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No Quarter Given

A Las Vegas local is still out the quarter he believes he was owed after playing a roulette slot machine. Frank Sciannameo was playing the pokies at The Orleans resort casino earlier this year, when he hit for a small amount at the game he was playing. The slot game offered thirty-four to one odds and paid out thirty-four quarters (the amount of Sciannameo’s bet), or eight dollars and fifty cents. But Sciannameo, who gambles frequently and believed that he understood the rules in a different way, was not pleased – he believed that he was still owed his original twenty-five cent bet back, because he won. So he booked a hearing with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, as all state gamblers are entitled to do in such a situation.

It’s just the law at work. Far from considering Sciannameo’s humble case a nuisance, the Board actually welcomed his dispute. Mark Clayton, a Board member, proudly cited the twenty-five cent argument as evidence that their patron dispute process was functional and worthwhile. Clayton calls the dispute process “a cornerstone of gambling law” that is lacking in other parts of the world, and one that “maintains the public’s confidence in gaming.”

Despite these glowing words, Sciannameo lost his dispute. Slot machine-based roulette games are not played by the same rules as that of the table version, in which he would have, in fact, won back his original wager with the winnings. He did, however, set a new record for the lowest dollar amount over which a Board complaint has been filed. Clayton said that the previous record was fifty-seven cents.

Back to October 2008 Archive.