Seminole casino pays off on $259,945.75 jackpot, despite computer mistake

[Dr. Jack]

Seminole casino pays off on $259,945.75 jackpot, despite computer mistake

By John Holland
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

September 20, 2006

HOLLYWOOD -- First, he won a big Seminole casino jackpot. Then Freddy Howard found out he hadn't won. Then came an outside investigation that proved Howard wasn't entitled to anything, the tribe's gaming gurus said.

On Tuesday, they paid him anyway, giving Howard a check for $259,945.75, although nobody from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino would admit he deserved it. Executives said a computer glitch only made it appear Howard had won a jackpot Aug. 29.

Then they conducted a news conference as confusing as the saga it followed.

"We are making this payment as a gesture of good will, and I am pleased to tell you that Mr. Howard has accepted,'' said Allen Huff, chairman of the Seminole Gaming Commission. He did not say why Howard would have refused; the payment was for the full amount of the disputed jackpot.

Huff said Howard used a Players Club Card, a rewards card for frequent players, that belonged to his father, Felix Howard, and wasn't eligible to win, even if there hadn't been a mistake.

Howard, 53, a part-time actor from Sunny Isles Beach, and his attorney, Keith Herbert, did not attend the announcement. They could not be reached for comment, despite several phone calls.

That left Seminole Gaming Chief Executive Officer James Allen to explain the chain of events that began Aug. 29, when Howard arrived at the Seminole Hard Rock casino, as he does most nights. At the door, Howard swiped the Players Club card into a machine, and watched as a screen proclaimed him a winner of its progressive jackpot door prize.

The machine never printed a receipt, but Hard Rock employees feted him with a celebration, photographs and a huge mock-up of a check. The next day, the casino announced it was a giant mistake and refused to pay.

Howard hired an attorney, but he had few options because the tribe is a sovereign government and can't be sued, it has no outside regulations on its gambling operations, and it conducts its gaming meetings in secret.

So, Howard launched a public relations blitz to press the tribe into paying. He also threatened to picket the tribe, which makes about $500 million in gambling profits each year.

The strategy appears to have worked.

Tribal officials offered few explanations about what went wrong, except to say an independent testing facility, Gaming Laboratories International, determined a communications glitch between computers created the problem.

It was compounded when Hard Rock marketing people started hyping the win.

"We became overexcited at the operations level,'' Allen said. "Our marketing team's job is to create excitement, and, candidly, they went a little too far.''

[GFootsXtreme]

The casinos are always looking for an angle to **** the players

he needs to cash the check
then declare publicly he is going to play at the competitor across the street
wait for the phone calls from the casino and then relent and go back after they beg, play for $5 a hand those jerks

[The Judge]

Originally Posted by Dr. Jack

So, Howard launched a public relations blitz to press the tribe into paying. He also threatened to picket the tribe, which makes about $500 million in gambling profits each year.

The jackpot is equal to less than 0.1% of the tribe's gambling take each year.

[DosBullets]

About time a casino in Florida does the "right thing" A glich in the computer system, is like hitting a longshot. It's their turn to feel the the odds.They would have catched so much slack, if they didn't pay. A public relations nightmare! HURRAY FOR THE LITTLE MAN!! HURRAY FOR BEER!

[skippy]

Just to clarify.....

COMPUTERS DO NOT make mistakes.