Winning $1,400 Slots Jackpot Lands Woman in Court

On April 15, Pasqua DiGianni won a $1,400 slots jackpot at the Seneca Niagara Casino, but unfortunately was denied her winnings on account of a ban she had placed upon herself two-years earlier. To add further to her misery, not only was she returned only a small fraction of what she said she had put in the machine, but the 69 year-old was also charged with trespassing and is due in court later today.
According to DiGianni, she had visited the cashier’s desk three times while playing the $1 slot machine, withdrawing $400, $500, and then another $400 before hitting the slots $45 play button and winning the jackpot. After heading for the cashier’s desk once more, this time to cash her winnings, that’s when things headed south for DiGianni, and as she explains:
“If I didn’t win that jackpot, they wouldn’t know anyway [that I was there]. If they would have given me that jackpot, I would have broken even.”
Although the Seneca Niagara Casino returned $600 of the money she wagered on the machine, its management still contacted the Niagara Falls police, who subsequently booked her on a trespassing charge. Commenting on the matter, the police said that after one year a self-excluded gamblers can request in writing to be permitted back into the venue, and it appears DiGianni even received a letter that would have allowed her to apply for reinstatement last year. As she then explains:
“When I received the letter that they wanted me to go back, I was surprised, too.. So what that I went there? It’s not a big deal.. They could have warned me, ‘OK, we believe what you’re saying,’ but not give me this court date.”
Intrestingly, Pasqua DiGianni banned herself the first time round after winning a slots jackpot at the casino, before being unable to quit her session and giving it all back over the following few hours. It appears that winning a second jackpot has now resulted in a similarly undesired effect.