Slot Player Zeroes In On $2.9 Million Jackpot But Casino Says Jackpot’s Only $10,000 Because Of Malfunction

Nhung Houskeeper is hollering “Tilt!” at Spirit Mountain Casino’s refusal to pay a nickel slot machine jackpot of more than $2.9 million.

She hit it Oct. 18, but the casino says the maximum payout on the Power Pay machine, which is linked to several others to provide large jackpots, is $10,000. Spirit Mountain voided the jackpot, saying the machine had malfunctioned.

“I feel I’ve been ripped off,” Houskeeper told The Oregonian.

“If it happened the other way around, if I put in $2 million, … I’d like to see how they’d feel if I wanted my money back if it malfunctioned.”

The casino gave Houskeeper and her boyfriend, Richard Johnson, both of Hillsboro, Ore., $12 for Houskeeper’s previous credits and a $40 dinner.

The Vietnamese refugee has returned to her $11-an-hour clerical job to await word on her appeal to the Grand Ronde Gaming Commission. The casino, meanwhile, has placed $10,000 in escrow.

Earlier this week, a tribal casino in Arizona paid off on a similarly disputed jackpot of some $330,000.

That prompted a check of Oregon’s slots this week to see if any contained malfunctioning parts that could trigger similar problems.

Joe H. Smith, director of the tribe’s independent regulatory commission, said the $10,000 limit is clearly posted and that the casino is not responsible for any more.

Industry experts say it is common practice not to pay jackpots that are a result of a malfunction.

Houskeeper’s attorney, Michael Sahagian, argued that a casino technician worked on the defective chip and that the casino is liable for its mistakes.

“We say the machine is totally in their control,” he argued before the independent commission.