Katrina evacuee wins $1.6M

[MacDawg]

Link to story (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/05/katrina.jackpot/index.html)

Evacuee living with sister spends $4.25 and wins $1.6M on the slots

"When you first see it happen, you just go dunce," said Sherman, still appearing somewhat dazed by her good fortune.

"You just don't realize what done happened until the person next to you hits you and says, 'Well, you done did it.'"

Woof, Woof – Dawg http://homepage.mac.com/k.j.vinson/pawprint.gif

[mkubal]

Is it bad if I immediately thought someone had won a lawsuit when I saw the title of this thread? :confused:

[Sdashiki]

Not if you're american.

[DavidLeblond]

If I were her I'd use that money to buy myself a house as far away from water as possible.

[Josh]

Makes no sense...

She had $20, and was on her way to KMart to do some shopping, and decided at whim to stop at the casino...

If you only have $20, it's not like you are going shopping for a lot, and it's not exacly an amount of money one would say "Hey...I got enough to get my groceries AND go to the casino!" with.

If she has $300, and just needed some dish towells, I could see it. But an evacuee with $20 in her hand decided to stop at a casino on her way to do shopping?

...all I know is I sure hope she uses some of it to help out other evacuees who were less fortunate.

[emw]

Is it bad if I immediately thought someone had won a lawsuit when I saw the title of this thread? :confused:Yes, it's bad. It's also exactly what I thought - "And so it begins."

I'm glad that isn't the case here, but I agree with Josh that it's odd she stopped to spend what little she had at a casino. If she hadn't won, she would be even worse off.

Edit: From the article...

Seventeen quarters and $4.25 later, she was a millionaire.
So she actually spent $8.50? :rolleyes:

[tech4all]

That's good to hear. At least the money is for someone who really needs it :)

...all I know is I sure hope she uses some of it to help out other evacuees who were less fortunate.

My thoughts too!

[Don't panic]

how do you win $ 1.6 M at a quarter slot?
that's 6.4 millions coins shooting out of the slot. they could have killed her!!!

[stoid]

how do you win $ 1.6 M at a quarter slot?
that's 6.4 millions coins shooting out of the slot. they could have killed her!!!

Most machines are at most 99% payback, so that's about 6.5 million non-winning quarters. Pull the lever once every 5 seconds (20 per minute) means 325,000 minutes. That's over 5,400 hours. That's about 225 straight days of pulling and winning nothing 24/7 just for that one pay out. Maybe it wasn't a quarter machine....

[AlBDamned]

Is it bad if I immediately thought someone had won a lawsuit when I saw the title of this thread? :confused:

That's exactly what I thought but it was countered by 'no way that's too fast'.

It's odd that she stopped but then, a fair few lotto/casino wins have a strange story behind them.

[wPod]

Most machines are at most 99% payback, so that's about 6.5 million non-winning quarters. Pull the lever once every 5 seconds (20 per minute) means 325,000 minutes. That's over 5,400 hours. That's about 225 straight days of pulling and winning nothing 24/7 just for that one pay out. Maybe it wasn't a quarter machine....

nah, all the new machines these days are hooked up to complex networks that span mulitiple casinos and locations. so that means that there are like 1000 machines hooked up together playing against the same odds. that way the casino can put up a big sign saying "you can win $250 million" or something like that. so you spread out the jackpot over 100 machines and that winds down to a big jackpot every few days. but you just have to pick the right one machine out of a hundred to win!

the sad thing is the lady probably is addicted to gambeling and was on her way to gamble away her familys only $20 for whatever she needed at target. chances are hundreds of people like her do the same thing, but come back empty handed.

[Chappers]

chances are hundreds of people like her do the same thing, but come back empty handed.

What odds will you give on that?

[Phobophobia]

how do you win $ 1.6 M at a quarter slot?
that's 6.4 millions coins shooting out of the slot. they could have killed her!!!

Best. Reply. Evar.

I'm f***ing sigging this.

[GFLPraxis]

Is it bad if I immediately thought someone had won a lawsuit when I saw the title of this thread? :confused:

Same here, lol.

[MacFan782040]

That's exactly what I thought but it was countered by 'no way that's too fast'.

It's odd that she stopped but then, a fair few lotto/casino wins have a strange story behind them.

She's probably using MY donation money, or that $2000 debit card that FEMA gave all of the victims. Hope she pays that back to the gov't!

Why would you go gambeling at a $20 machine when you can't even afford to feed your own family. You always lose when you gamble.

[Counterfit]

Most machines are at most 99% payback, so that's about 6.5 million non-winning quarters. Pull the lever once every 5 seconds (20 per minute) means 325,000 minutes. That's over 5,400 hours. That's about 225 straight days of pulling and winning nothing 24/7 just for that one pay out. Maybe it wasn't a quarter machine....
Most machines have a light on the top that goes off when you win over a certain amount, so the coins won't hurt you, and so they don't have to keep several million quarters in each machine (which wouldn't work anyway).

You always lose when you gamble.
Well, apparently not. ;)

[watcher2001]

Seventeen quarters and $4.25 later, she was a millionaire.
So she actually spent $8.50? :rolleyes:

I was actually getting ready to chastise you on your math until I realized the joke.