Unlucky Winner

The Iowa Supreme Court has reinstated a criminal conviction for gambling, false claim of winnings that had been overturned by the Court of Appeals

Anthony McNeese and Sydney Slaughter arrived together at the Isle of Capri Casino early in the morning on November 29, 2020. McNeese entered the casino at approximately 3:20 a.m., and Slaughter entered at approximately 3:45 a.m. Surveillance video showed Slaughter and McNeese together on the casino floor several times throughout the morning. Sometimes they were leaning against one another or hugging, and occasionally, they were sitting in the same chair or Slaughter was sitting on McNeese’s lap.

McNeese hit a $4,000 jackpot and Slaughter assumed his seat

When a single winning of over $1,200 is won, casino employees are alerted, and the machine “freezes up” and becomes unusable until reset by an employee. Slot machine attendant Danielle Rademaker arrived at the machine and asked, “[W]ho’s my lucky winner? Who hit the button to initiate the spins or the jackpot?” Slaughter replied that she had pushed the button and won the money. Rademaker then began to fill out the slot request form that logs information about the machine the jackpot was won on, including, but not limited to, where on the floor the machine was located, the specific machine itself, and how many credits were played. Further, the winner of the jackpot is required to provide casino employees with their social security number to be included on the document, and they must also sign the slot request form.

The court found sufficient evidence of an intent to defraud

Here, McNeese and Slaughter arrived at the casino together. Whether they were affiliated with each other prior to the evening in question, it is clear from the video footage that they were affiliated with one another that day, as the video footage showed them hugging and sitting with one another several times throughout the early morning. When McNeese began using the slot machine, Slaughter was not by his side. It was not until later that Slaughter joined McNeese at the slot machine. Once the $4,000 jackpot was won, McNeese moved to a seat two chairs down from the original machine, and Slaughter quickly took McNeese’s spot. When asked by casino employees who had won the jackpot, Slaughter immediately stated she had and provided the employees with her social security number and signed the slot request form in order to claim the prize.

Because she had won a jackpot the prior day and paid the winnings toward her outstanding financial obligations, Slaughter was aware that any jackpot winnings may be applied to an offset. While no direct evidence was entered to show that Slaughter knew McNeese owed an offset or that Slaughter was specifically intending to defraud McNeese’s creditors, that is not necessary. All that is necessary is that Slaughter intended to cause an injury or loss of something with value, either to a person or organization, through deceit or trick, or aided McNeese in doing so.

Identity of victim not required

The fact that Slaughter intended to deprive someone, whether it was McNeese, McNeese’s creditors, the casino, or another individual or entity, of the $4,000 jackpot or was aware of McNeese’s intention to deprive someone of the jackpot is a reasonable inference that can be fairly drawn from the circumstantial evidence presented. Otherwise, what was the purpose of Slaughter taking McNeese’s place and attempting to claim the jackpot? Her demeanor when claiming the jackpot and the fact that she later retracted her statement upon finding out it was a crime to falsely claim the jackpot provide further support that she had an intent to defraud or aided and abetted McNeese, who had an intent to defraud.

Expert testimony on the meaning of “wager”

Here, Special Agent Bergman provided his opinion on when a “wager” is placed based on the specialized knowledge he has gained through his twenty-two years of experience working in the gaming bureau. His opinion was that in the context of a slot machine, a “wager” occurs when the button is pushed that sends the machine into play, not when the coin or token is inserted into the machine.

Dissent on error to admit that testimony

Legal interpretation under the guise of expert testimony is bad enough. Worse yet when the purported expert is a DCI agent—not a specialist on gaming law or even an attorney. I accept that Agent Bergman has spent a lot of time in casinos. But so have thousands of Iowans whom we wouldn’t allow to offer legal opinions on gaming law. And at least those other individuals, if they had testified, wouldn’t have the same aura or mystique for the jury.

(Mike Frisch)