MGM Grand Detroit Refused Gambler’s $17K Jackpot — Now Courts Say She Can Fight Back
Posted on: April 28, 2026, 08:37h.
Last updated on: April 28, 2026, 08:37h.
Casino lets gambler play and lose, then blocks jackpot payout
Court initially sides with casino over regulatory jurisdiction issue
New ruling reopens path for players to sue over winnings
When Monique Jewell walked into the MGM Grand Detroit in 2017, she says no one stopped her. She gambled, lost money, and then won a jackpot of about $17K. That’s when casino staff told her she had actually been banned years earlier and refused to pay her winnings.
Jewell has spent the past five years chasing her jackpot through the legal system. Now, thanks to a recent ruling in a different case in Michigan, she will finally have her day in court.
Jewell played at the casino on October 20 and October 21, 2017, having entered the premises using valid identification. During that time, she gambled and lost money, according to court documents. Eventually she hit the jackpot playing “Texas Hold’em” – probably the house-banked table game, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, rather than the poker variant.
When she tried to cash out, she was informed she had been banned from the casino since 2011 and would not be permitted to collect her winnings.
In 2021, after failing to get any help from the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB), she sued MGM, alleging fraud and unjust enrichment. She argued she was never informed of the ban while she was losing, and the casino should not be allowed to selectively enforce it only when it benefits them.
Legal Limbo
The lower court initially sided with Jewell, but MGM appealed, and in 2024 the appellate court overturned the ruling on jurisdictional grounds. The panel determined that Michigan’s gambling laws gave the MGCB exclusive jurisdiction over this kind of dispute, meaning that courts could not hear the case.
However, at the same time a similar case against MGM was playing out – this time stemming from an online jackpot at BetMGM.
Detroit woman Jacqueline Davis sued the operator in 2021, claiming she had won $3 million playing its “Luck O’ Roulette” fixed-odds game in March 2021. When she went to cash out, she was told there had been a software glitch that voided her win, and her account was frozen.
Like Jewell, she was directed to the regulator, even though it said it could not resolve the dispute or award her money. The MGCB argued it didn’t have the resources to settle civil disputes between players and casinos, it merely regulated gaming and issued disciplinary penalties, which it declined to do in this case.
Supreme Court Ruling
The contradiction reached the Michigan Supreme Court, which in 2025 found that gambling laws don’t block ordinary legal claims like fraud or unjust enrichment, especially if the regulator can’t actually fix the problem.
While neither case has yet been decided on its merit, the ruling opens a pathway for the two women and all Michigan residents engaged in civil disputes with online casinos.
After the decision in the Davis case, the Michigan Court of Appeals reexamined Jewell’s complaint in the light of the new reasoning and last month permitted it to proceed.
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