Casino Denies Man Jackpot: Hey Bill Seebeck, Give Us Our $166M Back
TAMPA (CBS) Florida gambler Bill Seebeck was sure he'd hit the jackpot -- literally. He says the slot machine he was playing flashed a winning sum of more than $166 million. Seebeck told CBS affiliate WFTV "I was screaming, I was like up and around screaming."
But the casino says Seebeck's good fortune was a mistake -- a machine malfunction -- and is refusing to pay.
Can you say "call my lawyer?"
Seebeck, a Daytona Beach, Fla., resident, says he'd been gambling at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa, playing for a half hour on the Bally Ultimate Party Spin Slot machine. At $4 a game he'd dropped about eighty bucks before the lights started flashing and bells started ringing. The display flashed an unbelievable winning number: $166,666,666.65.
Casino managers immediately came over and roped off the machine. Seebeck spent the next hour planning what to do with his winnings, but the casino had other plans.
Seebeck was told that the Ultimate Party Spin machine had spun out of control, and he would not be getting his big payday. Seebeck says it was the ultimate buzz kill, saying "I feel let down and ripped off."
The casino asked him to agree in writing that the machine had malfunctioned, and that he was not entitled to the payout. Seebeck -- surprise -- refused to sign, and instead is looking for a lawyer. "They make you think you won and they make everyone around you think you won and then... an hour after it they're saying... we have to investigate this and it's probably a malfunction," Seebeck told WFTV.
Casino spokesman Gary Bitner said the casino is confident there was a malfunction because that particular slot machine's top prize is a mere $99,000.
So will Seebeck at least be getting that much? The casino says it's their policy that a malfunction means no payout whatsoever, even though they still have no idea HOW exactly the machine malfunctioned.
See you in court?
What do you think? Should the casino pay up or does the house always win?