The woman who thought she’d bagged an eye-watering $43 million (£33 million) jackpot before being offered a steak dinner instead has spoken out about the crazy incident.
Back in 2016, Katrina Bookman thought her life had changed forever when she was playing the slots at the Resorts World Casino in Queens, New York, and her machine said she’d won.
She hadn’t won a tenner or anything like that though, it looked like the American had pulled off the biggest coup in slot machine history, a grand total of $42,949,672.
Overjoyed, Bookman took a quick selfie next to the massive cash figure that would soon be in her possession – or so she thought.
After heading back to the casino the next day for an ‘official’ ruling on how much she’d be given, they reportedly told her: “You didn’t win nothing.”
Her whole world began to unravel, as they told her that her actual winnings totalled $2.25 (£1.77), though they also offered her a steak dinner as an apology for the machine ‘malfunction’.
This means the the actual prize that she won on the slot machine with her 40 cent wager should have sat at $6,500 (£5,000), but the machine unfortunately had a disclaimer saying: ‘Malfunctions void all pays and plays’.
An enraged Bookman turned down the consolation prizes and instead chose to fight for her winnings by taking them to court.
The New York State Commission and Resorts World later confirmed that the machine had indeed malfunctioned, but the court case went on.
Bookman made an appearance on CNN: Inside Edition in 2016 as they covered her unique story, with the reporter asking if she felt robbed, to which she said: “Yes of course, I felt very robbed.”
She thought that she had won it all. (ABC7)
When asked about what she thought about being offered a free steak dinner, the New York woman answered: “Really? Like are you serious? I mean, I felt insulted.”
After this incident, Resorts World spokesperson Dan Bank told CNN at the time: “Upon being notified of the situation, casino personnel were able to determine that the figure displayed on the penny slot was the result of an obvious malfunction – a fact later confirmed by the New York State Gaming Commission.
“After explaining the circumstances to Ms. Bookman, we offered to pay her the correct amount that was shown on the printed ticket. Machine malfunctions are rare, and we would like to extend our apologies to Ms. Bookman for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Following the incident, Bookman hired attorney Adam Ripka, and the pair filed a 17-page lawsuit against Resorts World Casino, Genting New York LLC, and software provider IGT.
The suit alleged that Resorts World Casino was ‘negligent’ and didn’t properly maintain their lottery equipment as Bookman suffered from ‘mental anguish’ from the incident.
Bookman ultimately walked away with nothing. (Inside Edition)
First fighting for the original $42.9 million, Ripka pivoted and fought for the $6,500 winnings, which was the maximum allowed on the machine, ABC7 reported.
Ripka called the casino’s excuses ‘ridiculous’ and explained to CNN at the time: “You can’t claim a machine is broken because you want it to be broken. Does that mean it wasn’t inspected? Does it mean it wasn’t maintained?”
“And if so, does that mean that people that played there before [Bookman] had zero chance of winning?”
So how did it turn out? Unfortunately, it’s not a happy ending.
At the end of Bookman’s jackpot winnings saga, a judge at Queens County Supreme Court ruled in favour of the defendants, meaning that she walked away with nothing at all – not even the steak dinner or the $2.25 that was printed on her ticket.
