Posted on 11/07/2009 10:29:30 AM PST by LibWhacker
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A Daytona Beach man thought he hit the jackpot. He thought he won $166 million on a slot machine at the very popular Hard Rock Hotel and Casino near I-4 in Tampa.
However, as soon as the crowds departed, the celebration ended. The casino told him that he didn't win a thing. The casino claims the slot machine malfunctioned.
Bill Seebeck, who lives on a houseboat, thought his ship had come in. His blood pressure skyrocketed and said he was screaming and celebrating. But then casino workers told him there was a malfunction and wanted him to agree to that in his report, even though they say they're still not done investigating.
Seebeck had been playing the Bally Ultimate Party Spin slot machine for about a half hour and, at $4 a game, he had spent about $80. When bells started ringing and the numbers flashed in front of him, he'd won a cash bonus of $166,666,666.65.
“$166,666,666.65. I was screaming ... heart was beating really fast,” he said.
Casino managers came over and roped off the machine. Seebeck spent an hour deciding what he'd do with his millions. Then came the adrenaline crash.
The casino told him the Ultimate Party Spin had spun out of control, malfunctioned and he wouldn’t get any money for a malfunction. They wanted him to agree in writing, but he wouldn't.
“They make you think you won and everyone around you that you won, and then later, ‘It's probably a malfunction,’” he said.
The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino spokesman told Eyewitness News Monday that the slot machine malfunctioned because its top prize is $99,000. Seebeck was not even given that amount.
“I was told, ’No,’ even though the Seminole Gaming Commission has no idea how the machine malfunctioned,” he explained.
The casino spokesman also said a malfunction is a no-win, but could not say whether past players in malfunction cases were paid.
“I feel let down and ripped off, I sure do,” he said.
“Are you ever going back there?” WFTV reporter Kathi Belich asked.
“No,” Seebeck replied.
Seebeck says he's looking for a lawyer to help him through the maze of federal Indian gaming regulations. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino said investigators from Bally, the software company, and the Seminole Gaming Commission are headed to Tampa to look for the cause of the malfunction.
Seebeck had been playing the Bally Ultimate Party Spin ObamaPelosi slot machine for about a half hour...
The casino explained that the slot machine was functioning normal by making you think you get one thing but absolutely screwing you in the end with nothing. The slot machine was purchased through the Porkulus legislation earlier in the year.
Don't be such a cheapskate. Throw in a drink on the house as well.
Gambling is for losers.
LOL!
LOL! I was wondering what the first post would say, and it was very good.
I would settle for $5 million.
Who did the investigation U.S. Park Police?
Mere coincidence, I am sure, that Obama was speaking at the “Tribal Nations Conference” on Thursday, 11/05/09, right? After all, he is apologizing to one and all about America’s sins so he probably whispered to the attendees; “Go ahead and screw the rest of the country and do it now before I get started on the Slavery Reparations. After that there won’t be ANYTHING left in the till!”
Simple, you program machine to display way high number instead of appropriate win, claim malfunction - casino wins just in case jackpot should come up with sucker player.
I don't usually gamble but I once went into an Indian casino that was built on a highway I sometimes traveled. I'm sure they sometimes had more business but when I went in it was exactly as you say. Two people I saw playing slot machines stuck in my memory: a fairly young man in a wheelchair, perhaps trying to improve his lot in life, and an Indian woman, also not that old, apparently gambling away her share of the proceeds.
It's not about whether or not someone won the "big one", it's about the casino shafting the person who did (or thought he did). Once the other players see a big winner's payout nullified based only on the word of the casino, only the stupidest among them would fail to realize that the same thing could happen to them. But then, maybe most gamblers ARE that stupid.
Spaghetti code strikes again!
1. We can infer from the story that the display was physically capable of displaying that many digits, even though that particular slot was never supposed to register such a large amount.
2. There was a bug in the software that went undetected. Possibly, either a math routine or the display routine got bollixed in the middle of its operation. This could be due to tricky timing interactions between the various parts of the software. These real-time bugs can be so obscure that you need NASA-level (or better!) software review and testing techniques to be reasonably sure you have caught them all. I doubt that the casino software writers were quite that obsessively fastidious.
Actually, the gentleman that was fooled by the “malfunction” was only the last person in the long line of players that fed that machine. Every one of them was playing a defective machine and therefore are entitled to their wagers back. The video record will identify them and their rewards cards will make it that much easier to find them.
fantasize much?
People who play slots and video poker machines are the biggest suckers in the world.
The video poker machines can be set for predetermnined plays for someone to hit.
Anything that can be tampered with is a losing bet. Better off playing the Powerball.
But aren't they supposed to be?
Legally?
No. The place was nearly empty and yet these two sad cases were there as I said. I think my estimation that it wasn't the best place for either of them is accurate.
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