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Gulfstream Casino Allegedly Welches On Bet

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BROWARD (CBSMiami) - In a promotional spot for Gulfstream Park and Casino, a pretty girl sits behind the wheel of a luxury car and holds a key, telling viewers the casino would be mailing out lots keys in a promotion to give away a very pricey Range Rover Sport.

Gulfstream mailed out thousands of keys.  The first holder of five winning keys to come into the casino and open a lock box would drive home with the car.

Vicki Wersching of Aventura said she won the car.

CLICK HERE To Watch Summer Knowles' Report

Wersching said she received a key in the mail on August 8th and went to the casino that very day.  A casino worker escorted her through a velvet rope to the lockbox containing a miniature Range Rover, and she inserted her key in the lock.

"I take the key, I put it in, I try one way, I try the other way, I pushed it all the way in, turned it, opened the door, and a siren went off and I said, 'did I just win a car?'"

She said the casino employee, thrilled for her, dashed off to get the manager.

"The manager said 'I have to go look at the video tape,' and he came back about twenty minutes later and said I didn't win the car because I 'jiggled the key,'" Wersching said on Monday in an interview with CBS4's Gary Nelson.

"I said to him, I said, 'I jiggle the key when I open the door to my house!'"

An angry Wersching got a lawyer.

"My client is not a locksmith," attorney David Kubiliun said Monday.

Wersching's attorney said Gulfstream told him it knew when the 150,000 keys were mailed out who got the five winning keys, and that Wersching was not among the recipients.

Werschinig was incredulous.

CLICK HERE To Watch Gary Nelson's Report 

"Maybe five keys they knew would win, but clearly I must have had the sixth, because mine opened it," she said.

In an email to Wersching, Gulfstream claimed she turned the key too firmly.

"This is an obvious flaw in the construction of the box, and we did not envision any rough handling of it," Gulfstream executive Guy Lee wrote.  "We have requested a stronger, more sturdy box so this does not happen again."

Wersching said this is nonsense.  Her attorney said his client is a retired, 30-year veteran public school teacher, not a weight lifter.

"They've admitted to liability here, that the box was defective," said the attorney Kubiliun.  "That's not my client's problem that the box was defective."

Wersching wants her luxury car or the $80,000 or so that it's worth.  She also wants the house - Gulfstream Casino - to pay her attorney's fees.

A spokesperson for Gulfstream declined to comment for this story.

The casino is giving away another luxury car this month.  It's yours if you have the winning entry - maybe.

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