Guy hits $150,000 jackpot at casino — still walked away empty-handed due to an unforgiving loophole
Normally after hitting the jackpot, an individual is expected to decide between splurging on expensive stuff or investing their fortune. But that wasn't the case for a man who won a whopping $150,000 at a casino, since the money never made it to his bank account. The unbelievable story of Kenny was shared by Kelly (@casinomassagekelley), who works at the casino, in a TikTok video.
The video starts with Kelly revealing, "I work in a casino, and this guy hit the $150,000 slot jackpot, and then they came to pay him out, and they took his ID and everything, and it turned out he had banned himself from the casino, from all of the properties. So, he got trespassed and did not get anything."
Many people in the comment section shared their thoughts on the tragic twist that followed a stroke of luck. "Casinos lie and scam people to get out of anything," read one of the top comments by @Stevie, while another user @UPSYRG wrote, "I’ve seen a guy not get his jackpot because he owed child support." "Damn that’s cold, but chances are he would have given it all back anyway they just expedited the process," @BrianTC added.
Self-exclusion or self-banning allows a person to request to be excluded from legalized gaming activities within a casino, online, at VGT establishments, or through fantasy contests. "The program was established in 2001 to allow people with a gambling problem to voluntarily exclude themselves from gambling in all Atlantic City casinos. In 2013, the program was expanded to also include self-exclusion for Internet gaming activities," Matthew J. Platkin, Attorney General for the New Jersey State Department explained on the government's website.
In a similar incident, a New York resident was denied her $42 million jackpot as she hit it due to a malfunction. Back in 2016, Katrina Bookman, who almost won the greatest slot machine prize in U.S. history, took the casino to court.
She took a selfie with the machine that displayed $42,949,672 as her winnings. "I can’t even describe the feeling. It’s like my whole body just got numb," Bookman told CNN affiliate WABC. However, her joy was short-lived. According to a spokesperson, Bookman had originally won only $2.50, which she got along with a complimentary steak dinner at the casino. Bookman later sued Resorts World Casino claiming their "negligent" actions and their lottery equipment robbed her of the rightful winnings, and said "I should win the max. And I feel like I should treat him (the casino employee) to a steak dinner.” With the help of her attorney, Bookman also sought compensation for the "mental anguish" she experienced. "They win, and now the house doesn’t want to pay out. To me that’s unfair," attorney Alan Ripka told WABC (abc7) in an interview. Bookman realized that the jackpot amount that was displayed would be too much to ask for, and sought the maximum amount of $6,500 which the Sphinx slot machine was allowed to pay.
