DraftKings and White Gaming were hit with a $22,500 fine by Connecticut gaming regulators over an online slot machine game that was literally unwinnable. Regulators charged DraftKings $19,000 and White Gaming $3500 after regulators played more than 20,000 spins on a Deal or No Deal Banker’s Bonanza game without a single win.
The Deal or No Deal Banker’s Bonanza glitch first came to the attention of the The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection’s (DCP) Gaming Division after multiple players complained about making 100’s of spins without even a partial win. One player who made contact with the DCP made “a couple of hundred” spins at $.20 a piece without a win of any kind.
While DraftKings has acknowledged that there was a problem with the game’s software after the complaints were made, that wasn’t always their take. Players who complained to DraftKings about the unwinnable slot machine were brushed off by customer service representatives with comments like, “I understand how frustrating it can be when you haven’t hit a win. However, all casino games are random, regardless of the player or length of time you’ve been playing,” according to SBC Americas.
DCP investigators, however, found that 522 players had wagered a total of $24,000 across 20,659 spins on the game, without a single winner. “Effectively, it was impossible for any Connecticut patron to achieve a win on the game for a period of 7 days, while live on the gaming platform,” investigators said in a report to the DCP.
While unwinnable games exist in the minds of players with some regularity, they are extremely uncommon in the world of regulated gaming (which is evidenced by the fact that this story is being told on a national level). DraftKings eventually refunded players all the money that was lost on the unwinnable Deal or No Deal Banker’s Bonanza game.