A hearing is scheduled to take place today in Vietnam to determine whether a slot club in Ho Chi Minh City should award a customer US$55 million mistakenly credited to the slot machine he was playing as a result of a malfunction. If the court rules in favor of the customer, it could set a dangerous precedent for the gaming industry and dampen Vietnam’s appeal as an investment destination
When a computer glitch at a bank results in funds being mistakenly credited to a customer’s account, there is no question that the customer has no claim to those funds, which are subject to retrieval by the bank. In recent cases worldwide where customers withdrew excess funds mistakenly credited to their accounts following computer errors, those customers have been pursued and even prosecuted by the authorities.
While banks and ATMs do not display clear disclaimers that customers are not entitled to funds wrongly credit to their accounts through computer error, slot machines almost always prominently display the caveat “malfunction voids all pays and plays.” Such a disclaimer appeared on all the machines at the Sheraton Saigon Hotel’s Palazzo Club in Ho Chi Minh City, where Ly Sam, a Vietnamese American, claims to have won big at a slot game in October 2009. The same disclaimer was also inscribed on a metal plaque on the wall next to the reception desk as part of the club’s rules.
A slot machine malfunction can broadly be considered any instance where the machine does not perform as it was designed and intended to perform. Some cases are more clear-cut than others, and it appears Mr Ly Sam’s case is one of the clearer ones.
The below images of the game screen immediately before and following the purported win shows no win registered on the win meter, and no matching symbols appearing on adjacent reels in any of the designated lines. Furthermore, during standard operation of the game, large wins (exceeding US$50,000) lock the game screen and trigger an announcement to call an attendant to make a handpay of the win amount. With the screen locked, the win amount is not registered on the credit meter at all. BMM Australia, an independent gaming testing laboratory, verified the machine had malfunctioned, adding the slot machine in question offered a maximum possible win of US$7,500 given a bet denomination of US$0.1—the denomination of Ly Sam’s game. The malfunction is thought to have resulted in electricity fluctuations caused by an outside power source issue.
This is not the first time a slot malfunction has mistakenly credited a large sum to a player in Vietnam, but it is the first time the authorities have deemed to entertain the case in court. A hearing is scheduled to take place today at the People’s Court of District 1 to determine whether to award Ly Sam his claim. If it does, it could set a dangerous precedent internationally. Thus far, all cases of machine malfunctions around the world have been rejected by the relevant courts and authorities. Notable examples include the US$1.8 million claim of Cengiz Sengel against Silver Legacy Casino in Reno in 2000, the US$4.7 million claim of Brenda Pickle against IGT and Sam Town Hotel & Casino in Mississippi in 2002, and a US$5.5 million claim against StarWorld Casino in Macau in 2007.
A ruling in favor of Ly Sam would surely give pause to Vietnam’s would-be foreign investors in the gaming and tourism industry and beyond.
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