Woman demands winnings from North Carolina Stand Up Pot-O-Gold

WILMINGTON, NC — Video gaming laws: a confusing situation for everyone involved. A Wilmington woman won $6000 from a Pot-O-Gold machine that may be illegal and store owners could barely pay her winnings.

They will not pay you your money if you hit a substantial amount,” Sheri Ellis said.

And that’s how it all started. Ellis says in February, she won around $6000 at the Pot-O-Gold video slot machines at Russell’s Quik Stop on Wrightsville Avenue. Ellis says when the machines first arrived, she questioned employees whether they were allowed.

“Is this legal? Is it legal for you to pay me money and he told me ‘yes, yes it’s legal. Yes’,” Ellis said.

She says the store agreed to pay her in increments. But she wasn’t getting all the money she was promised.

Workers at Russel’s Quik Stop say Ellis continued to stop by the store, demanding her cash and even getting aggressive. When they saw her, they called police. Property owner Musa Agil said he had no idea this was going on.

“Within five minutes we solved the issue because this is really our neighborhood and people in the community are treating us fairly well, very nice people. And it should not be dragged that long. So we just took five minutes to solve the issue. She’s happy, everyone’s happy,” Agil said.

Agil says they don’t keep a lot of money at the stores for security reasons. Going back to the legality of these machines, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office told us, “these machines are illegal and should not be in use in any of these stores.”

Agil says these machines are still allowed because there is litigation in court regarding these machines that may take another year or two to resolve.