French gamblers have been following a novel case in the south western city of Montpellier, which culminated in a legal ruling this week following litigation between a man and a woman over a slot machine jackpot.
The dispute started when slots fan Marie-Helene Jarguel claimed a Euro 2 million jackpot in March this year after inserting Euros 50 into the one-armed bandit, reports Reuters news agency. But her claim was contested by her gambling partner Francis Sune based on the fact that he had actually activated the machine by pressing the spin button.
The judge had to weigh up who made the biggest contribution to the win and the realtionship between the litigants, and awarded 80 percent of the jackpot to Jarguel and 10 percent to her gambling partner.
Reuters comments that the ruling was a legal innovation; the judges noted that in French law there was “no judicial definition of the winner in a slot machine game.”