Slot maker loses disputed jackpot case

Friday, April 21, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

JACKSON, Miss. -- Nancy Kelly says it doesn't matter how you read the signs -- right to left, left to right -- she won a video poker jackpot and she wanted her money.

The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Kelly was right and that she be paid the $250,136 in winnings.

Kelly's dispute with International Game Technology of Reno began when she was playing in 1996 at Treasure Bay Casino in Biloxi and claimed to have hit the Sequential Royal Flush in Hearts on the IGT Bonus Pokermania progressive video poker machine. The machine advertised a $250,136 pay line with all five coins played.

Kelly's play resulted in a descending sequential royal heart flush (A-K-Q-J-10).

IGT denied the jackpot, saying a sign on the game said a player would win on an ascending order (10-J-Q-K-A).

Kelly said the description on the machine was ambiguous by not specifying that only 10-J-Q-K-A, read left to right, would win.

The Gaming Commission, a Harrison County judge and now the Supreme Court have agreed with Kelly.

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