Woman Claims Casino Owes Her A Car
HALLANDALE BEACH (CBSMiami) - She won a car. Then she didn't. Now a South Florida woman has hired an attorney to get what she believes is hers.
Rachel Marom says the Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale Beach announced her as the winner of a new car but wouldn't accept her identification. Casino management says her identification cards were not valid.
The story begins on Tuesday night. Marom says she has been a regular at the Mardi Gras Casino for six years and that she went to the casino on Tuesday night to put her name in the running for a giveaway of a brand new Fiat. At 10:30 p.m. the casino announced the winner.
"It was the farthest thing in my mind that I would ever win," she told CBS 4's Carey Codd. "They called, 'Rachel Marom, please come here. You're the winner of the car!'"
She rushed to claim her prize.
"I jumped, I was shaking," she said. "I was almost going bananas."
Marom says casino workers asked her for identification and she handed over a laminated copy of her driver's license and resident card. She said she stopped carrying her original license and resident card after she was robbed and had her cards and pocketbook stolen.
"They said, 'Oh this is just a copy. We cannot accept a copy,'" she recalls. "I said, 'What do you mean? But you can see that it's me. And everybody around here know me.'"
Marom said an employee told her she had three minutes to produce the originals. She says she informed the employee that she lives close to the casino but would need some extra time. She says her argument fell flat.
"He kept on going and called another name and left me there shaking and crying and totally devastated," Marom said.
CBS 4 News reached out to casino management.
"All of our drawings say you have to provide valid ID. It's Florida Law. She didn't have valid ID." He added, "We're still looking at the situation," Vice President Daniel Adkins said.
Adkins also said he realizes this is an unfortunate situation and that the casino plans to do something for Rachel Marom.
Marom's attorney David Kubiliun says Rachel should have been given time to produce the originals and that she had already given the casino her information to get the casino's engraved Player's Card. Kubiliun also believes the photocopied ID's should have been enough to claim the car.
"If you want to say that they weren't valid, I'll argue that they were," Kubiliun said. "They have her picture, they have her signature. They're the exact duplicate of the originals."
Rachel Marom says it's bad enough to be told you've won something then to have it taken away. But she feels like she should have built some goodwill at a place where she's spent so much time and money.
"I feel that I don't deserve to be treated like that," she said.
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