Ontario´s OLG pays out on technical glitch

News on 14 Jun 2009

The story of a Canadian slot player who was twice declared a million dollar winner by a faulty machine when he had actually won lesser amounts was finally put to bed in Toronto this week when the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. paid the $1 000 and $4 000 that the unidentified player had really won, and dismissed the error as a software flaw.
OLG spokeswoman Allison Sparkes told the Toronto Sun newspaper that the OLG will disable 2 000 of its almost 23 000 slot machines until the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario figures out the exact nature of the software problem. Sparkes said the slot fan, who was playing Bonus Poker Deluxe at Ottawa’s Rideau Carleton Raceway, understood that it was an irregularity in both cases and was given the $1,000 and $4,000 he was due in each case.
Don Pister, an official of the OLG said that the machines involved in the Rideau Carlton incident all carried a notified maximum payout limit of $40 000, and the million win advisory that the player was given – twice – clearly indicated a genuine malfunction for which the OLG could not be held liable.
The OLG has not been as fortunate with Wasaga Beach resident Paul Kusznirewicz, who was told in December that he had won a $42.9-million jackpot on a 2 cent slot machine in Innisfil, Ontario despite the fact that the machine has a notified maximum payout of only $9 025.
The player in that case has launched a law suit against the OLG, claiming the full amount of the win, and short of a settlement between the parties an interesting explanation on slot machine software flaws could be heard in open court.

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