posted on slot machines that allow casinos to void payouts if there is some kind of malfunction or software glitch that caused it.

Kind of like what just happened here, so says Blue Chip Casino.