Ont. man denied $10,002 jackpot over casino 'self-exclusion' rule

[jnelsoninjax]

 An Ontario man was shocked when he recently won more than $10,000 at a casino, only to be told he wasn’t eligible to collect his winnings.

John Marando, 82, recently thought he had met a run of great luck, when he won a jackpot while playing a slot machine at the Mohawk racetrack outside of Milton, Ont.

“I stopped at $10,002,” Marando said in an interview with CTV News.

Marando won $2,000 on a black-and-white $2-coin slot machine and was paid his winnings. But when he won $10,000 on the same machine, he was taken in a room, told he couldn’t have the jackpot and escorted off the property.

Marando said he only started gambling about 20 years ago because he was bored after his wife died and had retired from his job as a Brink’s truck driver.

Seventeen years ago, when he felt he was spending too much, he signed a form to self-exclude himself from gaming facilities. Marando said, as the years passed, he forgot about the form.

Last September, Ontario Lottery and Gaming introduced a new rule intended to help problem gamblers: “As part of our support of a self-excluder’s commitment to stop gambling, self-excluded individuals are not permitted to win prizes.”

Any jackpot over $10,000 is reviewed. OLG said, because Marando is still considered self-excluded, he can’t collect the money.

According to the OLG’s Play Smart website, self-exclusion can apply to gaming sites; including casinos, charitable bingo and gaming and internet gaming.

Gaming sites have implemented facial recognition technology to help “identify anyone enrolled in gaming Self-Exclusion who attempts to re-enter a gaming site by comparing their facial images from site security cameras.”

If those individuals are detected, staff will remove them and they may be charged with trespassing.

“People who are self-excluded need to know that prizes will be disentitled if they’re detected at a gaming facility and this is part of our support to them, part of our way of living up to the commitment to themselves to stay away from gambling,” Paul Pellizzari, OLG’s executive director of policy and social responsibility told CTV News.

Marando says he didn’t know about the rule and calls it unfair. “They didn’t mind taking my money all these years. It sure would have been a nice sum. No, they don’t want to pay me.”

Since the new rule came into effect, the OLG said 29 people who have won jackpots have been denied their winnings.

Officials say people who are banned from gaming facilities are still allowed to play the lottery.

Source

[+Mud W1ggle Subscriber²]

so...  you self exclude; You are allowed to gamble, but not allowed to collect winnings.  Wow, genuis scheme there to stop problem gamblers...

 

[jnelsoninjax]

6 minutes ago, Mud W1ggle said:

so...  you self exclude; You are allowed to gamble, but not allowed to collect winnings.  Wow, genuis scheme there to stop problem gamblers...

 

And make more money for the casinos as well...

[T3X4S]

Also, I dont think he "forgot" about signing the self-exclusion.  A career problem gambler is going to remember the very day he "signed his life away"
No different than an alcoholic remembering the time he/she decides to get help and get cleaned up.

On the other hand, we dont know his state of mind - he could also be a career drinker and have 10 years of blackouts.
 

[Hum]

sue the bitches

[xendrome]

On 3/2/2017 at 8:59 PM, Mud W1ggle said:

so...  you self exclude; You are allowed to gamble, but not allowed to collect winnings.  Wow, genuis scheme there to stop problem gamblers...

 

Well the point is, they know they aren't going to collect any winnings so there is no point in gambling, so yeah it's a pretty good way to do it.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

Quote

part of our way of living up to the commitment to themselves to stay away from gambling

"However, we'll still keep their money if they lose."

 

 

 

[FloatingFatMan]

Well, seeing as they shouldn't even have allowed him on the premises to start with, they should give him his winnings, or at the very least, refund every penny he gambled.