 Pawel Kusznirewicz and his wife Halina, of Wasaga Beach, are suing the OLG. (Tracy McLaughlin/SUN MEDIA)
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TORONTO - Don Orr knows how a Wasaga Beach retiree who saw a slot machine display a $42.9-million jackpot feels -- give or take a few million dollars.
Pawel Kusznirewicz, 55, served the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. with a statement of claim Tuesday over the trip to Georgian Downs in December in which he fed $60 into a two-penny slot machine named the Buccaneer and thought he had won.
When the machine's lights and bells went off, Kusznirewicz said, the screen indicated he had won millions, but OLG staff later told him the machine had malfunctioned and offered him two, then four, buffet dinners.
FRUSTRATED
Orr, a retired postman who lives in Port Perry, said he's speaking out because he knows how Kusznirewicz feels.
He was so frustrated by his experience last summer he picketed the Great Blue Heron Charity Casino. He won a $1,000 jackpot and then hit a second for $1,875, Orr said.
"When you're a retired postie, $1,800 is a lot," he said.
After he won the $1,000 jackpot, an attendant came over and reset his machine and told him to play again. Orr said he hit the $1,875 jackpot but the machine didn't light up.
Supervisors told him they couldn't pay him because the machine hadn't been reset properly.
"I said, 'That's not my responsibility, I put my money in the machine and I want my money,' " he said.
After picketing the casino, staff phoned him and offered two T-shirts and a buffet.
He told them to forget it.
Orr stressed floor staff treated him "good as gold" during the whole experience just not the people who had the final say on his would-be jackpot.
But does he still gamble at the casino? You bet.
"I like it," he said.
After inquiries from the Sun earlier this week, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, the province's slot regulator, confirmed the Blue Heron incident was one of five last year that required their lab to check gambling machines.
The Blue Heron incident was one of two in which a slot jackpot was not paid out after a game was reset, AGCO officials said.
"The lab couldn't reproduce the problem," spokesman Lisa Murray said. "It was just something that happened."
OLG officials said yesterday they couldn't comment on an AGCO investigation .
"If the gentleman has further concerns we're more than happy to speak to him," OLG spokesman Rui Brum said.
DON.PEAT@SUNMEDIA.CA
