Sorry if this got posted: Outrageous...

[declansharbor]

Originally Posted by brianwspencer

Not sure if anyone posted this, but I just read this online. It's infuriating and makes Philly Park look like a sack of awful human beings.

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/colu...Turf_Club.html

EVERYBODY makes mistakes.
You make 'em. I make 'em.

When I make 'em, we run a correction, which takes a little bite out of my pride. When Danielle Dittus, a 25-year-old single mom, makes 'em, they take a bite out of her hide. She's a teller at the Turf Club in South Philly, so her mistakes cost her money.

During the course of a week, Danielle handles thousands of bets under high pressure at the off-track betting parlor. When post time comes, bettors line up and come at her fast and furious. Given that she's dealing with some who may misstate what they want, that she may mis-hear them or that she may enter the information wrong, mistakes happen.

If there's time before the race starts, she can void an erroneous ticket and enter a new one. If there isn't time to fix it, Danielle now owns it and must pay for the wrong ticket out of her own pocket.

That's a job I wouldn't want, but Danielle has to put food on the table for herself and her 4-year-old son, John.

But . . . what happens if she's forced to pay for a bad ticket - and then the horse wins?

She wins, too, right?

Wrong.

The Turf Club won't pay her.

This isn't hypothetical.

On Feb. 5, 2006, Danielle made an error while entering an $84 bet. Since the union contract says "shortages will be settled daily," and this would be a shortage, she would have to make it up.

However, the horse won and the ticket was suddenly worth $14,168.90.

The Turf Club refused to pay Danielle.

A classic Catch-22: If the erroneous ticket is a loser, the employee is responsible for paying the money to the Turf Club. If the erroneous ticket is a winner, the Turf Club welches.

Feeling abused and cheated, Danielle got a lawyer, William Ciancaglini, and sued.

The case went to arbitration and on Jan. 24, the arbitrators ordered the Turf Club to pay Danielle for the erroneously issued winning ticket.

The Turf Club said "neigh" and filed an appeal, which eventually will get them a jury trial.

Oh! Do you know who owns the Turf Clubs, which are in South Philly, Center City, Brandywine, Upper Darby, Valley Forge and the Northeast?

The same people who own Philadelphia Park Casino and Racetrack, who wrote themselves a ticket for massive bad publicity in January, when they refused to pay a retired Feasterville carpenter his $102,000 winnings after they had made a communications error.

I wanted to talk with Danielle, but she sent word through Ciancaglini that the union contract has language forbidding her to talk with the media. Calls to her union, Sports Arena Employees Union Local 137, were not returned.

Ciancaglini says he's mystified why the Turf Club is willing to spend more on lawyers than they would to just pay Danielle.

They must have their reasons, but Philadelphia Park CEO Hal Handel sent word that his attorneys advise him to decline comment because the case is being appealed.

Didn't these gaming guys - who practically have a license to print money - learn anything from the January episode? It's not always a matter of who's "right" according to the narrowest definition of the law. Public sentiment usually sides with David over Goliath.

Do these gaming dudes really want to beat up on a single mom over the 14G she won - in front of a Philadelphia jury?

Trust me, guys. That's a bad bet. A very bad bet.

This created some buzz locally... The same gaming guys who tried to welch out on paying the guy over 100,000...Good thing it's in Bensalem and not Philly, lol..One black eye after another..

[brianwspencer]

Originally Posted by declansharbor

This created some buzz locally... The same gaming guys who tried to welch out on paying the guy over 100,000...Good thing it's in Bensalem and not Philly, lol..One black eye after another..

I guess I don't know all the intangible rules of being a teller, but it only seems right that if she has to pay for it then she owns the ticket, right? For good or bad, I would assume.

And what you brought up is just what the article mentioned (not sure of the story on that one) that the same company tried to do the same thing before to someone else.

[ninetoone]

What are the details of the guy & the 100K? I'm interested to hear that one. I agree w/Brian...if she has to pay for it, she owns it. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

[ninetoone]

Did we say jackpot?
Sorry, we meant no jackpot. Our mistake:

"Stephen Wilkinson was feeding 50 cents a pull into a slot machine at a new Pennsylvania casino when a message board attached to the machine lit up. The message told Wilkinson -- by name -- that he had won $102,000 in a power play jackpot. The woman next to him screamed with excitement. But Wilkinson's six-figure payday was short-lived. [Philadelphia Park] officials soon informed the retired carpenter that the message was sent in error. 'They offered me two comps for the buffet,' said a deflated Wilkinson."

So that's how casinos make so much money. Jackpots become "computer errors," which become "all the crab legs you can eat." Yet another reminder that not only does the house always win, but it also beats you up, pins you down, takes your lunch money and dangles a big loogie right above your forehead.

... But wait! "Five days later and amid mounting criticism, Philadelphia Park Casino officials reluctantly gave a retired Feasterville carpenter the $102,000 'jackpot' he said he won on a malfunctioning slot machine. Steve Wilkinson was presented a check in the amount of $102,000 late Saturday, casino officials said."

We still stand by our original point, re: lunch money, loogie, etc., but it's nice to see the little guy win a big payday.

The Inky is quick to examine this troubling, uh, trend: "Jackpot disputes -- such as the claim by a PhiladelphiaPark slots player that he was denied a $102,000 payout -- are becoming increasingly frequent and could threaten public faith in the industry as casinos spread across the country, several gambling experts said yesterday.

Don't expect any numbers on the growing trend, but there was this nugget, by way of explanation: "The casino was running a promotional campaign in which, each day, it randomly awarded a $5,000 Playerpower payout to a slots player. The prize does not require that person's machine to register a jackpot. [A] casino worker, in an office, was testing the prize-announcement system. She said the worker made up the $102,000 number 'for no rhyme or reason.' She said the worker then punched in the number of the machine Wilkinson was using, thinking it was out of service and not even on the casino floor."

The casino reversed itself partly because of the bad PR that resulted, instigated by editorials like these:

"I have eaten some expensive meals in my day, but nothing compares to the $51,000 buffet at PhiladelphiaPark Casino in Bensalem. Technically, the price is $13.95 per person. But clearly the folks who run the casino believe the all-you-can-stomach experience is worth much, much more. That explains why, after Feasterville retiree Stephen Wilkinson was disrespectfully denied the $102,000 jackpot a Wheel of Fortune slot machine said he won last week, casino brass offered him two buffet comps as a consolation prize."

[Danzig]

seems if the teller had to pay for the ticket, it's HERS. as such, the payoff should be as well.