Imagine you were the lucky winner of a £35 million slot machine jackpot. Now imagine that after discovering your prize, the casino refused to pay you and instead tried to fob you off with a shitty coupon and steak dinner. You’d be pretty pissed off, right?
Images VIA
That’s exactly what happened to gambler Katrina Bookman, who was overjoyed when the Sphinx machine she was playing on in a New York venue malfunctioned and announced she had won $43million (£35million). At the time, Katrina was overjoyed, causing the surrounding customers, security and staff to crowd around her in disbelief.
After taking a selfie with the winning figure, Katrina was escorted from the floor and asked by staff to come back the next day to be told what the final payout would be. As most people would do, she immediately started planning what she was going to do with the money, which included buying her son’s barber shop and using some of the cash to help her community.
However, her admirable plans were cut short after the New York State Gaming Commission decided the slot machine (the maximum prize of which is £3,508) had malfunctioned. As a result, they voided it and instead offered her the £1.83 she had spent on the game as well as a complementary steak dinner. A complementary steak fucking dinner? Are they having a laugh? The least they could’ve done was offer her the max prize. Katrina was surprisingly cool about the whole thing considering the circumstances:
They win and the house doesn’t want to pay out. To me that’s unfair.
The machine takes your money when you lose. It ought to pay it when you win.
Katrina then argued that she was entitled to win the max prize and joked that she would be happy to take the casino director for a steak dinner with the money. Touché.
Katrina is now planning to sue the casino. I would say that this is one of the few instances where someone deserves to be sued. Unlike Melania Trump when she sued the Daily Mail £113million for calling her a prostitute. Chill out love.
