The Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation announced on Thursday that a self-redemption kiosk was loaded wrong at the Casino Regina and patrons of the casino got $27,000 before the error was found out.

An employee of Casino Regina loaded the machine accidently with $20 bills rather than $5 bills. For 1 ½ days the machine would give out more than it was suppose to when it redeemed winnings or broke large bills.

Though neither the SGC nor casino will say how many people benefited from the error, they did say one person alone got $11,000 throughout one day. The SGC has managed to recover $13,400 using surveillance footage and other means.

SGC president and CEO Marty Klyne said, "There would have been a vast number of (patrons) that would have enjoyed the opportunity," he said, adding that transactions ranged from $300 to $11,000. I can't interpret what was going on in their minds at the time but you have to assume if you put in a $20 bill and you're expecting four fives back and you get four 20s, that your eyebrows might go up. I think that if they put in a 20 and got two fives back, we would have heard about it pretty quickly."

Klyne said steps have been taken to insure the situation will not occur again, such as permanently labeling bill cassettes through color coding.


- 2008-01-24