Almost all players will agree you "should have been paid" while almost all casino execs will agree with what happened. It would be nice if most casino execs at least thought they ought to be very sympathetic and nice about it, and not treat you like an idiot -- but that's not the cloth from which most of them are cut, apparently.
Every machine has some fine print on it somewhere that says something like "player is responsible for assuring held cards are correct" or something like that -- in other words, buyer / player beware. Only if you could somehow prove that you touched nothing after correctly holding (and having the hold confirmed) except the draw button, and somehow the "hold" changed 100% on its own, should the casino's warning be inapplicable - but I don't know how you could prove that unless the machine has a memory of not only what is held, but of the timing of events, etc., to show that the hold was "solid" and went away on its own before you hit "draw" -- or if there was a good video of what happened. Of course, the casino has this on its machines to avoid all the people who were sure they held correctly, and simply made a mistake without being aware of it (I KNOW I held ...; I would never play it any other way!").
A defective machine can void a win. Apparently it can't void a loss.
And don't think I'm an unsympathetic jerk; I had the same thing happen to me on a sticky-button machine where I held three kings and got the fourth one, only to find that one of the three kings I held was not held after all. 110 credit swing! Not as bad as yours, but it still cost me a chunk. Especially on sticky-button machines (which I usually abandon pretty promptly if there are other choices), it's easy to start double-hitting the buttons (and sometimes multiple-hitting them) to get the "hold" to take, and of course, this makes it much easier to make a mistake - and to un-do the hold on a card you'd NEVER throw away.
The only "solution" is to play so painfully slow that you can't put any action through the machine, so you can double check every hold -- which is perhaps what the casinos deserve anyway, except for the rare circumstances when the game is player-edged, when the casino deserves to get so much action it can't afford it. I do slow down and double check when holding trips now, and have always done so when holding any pat hand higher than trips, and of course I assume everyone knows that you hold all five (on machines where quads can't improve) on dealt quads, so that a fifth one can't come up and disqualify your win -- and I double-check the five held cards as well. I don't slow down on two pair, but since the swing there is also significant (10 credits if I erroneously break one of the pairs and then hit it, vs 45 credits if I hold correctly and fill up), perhaps I should slow down on two pair as well. Sigh...
But if I held a pair and one of them didn't "take" and I got quads, I'd just be an unhappy camper like you. I can't imagine ever slowing my play down to double-check every pair I held. It doesn't hurt to ask management to review the play and consider making it right, but don't expect anything but to be blown off completely; anything nicer than that is a bonus, and an actual payout would be fantastic, if not near-miraculous.
Same thing at blackjack, if the dealer makes a payout error, you need to speak up before the cards are gone (unless it's in your favor -- I figure I watch out for errors in the house's favor, and the pit boss is getting paid to watch out for the ones in my favor -- although some would say I should speak up either way). On higher-limit games, there might be an eye in the sky on your table, but I don't think they record the action at every low limit table for every play (I could be wrong) - but if there is a tape, and you're willing to wait an hour or so for them to find and review it, they might be willing to do that -- but don't ask them to show it to you if they say you were wrong.
Same thing at poker, if the dealer ships the pot to the wrong player, speak up before the cards are gone -- although at poker, it's apparently established practice to trust the word of the other players, and it's considered ethical for everyone at the table to help the real winner get the pot if they saw what happened -- but I still go with the teachings of my friend who introduced me to casino poker, who said, don't let go of your cards on the table until the pot is being pushed to you. And I am a little concerned about the "memory" of the other players, having just watched a show on National Geographic about how flawed the memories of eye-witnesses can be.
--BG
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4a. Machine malfunction
I would like to ask a question of the group.
I was playing a triple play machine at Ballys Atlantic city. The game was DDB I was dealt 2 aces and 3 rags. I held the 2 aces but as I hit the draw button I realized the 2nd ace was no longer held. The first three cards that came up on the draw were the other 2 aces and a three. Instead of having a $500 jackpot, I had trip aces.
I immediately hit the button to summon a slot attendant.
When he viewed the history, it verified the other ace had been there.
I asked him to call his supervisor.
The casino manager came over, viewed the evidence, had a techie test the buttons, and then said there was nothing he would do for me?
I asked him why I would hold a bare ace leaving the other unheld. He said he didn't know what I would do.
I am a diamond level player and give Ballys most of my play.
I thought the manager had a very condescending attitude and was insulted by the way he handled the whole situation.
The bottom line is I feel that I should have been paid for the jackpot rather than being treated like an idiot, am I delusional?
