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 Louise Chavez had thought she'd gotten the win of a lifetime. While playing a slot machine at the Fortune Valley Casino it went off lights and bells and all telling her that she had hit the jackpot of $42 million. Unfortunately for her the casino was unwilling to provide her with the winnings.
The casino attributed her win to a machine malfunction and Chavez may not see a dime of those winnings. After the casino broke the news to her they provided her with a few dollars, some free meals and a room for the night and sent her on her merry way.
"I put my money in there," Chavez told Good Morning America. "Whatever I won, I should get... There are dreams and there are things I'd like to do -- helping my family, helping my kids. That's why I'm disappointed. I just don't know."
The Denver woman can still recall just how she felt when she first hit the jackpot.
"All of a sudden I saw the light come on on top of the machine," Chavez said. "I'm like, 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God!' I'd never had this feeling before in my life, never."
The payout she was expecting was something that she could never imagine making in her life time. Chavez is lucky to make more than $12,000 a year as an in-home personal care provider. The big prize of $42,949,673 could have transformed her life and her family's.
But the initial joy quickly evaporated when casino employees told Chavez that her win did not count.
"We've been open for 15 years at Fortune Valley and this is the first time we've had something of this magnitude," said Fortune Valley communications director Joe Behm excusing the brush off.
Chavez said it was at that point that the casino offered to comp her room and meals and give her back about $20 of the money she'd put into the machine but it just didn't feel right to her.
"My emotions changed from excited, thrilled to very upset," she said.
"It's unfortunate when it happens," said Colorado Division of Gaming spokesman Don Burmania. "We don't like it to happen, the casinos don't like it to happen and in this case, the patron didn't like it, either."
A number of news networks have requested comment from the slot machine manufacturer, WMS Industries of Waukegan Ill., but as of now no comment has been released.
The question now is should someone be held responsible.
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