On its first full day of operation, the M Resort in Henderson had a single-line 25-cent video poker machine with a progressive starting at $10,000 instead of the undoubtedly intended $1,000. A patron hit the jackpot. Rather than hassle the winner or try to outright cheat him, as many casinos have done in similar situations, after a thirty-minute delay, the M Resort paid the patron the $10,009, closed the bank of machines and politely asked the other players to cash out and play other machines. No harassment of the other patrons, no threats, no security guards, etc. In view of all the casino misbehavior we routinely see, it as refreshing to see a casino behave properly in this situation.
It is too early to form an overall opinion of the M, but from this incident, it appears to be on the right track. Many other casino managers could learn from this incident.
Appropriately?
Well, far more appropriately than many other casinos might well have behaved.
Certainly the “suits” at M were not faced with a misprogrammed payout that was as massive as that which took place at what has been called The Flea-iesta.
One can hope had the mis-programmed payout been even greater the management at M would still have behaved honorably in the matter. Surely a new casino should not open up to any bad publicity.
Shutting down the entire bank of machines? Well, that might be excessive caution but they are entitled to be extra alert once the problem has been identified.
So yes. Congratulations to “M” for having handled the situation properly and honorably. They booked a bet and when the player won, they paid it. Some electronic innards that were off by a factor of ten was unfortunate for them, but it was under their control so they took the loss. This is very good Grand Opening publicity for them.
“Shutting down the entire bank of machines? Well, that might be excessive caution…”
How else do you propose that they fix the programming glitch? Should they have let others continue to play and lower the jackpot amount that just reset to $10,000 again down to $1,000 while people were still playing the machines?