For slot machine fans in the US, it might be an appropriate time to take a break and find a alternative to pass the time, at least until casinos can find out the reason why the devices wig out and breakdown. Over the past week, there have been a number of reports of one-armed bandits going wild, with at least one supporter being robbed of a multimillion-dollar jackpot. In at least three different states, problems with the machines have been reported.
The Jena Choctaw Pines Casino in Louisiana found issues with its slot machines last week before the holiday weekend. Those glitches still continued on Monday and, advancing into the weekend, 300 of the venue’s 710 machines had to be switched off, according to KALB, a local media outlet. There were supposedly communications problems between the devices and servers; however, no one could identify the source of the issue.
As reported by calvinayre.com, Keith Young, the casino’s director of marketing, told the media outlet, “I would love to be able to say yes this is exactly what happened because we would know exactly what to do to go and fix it. Unfortunately, we still don’t have that data. Once we get that and can now attack it and frankly that’s why we are building it from the ground up because whatever it was we are going to make sure it doesn’t exist anymore.”
According to Boston media outlet WCVB, last Friday, Encore Boston Harbor was facing slot machine problems of its own. A number of fans using the machines were welcomed with an error linked to the slot ticket system, but the issue was supposedly fixed relatively fast. It isn’t certain how many of the venue’s 2,800 slot machines had been impacted, or the amount of money which may have been at stake.
Encore documented the problem in a statement, explaining, “We experienced a brief system failure with our slot ticket system in which we reverted to hand-paid jackpots. The problem has been resolved and we are paying all the winners. Customers have reported that some of the slot machines started coming back online around 9:30 p.m. Friday. If you were inside Boston Harbor and you experienced a slot machine failure, please contact us at [email protected].” It further said that the issued had been fixed and that it was “paying all the winners.” By 9:30 PM Friday night, the slot machines were supposedly back in operation.
In the most suspicious circumstances, and one which is going to most probably play out in court or arbitration, Newcastle Casino in Oklahoma faced a slot machine issue last Friday, too. In this case, however, the fault coincidentally happened just after a casino fan won $8.5 million on the machine. According to Oklahoma’s Fox 25, on Friday morning, Maribel Sanchez was at the casino when she hit the huge jackpot on a Liberty 7s slot machine. When the device showed she had won, it broke down; however, not before she was able to take a photo of the display and the earnings.
The casino says that the machine failed and that this annuls the winnings. However, it won’t elucidate on the malfunction, and won’t comment further on the issue. Already Sanchez has appointed a lawyer and this “malfunction” could cost the casino a great deal.
