(Nov. 3) -- The slot machine announced a $166 million jackpot, and Bill Seebeck started celebrating. But casino officials in Florida quickly tossed a wet rag on his hot win Sunday, saying the machine had malfunctioned, according to local station WFTV.
"I feel let down and ripped off, I sure do," Seebeck, who lives on a houseboat in Daytona Beach, Fla., originally told WFTV.
On Monday morning, Gary Bitner, a spokesman for the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino near Tampa, Fla., released a statement saying the casino had settled with Seebeck for an undisclosed sum.
Skip over this content
Joe Raedle, Getty Images
The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino was the state's largest casino complex when it opened in 2004, boasting some 4,000 video gaming machines.
"The slot machine he was playing on Sunday malfunctioned, in what can be best described to the layman as a 'computer glitch,'" the statement reads.
Bitner had told the TV station on Sunday that the "Ultimate Party Spin" slot machine had a top payout of $90,000 -- so clearly, something had gone wrong.
Seebeck's case isn't the only time big wins at the slots -- some of which have surpassed the machine's posted jackpot -- have been deemed malfunctions by a casino.
In August 2006, Freddy Howard hit a $259,945 jackpot on a "Swipe and Win" machine at the same casino, according to the the New Times of Broward-Palm Beach. He even got a check. But later that day, the casino rescinded the winnings. Gaming Laboratories International, an independent firm hired by the casino, confirmed a computer glitch.
Howard's case ended happily. After his story hit the press, the casino agreed to pay him the full amount.
"It's important for a dispute to be resolved so that all the players that come to the Seminole casino feel good about the outcome," Bitner told the New Times.
That same month, in New Mexico, Gary Hoffman also struck slot gold -- $1.6 million worth, at the Sandia Resort and Casino, according to ABC News.
The casino offered him about $385 and some free meals, he said. He sued.
"I won money, fair and square, and I've been cheated out of my winnings," he told ABC News.
The machine listed a top payout amount of $2,500.
