Reading the countless email comments sent to Indistar, which reported on a county prosecutor from Elizabeth, Indiana letting off around 30 players who hit the ‘jackpot’ on a Caesar’s Casino malfunctioning slot machine because their actions may have been immoral but not illegal, reminds me of a story long ago, when bookies really did rip off punters in England.

It happened to a kid, who was losing his weekly pay packet betting on the Saturday afternoon horse and dog racing meetings in a country bookmaker. Somehow, when he managed to bet his last shillings for Place & Show on an outsider, called an each way bet, he got paid his wager and more at Win dividends.

As he settled to have a final punt, when there were just three or four diehard punters left in the smoke filled establishment, the manager of the place called him to the counter and asked for some of the money back. The kid argued that if there was a mistake, it counted for all the mistakes that the bookie had piled on punters, when they refused to pay a winning bet.

As the arguments heated up, an old timer leaning against a back recline in the room said: “Look pal, the kid is right. You don’t pay if there is a comma out of place. You don’t pay if the horse is right but the race time is wrong. You don’t pay if we are 1 minute off the race start time. In fact, you don’t pay most of the time. Now, if you made a mistake, you have to pay!”

This lesson has served the industry as it strives to run an efficient shop, where players have confidence in casino men and equipment. In tables action, where players are deciding in fractions of a second a win lose situation, when the casino makes a mistake it pays. The player gets an explanation, and the personnel get addressed on skills and procedures. When we lose we pay. It is that simple. No question of morals, as there aren’t any in business.

It is a shame that Caesars Indiana casino had to go on record urging County prosecutors to file theft charges against the players who found a machine that dispensed US $10 in credits for each US $1 spent. The argument from Caesars is that players “took advantage of a machine that was improperly set”. The question is, who looks after the players when the wrong or a scrooge payback is set? No big enquiry then, eh? Just a nod and a wink, and a laugh at the bar at the idiots who chased money on the tight machine.

The bloggers sending messages to Indistar agree with the old English fellow, and pour out their frustration against the casino and its attitude to the problem. More than two dozen people played the machine in July 2006 before one gambler alerted Caesars employees. The casino claims that US $487,000 was paid up erroneously to the players. This is around US $16,200 per punter.

Instead of complaining, Caesars should run a promo giving money away on other machines to make the ‘jackpot’ pay off available to all those who missed out on the unplanned bonanza, and surely they will more than recover their losses. More important, however, is to show its patrons, who do fund the business, that there are no hard feelings and that there is more where that came from.
(E-09.07.07)

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