Gamblers At MotorCity Casino Wait Hours After Cash Gets 'Trapped' In Slot Machines
DETROIT (WWJ) - Gamblers at Detroit's Motor City Casino had to wait for hours to cash-out overnight after a computer glitch trapped their money inside gaming machines.
Casino officials say a problem with their "ticket out system" prevented gamblers from printing their cash tickets from machines. The issue was discovered around 12 a.m. Friday.
Gamblers were told not to leave their slot machines as casino workers walked around and issued hand payouts instead of tickets. Workers also closed the first floor of the casino.
Sharon Whitfield had to wait about five hours before an attendant finally gave her the $27 she had in the machine.
"I think that they should update the machines, they're old," Whitfield told WWJ's Charlie Langton. "And they should either give us some reward play or food comp for just all the hours we had to just sit."
Just before 6 a.m., officials said the problem had been corrected, the machines were operating again, and the casino floor was reopened.
Slot machine gamblers @MotorCityCasino can go back to playing. Computer glitch fixed. Good Luck. @WWJ950 @FOX2News pic.twitter.com/wgjSphVmRQ
— Charlie Langton (@charlielangton) August 26, 2016
Mike Jones was relieved to finally have his money, but said the situation seems to have set off a string of bad luck.
"They told me just it was going to be a wait for my money so it had me mad, but I'm alright," Jones told WWJ's Charlie Langton. "But I just missed my bus, so now I'm upset about that. ... I don't think I'm going to be coming here gambling for a while because it's really sad how they got a billion dollar operation and getting done like this, it's bad, man. It's really bad."
Officials are looking into a cause of the glitch.