California woman finally gets check for slot jackpot

Monday, Nov. 6, 2000 | 10:16 a.m.

Sylvia Gutierrez, 75, of San Ramon, got the check Saturday from a Las Vegas slot machine maker after it decided not to appeal a Reno judge's ruling in her favor last month.

"I'm walking on air. I feel great," she said. "I stood by the door all morning waiting for Fed Ex to arrive with the check and they finally came.

"This is a victory for the little person. If they hang in there and fight, they can win."

Gutierrez hit the jackpot on a Betty Boop-Thrillions progressive nickel machine in September 1999 at the Sands Regency Casino-Hotel.

But Bally Gaming Inc. refused to pay it, claiming the winning symbols on its machine did not stop in the correct position on the payline.

Gutierrez then filed a complaint with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which unanimously ruled in January that the symbols were close enough to award her the jackpot.

Bally appealed the decision, but Washoe District Judge Jim Hardesty also sided with Gutierrez last month. Bally decided not to appeal his ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court.

"We decided there was no point in prolonging the matter," Bally lawyer Mark Lerner told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "We were looking for judicial confirmation. We got it."

Bally on Friday sent by express mail a check for $116,851 - including $4,200 for interest - to Gutierrez.

Gutierrez said the rulings by Nevada authorities restored her faith in Nevada gambling and she still likes to play the slots in Reno.

She and her husband will move early next year to a retirement community in Lincoln, Calif., where they plan to use a portion of the money to buy some "little extras" for the home.

"I feel vindicated - I always felt I won that jackpot fair and square," she said.

"I am just very, very happy. I guess somebody was listening to me and somebody was taking care of me."