A 65-year-old Michigan woman filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a casino after claiming that the establishment refused to pay out the $127,000 she said she won at blackjack, multiple outlets reported.
Denise Ezell, the Michigan woman in question, claimed in the lawsuit that after she was informed by the dealer that she won the jackpot, CBS News reported. A pit boss then allegedly told her she could not obtain the winnings because she was trespassing, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Bruno Mars Reportedly Owes MGM Casino $50 Million From Gambling)
“I was like, ‘oh my god, I won! Oh sh–!’ Excuse my French,” Ezell told Fox 2 when she recalled the moment she won the jackpot. “It was exhilarating. I was down to my last bet, actually.”
Ezell told the outlet she had planned to use her alleged winnings to pay her debts and help out her family.
A Michigan woman who has been gambling at Detroit’s MGM Grand for over 20 years says the casino refused to pay out her $127,000 jackpot and claimed she was trespassing. https://t.co/Ym4RA2mYiY
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 28, 2024
The incident is alleged to have occurred on Oct. 30, 2023 but the employee told Ezell that she had been banned from the casino since 2015, CBS News reported, citing the lawsuit. The employee allegedly said that she was booted after panhandling following a dispute with another casino patron, the outlet noted. Ezell reportedly claimed that this person was her cousin. She was not informed of the ban and continued to go to the casino without incident for years after the incident, the lawsuit alleged, the outlet reported.
“She didn’t receive an email, mail, or telephone call,” Ivan Land, Ezell’s attorney, told Fox 2. “She had no knowledge that she was banned from this casino, and I don’t believe she was banned from the casino.”
She further alleged that Greg Jones, a member of the casino’s security department, told her to not worry about the trespassing accusation and added that she would be able to collect her alleged winnings, CBS News reported. Jones later allegedly contacted her and said that the matter had been “escalated up because it was out of his pay grade,” according to the outlet.
Ezell has reportedly demanded her alleged winnings as well as an additional $75,000 in damages in the lawsuit.
