Maine casino infuriates customers after $250 free slot play mishap

Article by : Charles Perrin Jan 17, 2024

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A Maine casino has been left embarrassed after it found itself at the center of a debacle whereby they accidentally told patrons they were the lucky winners of a slot promotion.

Last week, five Oxford Casino customers were randomly selected from the system’s database for a bonus entitling them to $250 in free slot credits.

But a glitch caused by human error meant other players were wrongly informed via email they had won too.

Now, Oxford Casino has been forced to backtrack and rescind the promo, as explained by the venue’s general manager Matt Gallagher.

Reacting to the news, Gallagher said: “On January 10, five patrons were randomly selected and received an email notifying them that they were a winner.

“Unfortunately, the same email was incorrectly sent to a number of patrons who were not winners.

“This was the result of a human error.”

Within an hour of the winner being announced by email, Oxford Casino got authorization from the Maine Gambling Control Unit, which is responsible for regulating the state’s casino and promotions, to send a retraction to those who had received the email by mistake.

Maine’s commercial gaming law allows the state casinos to incentivize patrons with free slot play  promos, however, such marketing tactics are subject to conditions.

At the moment, it is unclear whether the incident will be dismissed or be brought before the Board for a final decision.

However, it is thought that the Maine Gambling Control Unit has fielded over a dozen patrons from disgruntled customers.

Of those, at least 10 people are believed to have reached out to the CBS13 I-Team to express their grievances.

One frustrated customer named William Redmun said: “Me along with my mom, daughter, and son all received the same message.

“I feel that this error was not the customer’s fault and therefore they should be obligated to at least compensate the people who were affected fairly.”

The Oxford Casino, which boasts almost 1,000 slot machines and table games, is owned by Churchill Downs, who purchased the property for $160 million in July 2013.

It remains to be seen what the outcome will be from this blunder, but disgruntled customers will be hoping for a swift and satisfactory conclusion.