A New Jersey woman says an Atlantic City casino refuses to pay her a multi-million dollar jackpot, blaming a technical glitch in the slot machine for her winnings.
It happened on the Wheel of Fortune machine at the Bally's Casino.
Roney Beal, 72, said she had put hundreds of dollars into the machine one February day.
"And it went off, says, 'you're a winner' and gold coins popped out," she told WPVI-TV. "This very nice guy says, 'Oh my God, you hit, you hit!' He said, 'Lady you're a millionaire.' And I'm like, 'Oh my God!'"
She said the jackpot was more than $1.2 million, but that she also hit the multiplier win, doubling the payout.
When she hit the call button to collect, security personnel rushed over. At that point, Beal recounted, the machine came up with a "tilted" message.
Beal said that's when a casino worker told her the machine had a malfunction known as a "reel tilt," which voided the win. He started tampering with the machine, according to Beal, and he may have destroyed the evidence showing her win, she fears.
"They fooled with the machine before anybody else had the opportunity to take a look at this," Beal's lawyer Mike Dicroce told the TV station. He is asking the New Jersey Gaming Enforcement to investigate.
Bally's Casino responded that it only houses the machine, and that the company that owns the machine, International Game Technology, was responsible. IGT reportedly did not reply to requests for comment.
Wheel of Fortune slots have minted over 1,100 millionaires and awarded over $3.5 billion in jackpots since their launch in 1996, according to IGT.
Four people won $1 million jackpots in March alone, the company reported.
