It’s always a thrill to try your luck at fun casino games. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, but that’s exactly why it’s called a gamble. The best thing you can do is have fun with it, and if you win, hold onto your prize money very tightly, because some folks don’t want you to walk away with all that cash.

In this story, a casino in Wyoming took the idea that ‘the house always wins’ a bit too far and tried to rob a guy of his winnings. He definitely wasn’t going to let go of his jackpot that easily!

More info: Reddit

Gambling is all fun and games until the casino decides not to play fair anymore (or until it ruins your life)

Image credits: Nayan Bhalotia / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

The 19-year-old explained that he was playing slots in a Wyoming restaurant and that a few minutes after starting, an employee checked his ID and then let him continue playing

Image credits: tradon13

He had paid $20 to play slots and ended up winning a big jackpot of $1097.26, after which an employee watching informed him that in such a case, the casino would have to pay him directly

Image credits: Pavel Danilyuk / Pexels (not the actual photo)

When he reached the desk to collect his money, the staff told him that since their location was only for 21+ customers, they could only pay $7.30, which was the remainder of his initial sum

Image credits: tradon13

The man wrote a letter to them and their parent company, threatening to contact the Wyoming Gaming Commission, so the casino eventually paid him and banned him from returning

What’s extremely interesting to note is that when the guy initially sat down to play slots, an employee came around to check his ID. She did not find any problem with the fact that he was 19 and let him continue playing. As the OP stated, there are, of course, casinos that have age restrictions, but since the worker had vetted him, he did not think there would be any issue.

The poster mentioned that he and his friends were playing slots in Wyoming. It’s important to note that Wyoming’s gaming laws state that individuals should be 18 years of age to participate in any gambling activity “except as allowed under state and tribal law regarding fishing derbies and charitable raffles.”

To get an expert’s perspective on this situation, Bored Panda contacted Eliot Jacobson, Ph.D. He is a former professor of mathematics, a consultant to the casino industry, and is the author of three books on gambling. His work in the casino industry involved the mathematical analysis of slots, video poker, and casino table games, along with auditing online casino software, and advantage play.

He told us that “there are so many different jurisdictions with various gaming laws. This is especially the case with Native American casinos, that essentially can create their own rules, subject to the State compact. As far as withholding funds, this is standard when some sort of cheating or criminal activity is suspected.”

“A player acting legally cannot be denied their winnings. Nevertheless, many casinos seem to ‘freeroll’ players who shouldn’t be allowed to play there–essentially taking the player’s money if they lose but putting up a fight to pay the player if they win. This happens more often with online casinos than land-based casinos but is despicable either way,” Eliot added.

Image credits: Miikka Luotio / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

In this particular story, the OP got shortchanged by the casino and then had to threaten them to get the full sum. In some cases, though, the gambling house might take severe measures against patrons who win too much in order to avoid paying them. Prof. Eliot Jacobson shared a particularly terrifying experience he dealt with after winning. 

He said: “I was once backroomed, held in handcuffs, and threatened. But before any of that happened, they took me to the cage and allowed me to cash out the chips I had won. Eventually, I was released with my winnings, and nothing further happened, except that I sued the casino for kidnapping and won a settlement.”

The OP managed to get what was owed to him by sending a strongly worded email and threatening to contact the Wyoming Gaming Commission and an attorney. Luckily, he did not have to do anything more, and the casino paid his jackpot.

We asked Eliot for any other advice on dealing with situations like this. He said: “The first step to getting your winnings is to appeal to the State Gaming Commission. The second step is to sue. I was the expert witness for Phil Ivey, who sued Crockford’s Casino for (as I recall) over $12M in winnings, which they refused to pay him. Phil lost, which was a sick result.”

It’s ironic that the casino banned the guy from coming back because he probably wasn’t going to return anyway. If someone won fair and square, nobody should be able to take that away from them. We’re glad the guy confronted the company, and they backed down easily.

What would you have done if you were in his position?

Folks were enraged by what happened to the poster and urged him to take action against the gambling house

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