Woman offered steak dinner after winning $43m as slots ‘malfunctioned’
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The story of a woman who was offered nothing but a steak dinner after she won $43 million on a slot machine in New York has resurfaced this week.
Katrina Bookman, from Queens, New York, was playing a game at Resorts World Casino in August 2016 when the machine told her she had won over $42.9 million.
She posed with the machine in shock as she thought she had just become a multi-millionaire, but sadly it was too good to be true.
The single mother of four was playing a slots game called Sphinx when she won the extortionate sum and couldn’t believe her luck.
“I kept thinking about my family,” she told WABC. “The struggle I’ve been through, it’s hard to cope.”
However, when she went to collect her winnings, she was told the machine had malfunctioned and she actually only won $2.25.
Resorts World spokesman Dan Bank told CNN that casino personnel was able to determine the figure displayed on the machine was an “obvious malfunction”.
He added this was later confirmed by the New York State Gaming Commission and said: “Machine malfunctions are rare, and we would like to extend our apologies to Ms. Bookman for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
The casino offered her a complimentary steak dinner on the house to apologize for the glitch which she refused and went on to sue the establishment.
Katrina Bookman sues New York casino
The lawsuit was filed on June 14, 2017, CNN Money reports, and Katrina’s attorney Alan Ripka told the publication: “You can’t claim a machine is broken because you want it to be broken.”
“Does that mean it wasn’t inspected? Does it mean it wasn’t maintained? “And if so, does that mean that people that played there before [Bookman] had zero chance of winning?” he continued.
CNN revealed the complaint alleged that Resorts World Casino was “negligent” and said the woman suffered “mental anguish”. However, it’s not clear who won the lawsuit six years on.
The story was shared by a Twitter news account Raphouse TV on January 10 and has had over 10.9 million views, many of whom thought the incident happened in 2023.
Social media users are outraged, with one person writing: “Lmao I knew slot machines were rigged but this is taking the pi**.”
“I hope she sues. They ain’t even offer 10k or something. ‘Sorry about the $43 million, that’s wild, here’s a steak dinner instead.’ Ridiculous!” they continued.
“Nah that ain’t right,” said another while a third person added: “They were dead wrong for this, give that woman her money.”
