"Random" $229k jackpot thanks to a casino error
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February 8, 2022
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Updated Feb. 7, 2022, 7:38 a.m.
Agents of the Nevada Gaming Control Board spent two weeks tracking down an Arizona resident who left Las Vegas without realizing he had won a progressive jackpot of $229,000 on a slot machine.
Control Board officials did not disclose Robert Taylor’s hometown, but confirmed Friday that he will receive $229,368.52 from Treasure Island this weekend.
“It was definitely some good old-fashioned police work,” Control Board spokesman Michael Lawton said.
Control Board law enforcement officials said they could not recall another instance where they were called in to track down a jackpot winner.
On the evening of Jan. 8, Taylor was playing a progressive slot at Treasure Island when a communications error on the machine prevented him and casino staff from determining whether he had hit the jackpot.
By the time an extensive check of the slot machine and communications technology was completed and confirmed the jackpot had been won, Taylor had returned home to Arizona, and no one knew the identity of the winner.
At that point the board launched an extensive investigation carried out by several agents from the board’s law enforcement division to identify the patron.
The probe included reviewing hours of surveillance video from multiple gaming properties, numerous witness interviews, examining electronic records of purchases and analyzing travel information from the Nevada Department of Transportation.
The investigation determined that Taylor was the lucky player, and on Jan. 28 Taylor was officially notified of his jackpot.
“The Nevada Gaming Control Board is responsible for the strict regulation of the gaming industry, protecting the gaming public and ensuring that the industry benefits the state of Nevada,” said law enforcement officer Dan Nucky, who tracked Taylor for two weeks.
James Taylor, chief of the board’s law enforcement division, thanked the Nevada Department of Transportation for helping locate Robert Taylor using its travel records and said the efforts were “a great example of government working together for the good of the public.”