Supreme Court: Casino does not have to pay jackpot

The winning combination may have appeared when Cengiz Sengel hit the Quartermania machine at Reno's Silver Legacy in 1996. But the Nevada Supreme Court said Wednesday the club doesn't have to pay because there was a "security malfunction" in the machine's cashbox.

Not only did the court deny Sengel his $1.8 million jackpot, the justices took the opportunity to raise the bar even higher for future gamblers who want to argue a Gaming Control Board decision.

They said Nevada law should be interpreted to mean that "a reviewing court should affirm a decision of the board which is supported by any evidence whatsoever, even if that evidence is less than that which a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion."

Using that standard, the justices voted 5-0 to reject Sengel's claim and uphold the Gaming Control Board and district court decisions to deny the jackpot. They pointed out in an opinion by Justice Myron Leavitt that the control board decision to reject his jackpot was not "unsupported by any evidence" and was neither arbitrary nor capricious.

Sengel's lawyer John White had argued that there was nothing wrong with the gaming device, and the problem was with a dollar bill changer that handles the money customers deposit.

"The cashbox inside here is not a gaming device," he said. "It's the same as that found in Coke machines."

He argued that Sengel put in his money and the winning combination appeared on the pay line. He said his client did nothing to try to cheat the machine and the club should pay.

But IGT lawyer Dan Reasor said the machine is designed to stop if there is any malfunction and happened to stop on what looked like a jackpot.

He said the internal error code means that wasn't a jackpot no matter what it looked like and therefore the club doesn't have to pay.

He also pointed out there was a tilt code in the "winner paid" window and that no lights went off when the machine stopped because the machine didn't record a jackpot.

"It clearly says on the glass (front panel of the machine) that any malfunction voids all plays and all pays," said Reasor.

He said the malfunction in this case was an electronic signal indicating the cash drawer was ajar on the machine.

Justices Bill Maupin, Miriam Shearing, Nancy Becker and Senior Justice David Zenoff all joined Leavitt in the decision. Justice Deborah Agosti recused herself as did Chief Justice Robert Rose and Justice Cliff Young.