Gambler Video
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Things weren’t going well for Chad Johnson the day he tried his luck at the Imperial Palace casino, where he worked as a valet.
After a few beers on May 11, 2008, he began complaining to a friend that the Monopoly slot machine’s bonus round kept showing the same outcome: A loss. That was weird.
He complained to a slot technician who, perhaps predictably, said there was nothing wrong with it.
He asked to speak to the technician’s boss. Security arrived and told Johnson to call the Gaming Control Board with his complaint.
What happened next is a bit fuzzy but it’s clear from a grainy surveillance video that there was an altercation between Johnson and the casino security officers who wrestled him to the ground. Johnson got a lawyer and filed a civil lawsuit alleging assault, battery and false imprisonment in a casino office.
The upshot?
Neither Johnson nor the security chief still works at Imperial Palace.
State gaming regulators concluded that the slot machine was, in fact, not working right. They ordered the manufacturer to address the flaw and Johnson got back the $50 he had gambled on it.
The bigger payoff: A jury last month awarded Johnson $250,000, and Johnson and the casino settled the punitive part of the case confidentially.