Queens Woman Claims She Was Cheated Out of $42 Million Casino Jackpot

QUEENS, NY — It's going to be tough to buy that penthouse apartment you're dreaming of when your $43 million jackpot turns into two measly bucks. A Queens woman went through exactly that situation at Resorts World Casino this summer.

Katrina Bookman spoke with the New York Daily News about the incident in which the slot machine she was playing displayed — incorrectly, according to the casino — a $42,949,672.76 jackpot. Her ticket read just $2.25, however.

"There was nothing wrong with it when I was playing the machine," Bookman told the Daily News. "How do we know when there’s a problem with it? Once I hit something, now you’re going to say it’s a problem. I totally don’t think that was fair."

Now, according to the Daily News, the woman plans to sue.

Patch reached out to Resorts World Casino, which defended its claim in a lengthy email. The woman, in fact, printed out the $2.25 winning ticket before the message on the screen displayed the nearly $43 million, according to a casino spokesperson.

"Upon being notified of the situation, casino personnel were able to determine that the figure displayed on the penny slot was the result of an obvious malfunction — a fact later confirmed by the New York State Gaming Commission," the casino said in a statement. "After explaining the circumstances to Ms. Bookman, we offered to pay her the correct amount that was shown on the printed ticket. Machine malfunctions are rare, and we would like to extend our apologies to Ms. Bookman for any inconvenience this may have caused."

The particular machine — nor any slot machine — does not actually pay out as much as $43 million, the casino said. A Resorts World Casino spokesperson said every machine includes a warning that "Malfunctions void all pays."

Similar cases are rare, but not unheard of. Last November a woman in Oregon believed she'd won $8.5 million at a casino, only to be told the machine malfunctioned.

It's unlikely Bookman would win a court case based on precedent. In April 2015 a woman in Iowa sued a casino in a very similar case to the one in Queens. She believed she'd won $42 million, but the ticket printed out $1.85 instead — the court sided with the casino.

Photo Credit: Youngking11 via Wikimedia Commons