Kansas City, Mo — A $50,000 nickel slot double jackpot hit this week is valid even though the casino didn't know the machine was programmed to pay that much, the Missouri Gaming Commission said.
Isle of Capri Casino officials later found out that the machine was programmed to pay even more: a triple jackpot worth $75,000.
A colorful notice on the machine lures players with the promise of a maximum win of 500,000 coins $25,000.
Chereece Rule, 28, of Kansas City, Mo., believed the double jackpot she hit Tuesday was worth $50,000. Confusion and caution over the matter delayed payment to Rule until Wednesday afternoon.
She said she had invested only $20 in the Munsters game. Almost from the first pull, she said, the machine began paying small jackpots.
Other players were lining up behind her to play the hot machine, but Rule stayed put.
After about an hour of steady winning, Rule was up more than $200 when the machine displayed the double jackpot, worth a million nickels.
Rick Sorensen, a spokesman for manufacturer International Game Technology in Reno, Nev., said the double- and triple-jackpot feature is a player bonus found on very few of the company's games.
On the Munsters game, players must wager the maximum 125-nickel bet of $6.25 to qualify for the top prize. Each play, the game shows 15 symbols, and it pays off if the right symbols show up on any of 25 different "pay lines" that zigzag across the screen. For Rule's big win, the top jackpot combination showed up on two of the pay lines.
Experts and regulators from the Missouri Gaming Commission pored over the game's computer innards to ensure that the unusual and unadvertised jackpot was valid.
The single mother and counselor got the good news after lunch Wednesday. She said she was going to finish her degree work in computer science and then buy a house and a car. She has an 8-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.