Casinos are generally places where punters lose money. For two glorious weeks in the middle of last year, customers of The Star casino in Sydney, Australia – along with their friends, relations and acquaintances – pulled out fistfuls of cash from the only sure bet in town.
Four “ticket in, cash out” machines had malfunctioned, and word got around. They came in their dozens: criminals, gambling addicts, even a few homeless people. By the time the casino noticed anything was amiss, A$3.2 million (NZ$3.4m) had walked out the door.