A New Yorker is furious after she wins big at a casino, but is quickly denied a chance to take home her winnings because of a malfunctioning machine.
Katrina Bookman was ecstatic to find out that she won $42.9 million. So she took a quick selfie in late August at Resorts World Casino in Jamaica, New York. The woman and her party was escorted off the casino floor and was instructed to return the next day.
In a recent interview with ABC 7 New York, Bookman reveals that she had already planned to divide her winnings to help her children, buy her son a barbershop and help her community out. However, her dreams were rapidly ripped from her.
“I said what did I win? [The casino representative said] ‘You didn’t win nothing,'” she recalls.
The casino did not award the woman a $43 million paycheck, instead they offered her a steak dinner. According to ABC 7, the New York State Gaming Commission said that Bookman’s slot machine malfunctioned and that her winnings were a result of that malfunction.
Now, the woman plans to sue the casino. Bookman and her attorney, Alan Ripka, wants the casino to pay up. Moreover, they asking for $6,500—- the maximum allowed on the Sphinx machine. But the gaming commission thinks she is only entitled to$2.25.
“They win and the house doesn’t want to pay out. To me that’s unfair,” Ripka says.
