A 90-year-old grandmother will not receive the $41million jackpot she thought she won at an Iowa slot machine after the state supreme court ruled her wining pull was caused by a software error. Pauline McKee thought she hit it big in 2011 when, after putting a penny in the 'Miss Kitty' game at the Isle Hotel Casino in Waterloo, the screen announced she had won a bonus award of $41,797,550.16. But on Friday the Iowa Supreme Court determined McKee, who has thirteen grandchildren, had actually only won $1.85 because of how the symbols had aligned in the game. The unanimous court ruled that the casino did not have to pay McKee because the game's rules stated that the maximum award was $10,000 and that bonus awards were not allowed. Pauline McKee, 90, will not receive the $41million jackpot she thought she won from the slots at the Isle Hotel Casino (pictured) in Waterloo, Iowa after the state supreme court ruled her win came from a software error . 'I had my doubts from the start, because that's a lot of money for a penny machine,' McKee told the Chicago Tribune after the ruling. 'I was hoping to help my children out financially, but it wasn't meant to be.' Justice Edward Mansfield wrote that the game's rules and pay table, which are available for reading on the machine, amount to a contract between the casino and the player. The contract is binding, whether or not the player reads the rules, he said. 'Any message appearing on the screen indicating the patron would receive a $41million bonus was a gratuitous promise,' Mansfield wrote in a ruling that dismissed McKee's lawsuit. 'The casino's failure to pay it could not be challenged as a breach of contract.' Stacey Cormican, one of the casino's attorneys, said the court's decision will ensure fairness in Iowa's large gambling industry. 'Casinos are required to post rules and follow those rules. If either the patrons or casinos could change the rules in the middle of the game, it would be absolutely chaos,' she said. Cormican said the casino could have been forced into bankruptcy if the court had ruled in McKee's favor. A $41 million payout would amount to about half of the gross revenue the casino generated last year. McKee, a widow, was playing the penny slots with her daughter during a family reunion when she thought she won the life-changing bonus. Casino officials investigated the machine after she informed an attendant that she had won the jackpot. The unanimous court ruled that the casino did not have to pay McKee because the rules of the 'Miss Kitty' game (pictured) stated that the maximum award was $10,000 and did not allow for bonus awards . The machine was reviewed by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission and it's hardware and software was analyzed in a laboratory, which discovered the erroneous bonus message. In 2010 Aristocrat Technologies Inc., the game's manufacturer, also warned casinos that the machine's hardware was susceptible to displaying 'legacy bonus' awards that had not actually been won. A sign on the casino's game read that 'malfunction voids all pays and plays'. The casino gave McKee a $10 card to play while she waited during the initial investigation and eventually paid for her family's rooms. McKee sued the casino in 2012 after the commission determined the casino didn't have to pay-out because of the machine's glitch. Her lawyers argued that the casino had an implied contract with the customers to pay whatever number they were awarded on the slot machine, according to the Chicago Tribune. Judge Mansfield found the argument to be 'contrary to precedent and general contract principles,' he wrote. As for McKee, she said she will not be playing the slots at Isle Hotel anytime soon. 'They didn't give me anything except what I had on the machine,' she said. 'If they're not going to give me any money at all, that's terrible.'
Pauline McKee thought she hit it big when she put a penny in an Iowa slot machine and the game announced she won a $41.8m bonus award .
But the state supreme court ruled the game's rules state it only allows a maximum award of $10,000 - and does not allow for bonus awards .
During an investigation it was discovered the machine had a software glitch, causing the game's erroneous bonus messages .
Court ruled that McKee only won $1.85 based on how game's symbols aligned .