Black Woman Wins Casino Jackpot, Sues Bank After Staff Refuses To Accept Check

A Black woman in Michigan who won a Casino jackpot has filed a lawsuit against a bank in Livonia, Wayne County after three White employees allegedly refused to accept her check claiming it was fraudulent.

71-year-old Lizzie Pugh, a retired teacher from Detroit Public schools, filed a lawsuit against the Fifth Third Bank claiming that the staff was blatantly racist toward her and refused to return the check saying it was fraudulent, Black Enterprise reported.

Pugh won the five-figure slot machine jackpot during a church outing at Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant on April 9. She paid the taxes on the jackpot at the casino and accepted a small amount in cash. The rest of the winnings were taken in a check.

"I couldn't really believe they did that to me. I was devastated. I kept asking, 'How do you know the check is not real?' ... And they just insisted that it was fraudulent ... I was just terrified," Pugh said, as reported by Deadline Detroit.

The check had the casino's logo and Pugh's address which was the same as her driver's license. The bank eventually returned the check to Pugh after the alleged racism when she threatened to call the police.

Pugh later deposited it at the Chase bank branch and cleared it with no issue, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit last week.

"To think that maybe they would have police coming and running at me – it was humiliating and stressful. For someone to just accuse you of stealing? I'm 71 years old. Why would I steal a check and try to cash it? I just didn't think anybody would do that," Pugh, who worked as a teacher for over 35 years, added.

The woman said she was initially hesitant on pursuing the case, but her niece Yolanda McGee convinced her to file the lawsuit.

"This is just extremely disheartening. It's really unfortunate these stereotypes continue to exist right here in our metro area," Pugh's attorney Deborah Gordon said.

In a similar incident of alleged racial discrimination, a Black mother from New Jersey shared a video in August showing a character at a Chuck E. Cheese outlet appearing to ignore her 2-year-old daughter extending her arm for a high-five. After the video went viral on social media, the outlet issued an apology in a statement.