Casino news from http://www.miami.com/
In the gambling business, few things are more important than trust.
So when a player at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood was told he had won a jackpot of nearly $260,000, was paraded around with a giant cardboard check, then was told he didn't win after all, it raised more than a few eyebrows among the casino's customers.
Gambling experts say players have to trust that the casinos they are doing business with will keep their word, follow procedure, and make good if they mess up.
The Hard Rock eventually did make good this week, awarding Freddy Howard, 53, of Sunny Isles Beach the cash prize, calling it a gesture of ``goodwill.''
Some patrons who frequent the casino said the gesture restored their trust in the casino -- while others said they would never go back there again.
''The deal is that they are honest. They made a mistake and decided to pay the price,'' said Joseph Feldberg, 87, of Coral Springs.
But others aren't so sure.
James Stegall, 52, of Miami, who works as a university administrator, said the gesture was too little too late.
''Casino officials seemed arrogant and took a long time to make good on a mistake they made,'' said Stegall, a Hard Rock regular who e-mailed The Miami Herald this week.
`BAD PUBLICITY'
''They didn't give him the money out of goodwill. They gave him the money because it generated bad publicity for them,'' said Stegall, who said he will no longer go to the Hard Rock.
But gambling experts elsewhere said the casino did the right thing.
''Above all, a casino has to restore faith in its players that they will be fair, responsible and accountable when they make a mistake,'' said electronic gaming computer programmer John Robison, author of The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots. ``Casino staff gave the player every expectation that he had won legitimately without doing their due diligence.''
Jerry Markling, chief of enforcement for the Nevada Gaming Commission and State Gaming Control Board, said the Seminole Hard Rock would likely have faced state disciplinary action resulting in fines if it had happened in Las Vegas, where gambling is regulated by the state.
''You don't go through the process of celebrating a player's win without verifying that they won,'' Markling said. ``It just isn't done.''
Adrienne Aaronson, a senior citizen from Pembroke Pines who had just spent Thursday morning playing at the casino with her two friends, said she was happy that the mistake was at the free ''Swipe & Win'' kiosk and not the actual electronic gaming machines she plays.
''Hopefully, they've learned their lessons and corrected their mistakes and it won't happen again,'' she said.
On Aug. 29, Howard had swiped a Player's Club card through the kiosk of the casino's ''Swipe & Win'' progressive jackpot system.
''Swipe & Win'' is a free promotion aimed at rewarding casino regulars who own Player's Club cards. It runs on a separate computer system and has nothing to do with the casino's pay-to-play electronic gaming machines.
After Howard swiped the card, the screen above the kiosk read: ''Congratulations You've Won Progressive Winner.'' Although the card belonged to Howard's father -- a fact that should have disqualified him -- casino personnel congratulated Howard, telling him he had won $259,945.75.
They even photographed him holding a large cardboard check.
But 15 hours later, casino officials told Howard he had not won after all.
The staff had failed to follow proper procedure to verify the win, they said.
Among other things, they did not check the log of the computer and did not get approval from top casino executives.
Howard then hired an attorney.
In the end, Gaming Laboratories International, an independent gaming systems firm hired by the Seminole Tribe of Florida to examine the ''Swipe & Win'' computer, determined a glitch in the computer's software was responsible for the mistake.
Hard Rock casino executives admitted casino employees had made a mistake in telling a player he had won without verifying it.
`GOODWILL GESTURE'
Although technically the casino was in the right, Allen Huff, chairman of the Seminole Tribe Gaming Commission, decided to pay Howard to end the escalating negative publicity.
''We are making this payment as a gesture of goodwill,'' Huff said Tuesday.
''The casino was 90 percent wrong,'' Feldberg said. ``They told the guy he won and then later told him that the computer system and the casino staff made a mistake. But the guy who played was wrong, too. He used a [Player's Club] card that belonged to someone else and said he was the winner.'' |
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