Photo: Hitoshi Nishimura (Getty)
Wait, what?
So here’s the craziness that is currently going on at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in South Florida. A gambler named Jan Flato was feeding a slot machine cash, but his female friend, 35-year-old Marina Medvedeva Navarro was pushing the spin button. And guess what? Flato hit the jackpot and won $100,000. Well, he didn’t win. The casino checked the tape and discovered that it was Navarro who pushed the button, so they handed her a $50,000 check, and another $50K in cash. And Flato? He got nothing. Brutal.
Navarro even asked security to keep an eye on Flato as she walked out with “her” winnings. According to Flato, he didn’t hear from Navarro for weeks until she sent him a text message later asking, “Still hate me?” Flato responded with: “How could you do that to me?” Her reply? “I miss you.”
But according to Navarro, she offered to split the money with Flato, but changed her mind after he sent her threatening messages. Um, you pretty much took $100,000 out of his pocket, lady.
Flato, who moved to Florida from Las Vegas to take care of his ailing mother, wants other gamblers to know not to make the same mistake he did.
“I want everybody to know what happened so it won’t happen to them,” Flato said. “I’ve played slots all over the country and never had a problem like that. Even the people handing out the money said, ‘This isn’t right.’” Flato added that he told Navarro to “push the button for good luck.” And well, seems like she was good luck.
Flato isn’t looking to sue, as no lawyers will take his case.
“Pressing the spin button is really the act of making the wager,” Frank Legato, the editor of Global Gaming Business magazine, said. And well, lawyers agree.
What it really comes down to is that Navarro is a shit friend who was just using Flato to get her paws on some cash, and she succeeded. Here’s hoping karma catches up to her.
Via Miami Herald
