Gaming briefs for August 19, 2003

Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2003 | 10:42 a.m.

Court rules against slot player

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court has turned down the appeal of a woman who claimed she was entitled to a $97,823 slot machine jackpot at the old Frontier Hotel and Gambling Hall on the Las Vegas Strip.

Heather Devon sued the casino, saying club officials induced her to leave the slot machine she was playing on Nov. 7, 1991, and promised to keep it closed and locked until she returned. But she said the casino opened it and another player hit the jackpot. In a one-paragraph order, the court on Friday upheld a District Court jury ruling in favor of the casino.

The Frontier has since been sold and is now called the New Frontier.

'Dilbert' slot machine planned

International Game Technology is developing a slot machine based on the Dilbert comic strip.

Dilbert, created by cartoonist Scott Adams, lampoons corporate office life. It is the most photocopied, pinned-up, downloaded, faxed and e-mailed comic strip in the world, IGT says.

The strip appears in the Las Vegas Sun and 2,000 other newspapers in 65 countries and 19 languages. More than 10 million Dilbert books have been sold, with more than half making the New York Times' bestseller list.

In 2001 Anchor Gaming of Las Vegas signed a deal with United Media to develop and market a Dilbert slot machine by 2002.

IGT retained the rights to the Dilbert comic when it acquired Anchor Gaming in December 2001.