Question of the Day 2017-04-25

A man and his girlfriend are playing a slot machine. They take turns hitting the spin button. They hit a jackpot when the lady spins the reels. Who gets the payout and the W2G? All of the money being played on is the man's.

At first, we thought this was the start of a joke: A man and his girlfriend are playing a slot machine ... Anyone want to take a stab at a punchline?

Reminding us of the world’s shortest joke: Man walks into a bar. Says ouch. (Seven words.)

Or the second shortest: Past, present, and future walk into a bar. It was tense. (Eleven words — and a writer’s favorite.)

Anyhoo, the answer is, whoever presses the spin button.

It doesn’t matter who’s sitting in the chair, or standing next to or behind the machine. It doesn’t matter whose money it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s the man, his girlfriend, or an aardvark. Even if a stranger happens to walk by, slap the button, and hit a big jackpot, it’s his or hers (though we suppose other issues might come into play in that situation.)

This is the policy in almost all casinos.

If there’s ever a legal problem, casinos stick to policy, even if the person who doesn’t get paid says he provided the money for the play and/or says they had an agreement. There have been many many lawsuits about this over the years.

In the latest case from late January, a man and his girlfriend were playing a slot machine at the Seminole Hard Rock in Fort Lauderdale. His money. Her finger. She pushed the spin button and hit a $100,000 jackpot. Casino surveillance confirmed that she’d done the deed. She not only collected, but asked security to walk her out to her car to prevent him from harassing her — and so much for being the man’s girlfriend.

In fact, we’ve heard that the man couldn’t even find a lawyer to take the case, which says a lot about the policy being quite clear and firm.

Sometimes a casino might alter the policy, but only if the two players have a single club account or the same last name. But in the overwhelming number of cases, the casino follows the exact policy.

The moral of the story: Don’t let anyone push your button. Which might be also be a punchline for the joke.

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Comments

Ray Apr-25-2017

Ray

Having read about this story a couple of weeks ago, I've given some thought to why this happens. (1) In most American casinos, this policy helps them rule against under age people cashing in, so if they push an adult's button, the payoff can be denied, and (2) Lawyers might not take the Florida case because it's Indian owned and their rulings on their sovereign land will not be overturned.

Apr-25-2017

It's a dumb rule.

It's clear that the Gaming Boards' "Powers That Be" did not think this one through.  If a jackpot belongs to the person who presses the SPIN button, period, and he doesn't have to be the person who owns the money that produced the credits that are being bet on the spin, and he doesn't have to be sitting in the chair, and he doesn't have to be the person who's on the slot club card, then what's to stop a total stranger from reaching over a sitting-down player and pressing the SPIN button, and then doing the same thing to every player in the row or on the bank, at bank after bank after bank in the casino?  He probably would eventually hit a jackpot, but clearly would not deserve it.  The casino industry needs to end this rule.

Jason Apr-25-2017

New way to play!

I am now not bringing my bankroll with me to vegas.  I am just going around to random machines with somebody else playing and hit their spin button and wait for a free jackpot!  Now I have more money to pay the resort fee, tourism fee, parking fee, drink fee, maid tip, ticket master fees, ect!

[email protected] Apr-25-2017

Who gets the WG2

My wife and I were playing the same video poker machine and she pressed the button and hit a $4000 royal. Although she pushed the button I requested that the 1042-S (Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding tax form) be made out to me rather than my wife and the casino employee, knowing who had pushed the button,  had no problem with the request. I would suspect that the employee made a mistake as the card in the machine was my wife's and that was the card she was going to use to write up the 1042 but she willingly exchanged my card for my wife's.

Question of the Day - 25 April 2017

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