Opinion ID: 1862032
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Jernigan's Testimony

Text: ¶ 14. Jernigan testified that she was on duty at the time of Freeman's alleged jackpot, and pulled up a close-up view when saw the crowd gather around Freeman. She testified that she knew that the primary progressive jackpot had not been won, because the meter board on top of the machine, # 5638, had not changed to show there was a winner as it should do when a jackpot is hit. Jernigan noted that the light on top of Freeman's machine indicated a hopper jam, not a jackpot. ¶ 15. Jernigan then went down to the casino floor to talk to Garner. Garner told her that the patron, Freeman, had thought she had won, but that she had neither played three coins nor lined up all three symbols, but instead had won the $5.00 award. Despite believing Freeman was satisfied, Jernigan had Garner complete a written report, the one given to Agent Gorman above, and go over it with her. Jernigan testified to being concerned that Freeman's friends might try to influence her into disputing the hopper jam at a later date. ¶ 16. Jernigan then identified the three surveillance tapes she had given Agent Gorman (Ex. 3-5). Exhibit 4 shows Freeman as she begins playing the slot machine. At exactly 5:00 p.m., the alleged winning play occurred, but it is not on video because of a routine tape change. [3] Exhibit 5 was the first tape after the 5:00 p.m. tape change on April 8, 1995. Jernigan showed the court that at 17:01 (5:01 p.m.) on the tape the light on Freeman's slot machine was indicating a problem, usually either a coin jam or it needed a hopper fill. Garner approached the machine at 17:03 and after inserting her employee card, pulled out the machine MEAL card and initialed it at 17:04. While explaining the situation to Freeman, Garner attempted to close the door, but had to reopen it and shuffle the coins around with her hand. At 17:05, Garner secured the door and then pointed to the pay table on the bottom of the machine. At 17:06, Garner left, and Freeman began playing the machine again. At 17:10, Garner returned to the machine to again explain to Freeman what the payout was. ¶ 17. Jernigan also identified the SDS computer report which Agent Gorman had previously reviewed. The SDS report showed the slot machine door opening at 16:51. [4] Jernigan testified that the report showed that Freeman's machine had a hopper can't pay status which means hopper jam. According to Jernigan, the report also showed that the last play on the machine was a one coin play and that no one played the machine when Garner entered it. ¶ 18. On cross-examination, Jernigan stated that Splash Casino would not be paying for a jackpot on the Cool Millions game, but the money would come from a pool provided by CDS and the patrons who have played it; that if a jackpot had been won, it would have shown a jackpot on the surveillance tapes and on the SDS computer report; and that when a jackpot hits, the first thing she does is call a gaming agent to verify the jackpot.