₱397M Slot Jackpot Declared “System Error” – Would You Accept ₱5M or Fight It?

[Russlenat]

The offer is way too small compared to the amount she thought she won. That alone can really mess with someone’s head. You start asking yourself, why would a casino even offer that amount if it was really just an error?

But what if the machine truly malfunctioned? But just like I have posted, she can try her luck, maybe the court will favour her. Her lawyer might take up the case.

What I dislike about the such casinos is that if the machine is malfunctioning in a way that gamblers lose faster than normal, the casinos will be happy about it and the gamblers will not be refunded.

It’s not really a machine issue, it’s a system issue. And if it were a machine problem, the whole system should’ve been affected. But based on the reports, it looks like only one person complained about not getting paid after winning. That’s what makes it hard to speculate.

If PAGCOR doesn’t side with her, then the next step is probably court. I doubt she’ll just let this go, we’re talking about a huge amount of money here.
That said, I also get why some users think she should’ve just taken the ₱5M offer. You guys do have a point there too.

[Judith87403]

A 397M jackpot win report that got later voided as a result of system error shows the imbalance that is between the player and operators. From the side of player, refusing a settlement of 5M is emotionally understandable, but very risky legally. The moment PAGCOR is siding with the operator and has concluded the win as a technical error, then the chances of the player has sharply dropped. Regulators and courts mainly depend on backend logs and service terms, instead of what appears  on the screen of a player. Casinos are secured by clauses stating that wins remain provisional until verified, making it difficult to prove any entitlement to the jackpot. As repeated system errors raise the concern of fairness, to prove bad faith gets hard. For real, 5M was likely the most solid assured outcome, even though it is far below the win that is advertised.

[VashaUdacha777]

How do you see this case, Does she realistically have a chance to win this case legally?

It’s a very unpleasant story for this woman. I’m not good with legal matters and I don’t know if she has a real chance to win the case and get her winnings back. But she shouldn’t give up and should at least try to fight for justice. Even though her chances are probably small, since it’s a big company with strong lawyers and legal teams. I wish her good luck!

[Questat]

How do you see this case, Does she realistically have a chance to win this case legally?

It’s a very unpleasant story for this woman. I’m not good with legal matters and I don’t know if she has a real chance to win the case and get her winnings back. But she shouldn’t give up and should at least try to fight for justice. Even though her chances are probably small, since it’s a big company with strong lawyers and legal teams. I wish her good luck!

For a prize that big, it’s worth fighting for. Even if the casino has a TOS that clearly favors them, once it reaches court, those terms should still be reviewed to see if they’re fair and not completely one-sided. Otherwise, casinos could always just claim a “system failure” whenever a big win happens and avoid paying, and that really hurts gamblers in the long run.

That said, knowing how the justice system works here in the Philippines, I doubt this gets resolved anytime soon. Cases like this can drag on for years, and the legal expenses will just keep piling up if she decides to keep fighting.

[suzanne5223]

This is an interesting story that every gamblers need to learn from.
She rejecting the ₱5M is not a risk move.
 I know it's hard for any gamblers to accept such game result is technical error after months or years of playing game with no jackpot hitted but the mistake the woman made after reporting the issue to  PAGCOR which I believe is the general overseer of issue involving gambling platform and gamblers in the country where the issue happened.
Her risk move is not to confirming the cause of the incident from PAGCOR board.

If regulator side with the system error then it is time for gamblers there to find another alternative cause sooner or later other gambling platform there will use system error as an excuse.

[Beparanf]

For a prize that big, it’s worth fighting for. Even if the casino has a TOS that clearly favors them, once it reaches court, those terms should still be reviewed to see if they’re fair and not completely one-sided. Otherwise, casinos could always just claim a “system failure” whenever a big win happens and avoid paying, and that really hurts gamblers in the long run.

That said, knowing how the justice system works here in the Philippines, I doubt this gets resolved anytime soon. Cases like this can drag on for years, and the legal expenses will just keep piling up if she decides to keep fighting.

This is Philippines justice system we are talking about which even a blatant huge money corruption on government is still not yet resolved and no higher official involved being jailed since due process can be slow down or even be paid by the rich.

It’s worth fighting for if you are against huge companies and it’s proven when PAGCOR already released their findings that favors the casino.

I don’t trust current PH justice system because the President himself is corrupt.

[abaeze]

I don't think the players will benefit from this legal battle. Because the terms of online gaming companies are usually made in the interests of the gaming company, so all the rules are in their favor. Even though they say the game runs on RNG and explain "bugs or technical malfunctions" in the Terms of Service.

The biggest lie that companies tell is "we don't control anything, everything is decided by the RNG." But in reality, the RNG, servers, software are all under the control of the company. So no matter how many lawsuits are filed, the players will never win this fight.

[nimogsm]

How do you see this case, Does she realistically have a chance to win this case legally?


Source --- https://www.facebook.com/gamepowdotco/posts/a-woman-who-claimed-to-have-won-a-397-million-jackpot-on-bingoplus-was-told-the-/1446494900382592/

An interesting situation. I am more interested in how much a competent lawyer who can help her will cost and whether he will be able to stand up to the lottery itself, because they clearly have a team of top-notch lawyers and financial advisors. If she goes against them in court alone, her chances are close to zero. Still, in such a situation, it is probably worth taking what they offered.

[Slow death]

If they were so confident that there was a system error, then why did they attempt to offer a settlement of ₱1M and then later ₱5M?

Many companies choose to settle to avoid the dispute going to court because it can take years. Every time they win, the accuser can appeal to a higher court, costing the company a lot of money in legal fees. To make matters worse, every time the case goes to a higher court, the press will cover it, damaging the company's image. Therefore, companies prefer to pay a certain amount to the claimant and settle the case before it reaches court.

[bhadz]

I want her to win this case, 5M is big but 397M and even after taxes, that's a lot of money. But it's going to be a tough battle for her, maybe if bingoplus make it 10M - 20M for settlement, she'll go for it.

Her winnings are subject to 20% tax. She would be left with ₱317.6M, which is indeed still a lot. I doubt that the casino will offer another settlement, since PAGCOR already ruled that the win is invalid, and she has also rejected the previous offers already.

I guess that this is going to be one of the most followed gambling related case in the country. It's a big money that one can never imagine having and winning that over gambling. We've heard people losing so much money in the likes of Okada and other known casinos physically, now this is an online gambling app and she's still going to appeal I think and would like to get it to the higher courts. If she'll continue to do it, how long can she last will stand against them. Under the table is common and that possible peace offering she would get means that bingoplus is guilty over their technical issue reasoning.

[coin-investor]

Still, walking away from ₱5M isn’t easy either. That’s life-changing money for most people, even if it’s far from the jackpot.

How do you see this case, Does she realistically have a chance to win this case legally?

The video interview no longer exists on YouTube, and there's hardly any coverage of this issue. I guess the company have settle this, and the woman has likely accepted the offer.

I don't think she can win this case, as BingoPlus can verify and show the glitch to the court, because if BingoPlus' claims are false, then they will lose their reputation and trust of the betting public.

I'm just surprised there is hardly any media coverage of this issue; they have done damage control to avoid it harming the company's reputation. The company is fully accredited by PagCor, as PagCor has jurisdiction over the case and ruled in favour of BingoPlus, rendering her case moot and academic.

[robelneo]

How do you see this case, Does she realistically have a chance to win this case legally?

No, the governing body already dismissed her claim, and it's a system glitch. It's going to be very costly if he insists on bringing this to the court; her lawyer will just advise her to negotiate, 5 million pesos is already good; it's like hitting a lottery jackpot. She should accept it, or he will just spend her savings on her lost case.
Bsed on the latest update, where the video of the interview no loger exist, they may have agreed on the deal, and they just want the case to die naturally.

[Eternad]

How do you see this case, Does she realistically have a chance to win this case legally?

No, the governing body already dismissed her claim, and it's a system glitch. It's going to be very costly if he insists on bringing this to the court; her lawyer will just advise her to negotiate, 5 million pesos is already good; it's like hitting a lottery jackpot. She should accept it, or he will just spend her savings on her lost case.
Bsed on the latest update, where the video of the interview no loger exist, they may have agreed on the deal, and they just want the case to die naturally.

This is the right call. It’s harsh but that’s the only logical choice she can made to still benefit on his win since legal battle against the casino will took so long time especially if Pagcor already completed their investigation.

The casino ToS protected them on this event since it’s a glitch in the game which is tricky and very unfair since all big win can be classified as error to avoid payment.

I avoid Bingoplus due to this issue now.

[wozzek23]

the governing body already dismissed her claim, and it's a system glitch. It's going to be very costly if he insists on bringing this to the court; her lawyer will just advise her to negotiate, 5 million pesos is already good; it's like hitting a lottery jackpot. She should accept it, or he will just spend her savings on her lost case.
Bsed on the latest update, where the video of the interview no loger exist, they may have agreed on the deal, and they just want the case to die naturally.

After reading few posts and OP, I understood few things, if Philippine justice system is good and favourable for common people then surely she needs to fight till last because she has good amount which is life changing and casino needs to give her better option instead of going for this small amount.

But in case, as many already mentioned justice system is not good, and she is not having strong case of win then surely it's going to be talking them and have better option instead of going into courts and spending more funds on this because still casino can go ahead with their sources and that will help them, and she could be losing more, so wise decision is just talking with them and have the biggest share as much as she can take from them, it's also not bad in any case.

[aioc]

After reading few posts and OP, I understood few things, if Philippine justice system is good and favourable for common people then surely she needs to fight till last because she has good amount which is life changing and casino needs to give her better option instead of going for this small amount.

It's not about how good or how bad but the justice system in the Philippines is very tedious, it could take years to come out with the result and the gambling platform can file reversal of the decision or go to the court of appeal and will take a few more years and after going through the court of appeal if one party is not satisfied the party can go to the supreme court and you need millions for attorney's fee to go through this process.

The casino has a battery of lawyers and millions of pesos to spare, while the lady needs a lot of support on a case that is still 50/50 in her favour, so the right thing to do is to go through a settlement.

[acroman08]

This reminds me of scenario when someone wins a jackpot on a casino, where the casino will claim that the win is invalid because of a technical glitch.

How do you see this case, Does she realistically have a chance to win this case legally?

Personally, I feel like she should have a valid case here, but lawsuits are complicated and there are a lot of technicalities that will be included which could mean that while we might think she have case and she would win, the reality could be that she doesn't and her case will be thrown out.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

A woman reportedly hit a ₱397 million jackpot on a slot game after playing regularly for a long time and accumulating losses. She was understandably happy, finally thinking she got paid back but the win was never credited to her account. So she contacted support and was told it was a system error, so she escalated the case to PAGCOR to complain. The operator, BingoPlus, allegedly made two settlement offers, with the final one being ₱5 million which is roughly $87,000 USD but the jackpot amount itself is around $6.9 million USD, but she refused the offer. PAGCOR later ruled that it was a technical error.

If she truly have their time, it's something she can fight them, but to do that, she also needs money because it's not free to get a lawyer and arraign for court case, secondly, the casino might have discovered the sudden win, coming unexpected since they knew it's mostly coming as a lose attempt, but seeing the money involved as it's too much and the gambler winning, they are left with no option than to claim for system error, she should just leave them to their self and collect the little money given to her, at least it's better than nothing.

[Orpichukwu]

The casino might win against her since they are the ones with the upper hand, but if they want to be fair, they can just be like the casino which did not care about the error and paid all players who won through that error that day to retain their customers and reputation.

With a win this big being brushed off as a technical error, an investigation should really happen. That said, I honestly doubt we can trust PAGCOR to handle it properly. This is the same agency regulating casinos here but sad is corruption isn’t exactly rare in this country. Because of that, it’s hard to expect the woman to actually win this battle. At best, if the casino was really lying, the only thing she might get is damage to the casino’s reputation. I don’t think she’ll see anything in terms of actual money.

If the licensing agency can't be trusted itself, then what hope does the woman have of winning against this casino? And if it is believed that the agency can be corrupted to the extent that they will accept a bribe from the casino to rule against the same citizens whom they are supposed to protect, then the best option will be for the woman to accept what she has been offered because there is no guarantee that any other agency will be able to find fault against the slot unless she is someone influential enough to contact an external hand for an audit.

[Maus0728]

That really sucks, I guess in hindsight, that 5 million should've been taken as a settlement but then again, it would be in the casino's benefit if that woman took that measly million compared to what she could've won. It also pains me on the part that once you settle, you can't chase for an investigation to determine if it was really a technical error on their part. I think that there's no point in trying to drag this much longer because in the Philippines, I'm sure that the casino have a big influence in the judicial system so no matter how the complainants fought through it, it will be in the casino's favor.

[TypoTonic]

-snip- I guess her chances are really slim or 0, this validates the fact that terms of use is still another strong edge the casino has over its players. This is really sad, i feel for the woman after her considerable losses, yet her wins were denied her even before she hit it by the terms-of-use.

Yeah, it has been discussed recently if I remember correctly. The terms are supposed to protect the casino, but some abuse it to avoid paying huge wins to their players.

I guess that this is going to be one of the most followed gambling related case in the country.
-snip-
Under the table is common and that possible peace offering she would get means that bingoplus is guilty over their technical issue reasoning.

It's funny because the people are already calling the casino a scam, speculating that they paid the regulating commission to be in favor with them. The odds are really stacked against her if she decides to push her case.