A Pretoria holidaymaker left empty-handed after apparently winning more than R1-million at Durban's Suncoast Casino this week. The man's son-in-law, Dave Puttick, said he was playing the 50c machines for 20 minutes when the winning combination of three Sunstruck logos appeared on the machine.
"We suddenly realised he had hit the jackpot of R1,1-million. For the next minute or so things got a bit hectic with people gathering around and congratulating him," said Puttick.
"We were all a bit shocked at the thought of a million-rand payout but our excitement was short-lived - a technician came up and apologised as the machine had apparently malfunctioned."
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Puttick said they were told a malfunction would void any payments at a machine.
"When we objected, we were told we could go to the gambling board or consult a lawyer."
Prinella Pillay, the public relations manager of Suncoast Casino, said signage was incorporated into the machine artwork that clearly indicated that "malfunctions voids all pays and plays".
She said: "In this instance it was a not a jackpot payout as a reel tilt occurred, meaning there was a malfunction with the reels, thus causing the reels to stop."
Puttick said it was strange a machine could accept money and only malfunction when it was time to pay out a jackpot.
The chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal Gambling Board, Professor Victor Nzimande, said: "When it comes to a dispute over a payout, this is between the punter and the casino," he said.
He said cases of machines malfunctioning at casinos were not uncommon.
- This article was originally published on page 2 of Pretoria News on April 05, 2005
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