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(CNET News) By Chris Matyszczyk - If you've ever been to a casino, you know that the general purpose of the exercise is to, well, lose. Very occasionally, people do win. But do they always come out with the money?
I muse on this state of world affairs because of the painful tale of Behar Merlaku. Merlaku, a 26-year-old Kosovar Albanian, was reportedly pushing the buttons on a slot machine in Bregenz, Austria, when it suddenly told him he had won a lot of money: forty-three million euros--which, at current prices, is just under $57 million.
Few on this earth would have felt anything other than numb elation at discovering that their dependence on The Man was finally over.
However, Merlaku was merely left with the numb part of that after trying to collect his prize. For, as the Daily Mail reports, he was offered around $100 for a free meal.
I have no reason to believe that any meal could be worth, say, $56 million. This one was, perhaps, worth nearer to $56. Casinos Austria AG, you see, insisted that he'd only had four of the five matches on his slot machine.
The bells, whistles and hosannas that the machine had emitted telling him he had won a vast vat of cash had been merely a software error.
I know you can see where this is going. No, not to a fine casino lunch, but to a fine Austrian courthouse.
Read full story at CNET News...
