Was Roney Beal Atlantic City gambler cheated out of $2.5 million jackpot win playing slot machine at Bally’s casino?
One has a gambling addiction, the other a dubious claim that they shouldn’t have to pay out …
A recent multi-million dollar slot machine win might be going to the courtrooms after a Bally’s casino in Atlantic City sought to deny a 72 year old gambler (who now claims needing the money to take care of her homeless son) of a disputed $2.5 million jackpot.
Roney Beal, 72, said the refusal came after a spin on a Wheel of Fortune slot in February, during which she hit the more than $1.2 million jackpot and a two-times multiplier.
‘You’re a winner!’
The machine then told her she won, spewing out virtual coins as the word ‘jackpot’ flashed on the screen.
But something went wrong.
As a crowd descended on the New Jersey senior to celebrate what seemed to be a big win, a Bally’s worker arrived to tell Beal she’d actually won nothing. Citing a supposed slip-up with the slot’s inner working, the worker offered the gambler $350 instead.
Instead Beal suspecting she was being denied a legitimate win (the casino had after all kept the proceeds of losing bets and at no point declared the machine was malfunctioning) decided to retain an attorney as the lawyer now threatens to file a lawsuit demanding the same sum – plus another $1million – against the longstanding casino.
‘I was hoping for $1,000, saying, ‘Please God let me win,” Beal told 6ABC Action News of how she funneled hundreds of dollars into the machine in question before being told her gamble did not pay off.
‘And it went off. And [it] says, ‘you’re a winner’,’ Beal recalled. ‘Gold coins popped out.
‘Lady, get it in your head, you won nothing.’
‘This guy- this very nice guy – goes, ‘Oh my God, you hit, you hit!” she recalled, speaking from her Shamong Township home about a 40 minutes’ drive from the east coast gambling stronghold.
‘He said, ‘Lady you’re a millionaire,” she went on – before describing how things went wrong when she hit the call button to request help.
‘That’s when the sentences came up ’tilted,” she said, citing a particular sort of error that voids the win.
‘When the man came over to talk to me, he said, ‘Lady, get it in your head, you won nothing.”
The attendant, she said, proceeded to open the machine – which minutes before issued a voice telling Beal she’d won.
He allegedly asked her to spin it again so her winning slate would be wiped clean – a request Beal said she refused as a crowd of more gamblers gathered around.
‘He had it rolling real slow. He had it opened and then he is pushing it,’ she told the outlet.
The attendant hit a series of buttons inside the slot before offering her the $350 – leading her and her lawyer to now claim the slot was fiddled with.
The pair also claim Beal was wrongly told to leave the casino, which is not the first to face a lawsuit stemming from a reel tilt that halted a Wheel of Fortune payout.
Jacques Bezou, a Louisiana-based lawyer, sued Harrah’s in New Orleans and slotmaker International Game Technology (IGT) in 2000 after his client Garrett Grigg disputed the same slot malfunction, leading to a payout of $1.35 million – the same as the almost-stolen jackpot.
During that case, which took more than six years to resolve, IGT maintained that even though symbols indicating a jackpot came up, it was not a win because the machine had declared it so.
‘Why would I ever go to a casino again in my life?
Speaking to ABC6 Friday, Bezou recalled how a jury didn’t buy that argument nor did an appellate judge – leaving IGT solely responsible.
This time around, Bally’s – which has graced the Atlantic City Boardwalk for nearly 50 year – has again thrust responsibility onto parent, IGT, saying in a statement, ‘Bally’s has no comment on this incident as we’re only the casino who houses the machine.
‘IGT handles the payouts and would be best to get a comment from at this time,’ it added.
Speaking to the nypost, a rep for the outfit said it ‘is cooperating with the casino operator’s investigation of this matter’, as Beal’s attorney, Mike Di Croce, said he is preparing to file a legal complaint against both Bally’s and the gaming company.
‘They fooled with the machine before anybody else had the opportunity to take a look at this,’ he told ABC 6, revealing how they plan to sue for $2.56 million due to her hitting a $1.28 million jackpot with the two-times multiplier.
In addition, he said he plans to file a $1 million-plus emotional distress claim, as Beal argues she has be left traumatized by the ordeal.
‘Why would I ever go to a casino again in my life? Any casino? Why, if there is no hope,’ she told the station, seated in her living room where she has her own slot machine.
She added to the nypost: ‘I’m upset because I want the money, and I will help people with it.’
She added that she had a heart attack a year ago, and is ‘hoping and praying’ she gets paid out before she dies.
The 72 year old also said she has a homeless son, with one of her first planned purchases being a trailer where he could live. Do you suppose?
