Woman says Atlantic City casino refuses to pay 7-figure jackpot - Think they'll get away with this?

[Kennywood]

If malfunctions can void winning, doesn't that imply that malfunctions can also void losses? So, couldn't a bunch of people claim that the reason they lost money was due to a machine malfunction? That would be an interesting class action lawsuit. The casino would have to exam all of the "malfunctioning" machines to determine if there were problems. That would certainly tie them up for quite a while.

 

[cabanafrau]

If malfunctions can void winning, doesn't that imply that malfunctions can also void losses? So, couldn't a bunch of people claim that the reason they lost money was due to a machine malfunction? That would be an interesting class action lawsuit. The casino would have to exam all of the "malfunctioning" machines to determine if there were problems. That would certainly tie them up for quite a while.

I doubt there would be many lawyers lining up to attempt that type of stunt because they would realize both the futility and the potential risk inherent in putting in lots of hours to even bring a pleading to the court, knowing full well they have zero evidence to demonstrate likelihood of sustaining any burden of proof whatsoever. The casino could turn around and file a counter claim regarding fraud of knowingly filing a false claim or something similar -- and likely be able to bear out the burden of proof.

 

[_19disnA]

So, couldn't a bunch of people claim that the reason they lost money was due to a machine malfunction?

Assuming they have no real evidence to support such a lawsuit, I think most courts would dismiss it as being a 'frivolous' lawsuit. You can't just file a lawsuit if all you have are opinions.

 

[bcla]

If malfunctions can void winning, doesn't that imply that malfunctions can also void losses? So, couldn't a bunch of people claim that the reason they lost money was due to a machine malfunction? That would be an interesting class action lawsuit. The casino would have to exam all of the "malfunctioning" machines to determine if there were problems. That would certainly tie them up for quite a while.

The issue would be proving a malfunction. And in any case the liability for that is to return the original bet for that single play. Insisting that it was always malfunctioning is not going anywhere.

I've played blackjack where a dealer made a mistake, like flipping up both initial cards rather than just a single up card. When that happened a pit boss came over and either voided everyone's play and returned the bets, or allowed each player the option to play their hand. When it was the dealer showing two 10s, it was easy to just take the bet back.

 

[bcla]

So first question that pops into mind is with the probability ratio, what is the denominator they use, so what sort of timeline are they using? Is it 95% in a day, a month, a year, in the life of the machine so 95% in say 5-10 years based on say the lifetime average or the accounting depreciation for the device? Or is it 95% off into infinity assuming the machine will work forever? It matters quite a lot because if you have thousands or millions of years to go in the math, well, winning where you are right now is way less likely than a requirement to meet that 95% in 5 years.

Anyone know?

I took a class on probability, and we had ways to calculate theoretical probability. Of course it wasn't quite anything like what a slot machine would have. But yeah it's basically going into what are the odds if every single random number possibility comes up once, what's the payout compared to to the money played. It would also assume that the random number generation is evenly distributed.