You won’t believe why a casino won’t pay NJ woman’s $2M jackpot

A 72-year-old woman from New Jersey is suing an Atlantic City casino that refused to pay her millions of dollars that she supposedly won on a video slot machine.

Roney Beal told 6ABC that she won a $1.28 million jackpot on the Wheel of Fortune slot machine at Bally’s Casino. With a multiplier, the winning total came out to $2.56 million, her attorney told The New York Post.

But when she went to collect, the casino said it couldn't pay because of a technical glitch known as a reel tilt, which voids any supposed winnings.

She says the casino offered her $350 after she had sunk hundreds of dollars on that and other machines on that February day.

The casino blames International Game Technology for the glitch. The gaming company told the Post that it is cooperating with the casino's investigation.

Was there really a glitch?

As many people online have said in response to this — and other similar stories over the years — the machines never seem to "glitch" when they're taking players' money.

But gaming and casino writer Michael Bluejay notes on his Easy Vegas website that glitches happen — and players do not deserve to get a big payout just because a malfunctioning machine says so.

"If a blackjack dealer accidentally said you won $5,000 when you actually won only $500, you wouldn't insist that you won just because the dealer misspoke," Bluejay writes.

"On the other hand, it's certainly heartbreaking to be denied a large jackpot, and it's entirely appropriate for players to press the casino for meaningful compensation for the bad experience they had."

Bluejay said some glitches are obvious because the amount the machine claims the player won is impossibly high according to the possible winnings listed by the machine.

His article includes a long list of examples of machine malfunctions in which players thought they were entitled to millions, inluding a player in Florida who thought he would be getting $167 million.

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