Wheel of Misfortune as Two Jackpot Wins Are Voided
Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City has told two supposed jackpot winners they will not receive their massive wins. The players are now taking court action.
Wheel of Fortune slots have supposedly been malfunctioning in Bally’s Atlantic City. @Getty
Key Facts:
- Wheel of Fortune slot erroneously tells two players they have won jackpots – in the same casino!
- Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City and IGT are now involved in a pair of court cases.
- Similar cases have seen full winnings awarded to players by the UK’s courts.
Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City has found itself in a second court case over a Wheel of Fortune slot jackpot, which it says is void due to a machine malfunction. The latest jackpot ‘win’ sees Bally’s Corporation refusing to pay a $2.5 million prize.
The most recent jackpot ‘glitch’ suffered by an International Game Technology (IGT) manufactured Wheel of Fortune slot housed inside of Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City happened in June 2025. The reels aligned to display the enormous jackpot for a player named in court documents as Donna Inserra.
Her lawsuit seeks the full jackpot, accrued interest and legal expenses. Bally’s reportedly intends to invoke the common slot machine disclaimer/clause that “malfunction voids all pays” as part of its defence. The New Jersey Casino Control Act requires all Atlantic City slots to display consumer warnings regarding technical errors invalidating plays and pays.
Evidence Called for in $3.5 Million Case
A week before this case came to light, a Federal Court gave Bally’s Atlantic City and IGT 30 days to provide evidence as to why a Wheel of Fortune slot jackpot supposedly won by 73-year-old Roney Beal in February 2024 has not been paid.
She is claiming over $3.5 million as her $1.28 million jackpot was played with a x2 multiplier, and she is also seeking an additional $1 million-plus for emotional distress.
This big win (that apparently wasn’t) was widely reported in the US press. “Bally’s has no comment on this incident as we’re only the casino who houses the machine,” Bally’s Vice President of Marketing and PR Diane Spiers told USA Today at the time.
However, IGT has been tight-lipped on both cases. The troubled Wheel of Fortune slot maker recently used the news section of its website to report that three jackpot wins (between $1.24 million and $1.55 million) were paid out in US casinos during July. This week, an IGT Jackpots Tweet/X post announced another seven-figure jackpot had been won.
We have another millionaire! 🥳 Congratulations to the player from California visiting @westgatevegas who put $100 into Wheel of Fortune Gold Spin Deluxe Double Gold Slots and won $1,008,054 on a $5 bet! Please help us celebrate this exciting win! 🎉
🎰 Won August 22 pic.twitter.com/odMZK3TfNx
— IGT Jackpots (@IGTJackpots) August 25, 2025
Seven-Figure Win on Broken Blackjack Slot
Industry experts suggest that it is unlikely either case will deliver a positive result for the plaintiffs. However, similar cases in the UK have seen jackpot wins that operators claimed were erroneously awarded to players after court battles.
In 2021, Mrs Justice Foster declared she was “of a clear view” that clauses in Betfred’s terms and conditions were an “inadequate excuse to exempt Betfred from the obligation to pay out on an ostensibly winning bet or series of bets.”
The case before her was the operator’s refusal to pay £1.7 million in ‘winnings’ from a game called Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven Blackjack. Betfred said the Playtech online slot had malfunctioned during a 2018 play session by a 51-year-old Lincolnshire man, the plaintiff.
Judge Tells Power What You See Is What You Get
In March of this year, Corrine Durber from Gloucestershire won a decision (without trial) against Paddy Power in the High Court. The ruling meant she would finally receive the £1,097,132.71 she won playing the Wild Hatter game (a part fruit machine and part wheel of fortune style game) in October 2020.
Initially, Flutter, the gambling giant that owns Paddy Power, only paid out £20,265, telling Durber she had won the smaller ‘Daily Jackpot’ prize, with the difference attributed to a programming error, meaning the game incorrectly displayed the main jackpot.
In a 62-page ruling, Mr Justice Ritchie, who granted summary judgment in favour of the player, explained that “what you see is what you get” is “central” to the online game. He added, “Objectively, customers would want and expect that what was to be shown to them on screen to be accurate and correct.”
Significantly, in regards to the two ongoing US Wheel of Fortune cases, Justice Ritchie added: “The same expectation probably applies when customers go into a physical casino and play roulette. They expect the house to pay out on the roulette wheel if they bet on number 13 and the ball lands on number 13.”
