The best of the Megabucks
The slots often get overlooked in casinos. They don’t carry the glamour that poker, blackjack and roulette tables possess yet they make up 70% of Las Vegas casinos revenue. Without slots there would be no Vegas. Some people turn their noses up at the humble slot and if they do it is their loss as the biggest wins in Vegas come from a slot machine not a table. What’s better for us slot players is that places such as the 32Red Online Casino now have these big progressive slot jackpots online, meaning we can scoop astronomical prizes from the comfort of our sofas. Below are some of the biggest slot winners of all time.
Cynthia Jay - $34,959,458
Back in January 2000 Cynthia Jay Brennan fed the Megabucks machine $27 and in return scooped one of the biggest jackpots in Vegas history. Sadly her tale started the myth that bad things happen to those who win the Megabucks. Six weeks after her win she was involved in a car accident that claimed the life of her sister and paralyzed her.
Retired flight attendant - $27.5million
This anonymous winner only originally meant to put $100 into the machine, in the end she put $300 in and oh how she was rewarded. This fateful November evening in 1998 saw the 67-year-old become the first person to win over $20million from a Megabucks jackpot. It seems that the Palace Casino really was lucky for the flight attendant, she had won $680,000 on the Wheel of Fortune slot machine there earlier in the year. Some people have all the luck!
Johanna Heundl - $22,621,229
Back in March 2002, Heundl was making her way downstairs for breakfast at Bally’s Casino Las Vegas, on the way she decided to have a quick flutter on the Megabucks. She put in around $170 and was rewarded for delaying her breakfast by scooping the jackpot. What makes this tale even better is that Heundl misread the meter and only thought she had won $2million. Could you imagine if she was just a little hungrier and skipped the slot?
Business Consultant - $21.3million
The first male on the list. The anonymous Illinois man won big at the synonymous Caesars Palace in June 1999. This lucky punter somehow managed to win the jackpot after an initial $10 investment, making him an extraordinary one spin winner. That’s a feat that Ocean 11, 12 and 13 combined cannot top.
Elmer Sherwin - $21,147,947
It is obvious that Sherwin has a four-leafed clover stashed somewhere, he’s a two time Megabucks winner. Long ago at the Mirage, 1989, a spritely Sherwin won a cool $4.6million. Fast-forward to September 2005 and the 92-year-old did the impossible, hitting the $21.1million jackpot at the Cannery Casino. To top it off he then stated that it was a “lifelong dream” to win the Megabucks twice.
The tired lady - $12.7m
The Aria Vegas was the place for this 2011 heist. A tired woman on the way to her room decided to get rid of her junk change, sticking $6 into the Megabucks, her reward was a cool $12.7million. The elated winner actually thought the machine had malfunctioned, she would have walked away if it wasn’t for her niece insisting that she had win.
The Aria hotel got beat for another $10m+ jackpot just three months later.