The current Nevada Megabucks(R) jackpot of $30,613,860 continues to increase as players throughout the state take a shot at the huge payout. The only slot jackpot total larger than this is the world-record $34.9 million Megabucks(R) jackpot that was hit at the Desert Inn on the Las Vegas Strip in January 2000.
Welcome to Red Screen Ninjas. We are in Vegas playing high limit slots! In this episode, we decided to test our lucky with just $15 dollars that ended up pan. There have been some huge wins, however. In 1998, someone won $27.5 million. In 2000, the jackpot was $34 million and in 2003, the biggest MegaBucks win ever recorded happened at the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas - $39.7 million, the biggest win ever recorded. Progressive and Online. Vegas progressive jackpots did not disappear when casinos. Megabucks Slots Explained. Whether you regularly visit Vegas or prefer real cash online gambling, Megabucks slots are likely on your radar. The game, which was developed by International Gaming Technology, is easily the most famous slot machine title in 2020 thanks to its monstrous jackpots. $11.8 Million Megabucks Jackpot won at the Fremont! The Orleans Hotel & Casino. 4500 West Tropicana Avenue. Las Vegas, NV 89103. 702-365-7111.
It's the dream of every slots player all over the world – to spin the reels, expecting nothing, only to feel the surge of adrenaline rushing through your veins as the realization slowly dawns that you have won millions of dollars and are set up for life.
Who wouldn't want to win a mega jackpot? I know I certainly would!
Yet, for some lucky slots players, the dream becomes a reality. Every day in Vegas and other casinos around the world, players walk in hoping and walk out smiling from ear to ear.
Every now and then, the jackpots are unthinkably big. I took an urge recently to discover some of the biggest slots jackpots of all time, and I put together this list of the 10 biggest ever Las Vegas jackpots just for you.
Enjoy, and remember – if you're not in, you can't win!
From Software Engineer to Baller
Sometimes the fates of ordinary people take extraordinary turns, and that was definitely the case when an unnamed software engineer from L.A. walked into the Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas in 2003 and burned his way through $100 on Megabucks slot.
By the time he was done, he had $39,710,826 in his back pocket, winning the biggest jackpot ever paid out in Vegas, a record which still stands to this day.
The lucky winner chose to remain anonymous, so we can't tell you who he was. All we know is that he was 25 at the time, and we can bet he didn't go to work coding for the firm the following Monday!
A Tip From the Gods
If you've ever worked in the service industry, you probably remember the biggest tip you ever received. Cynthia Jay-Brennan, a 37-year-old cocktail waitress probably remembered hers, too, but it wouldn't have been anything like the tip she was about to receive from life itself on a January night at the Desert Inn in Vegas.
Cynthia won $34,959,458 when playing Megabucks, which was the biggest jackpot ever paid in Las Vegas until our anonymous software engineer came along three years later and topped it.
Sadly, lady luck can be a fickle mistress, and Cynthia got rear-ended by a drunk driver at 60mph six weeks later, leaving her paralyzed from the chest down. On the one hand, she was lucky to survive since her older sister was killed outright, but on the other, this is a tragically sad story and is a reminder that you should never drink and drive.
Some attribute the accident to 'The Curse of Megabucks', a legend claiming that winning the Megabucks jackpot ultimately results in the winner's misfortune, but there's little evidence to support such a theory.
When Bad Decisions Pay Off
Generally speaking, I preach time and time again that one of the key tenets of responsible gambling is to never exceed your intended budget. However, I'm also aware that the moment can take you places you didn't intend to go, and that rule is a lot easier stated than kept.
Sometimes, breaking the budget pays off, as was the case for Johanna Heundl, a 67-year-old retired flight attend playing the Megabucks slot machine in Vegas. She set a budget of $100, but got carried away and ended up feeding the machine $300 over the course of her gaming session.
While this is the starting point of far too many bad nights, it was the start of a stellar one for Johanna. She wound up winning $22,621,229, and I bet her golden years were a lot more golden thereafter.
The Fastest $21.3 Million Ever Made
Sometimes, good luck is just written in your stars, and a big payout is simply meant for you, as this case illustrates perfectly.
A 29-year-old business consultant (who chose to remain anonymous) walked up to the Megabucks slot machine at Caesar's Palace, fed the machine $10, and hit spin. As luck would have it, he won $21.3 million on that first tap of the button, probably inducing a state of shock that would have killed many men.
While he didn't give his name, he did reveal that he was a business consultant by profession. It's a safe bet that was the greatest return he ever made on any investment.
However, the poor soul who had just finished playing before him probably didn't ever recover!
$200-400 Avg. Room Rates
Some Guys Have All the Luck
It's been a question which philosophers have pondered for millennia – why do some people have such rotten, destitute luck in life, while others seem to be born with a golden horseshoe stuck where the sun doesn't shine? I'm sure Aristotle put it more elegantly than that, but you get the picture!
Elmer Sherwin was one of those guys who lady luck has a fondness of, because not only did he live well into his nineties, but he won two slots jackpots over the course of his long life. The first was at the Mirage in 1989 ($4.6 million) and the second was at the Cannery Casino ($21.1 million) when he was the ripe old age of 92.
I'm not sure what he did with it at that age, but I'm sure he had a blast in the sunset years of his life, and his descendants were well taken care of.
The Lord Works In Mysterious Ways
Gambling and the religious are not two things I would immediately link together in my mind, but hey, I guess people are people and one doesn't necessarily prohibit the other.
In 2014, a local man decided to drop $20 into the Megabucks slot machine just for kicks. A few minutes later he was $14.3 million up, and he knew right away what he was going to do.
Lucky local won $14 Million #jackpot on #MegaBucks today. #Summerlin‘sHomeforJackpots #LasVegaspic.twitter.com/93HvqrtuHP
— Rampart Casino (@RampartCasino) December 1, 2014
I admit the first thing that would come to my mind if I won that kind of cash is champagne and longing on the deck of a cruise ship in the Caribbean, but that's the sinner in me I suppose. This man had another idea – he was going to build a church to help the one he had been attending in a local gym.
One For the Road
One for the road is the premise of too many tragic stories in movies and books, but this is one occasion where deciding you have nothing left to lose and playing down to the wire was a great choice.
Back in 2011, a lady who has chosen to remain anonymous, had given up after an unfruitful night of gaming at the Aria. She was actually on her way back to her room when she decided to sink her last $6 into Megabucks.
As if the gods of fortune had been testing her resolve, she won $12.7 million as a result. There are so many cliche quotes about trying one last time I could use here, but I'll spare you.
I'll bet this lady is glad she did try again, though, wherever she is today.
You've Got Mail – And it's a Check!
I've written another post on this site about lotto winners who lost it all, some of whom claim the win ruined their lives. As it turns out, there are slots winners who claim the same, and this story is about one of them.
John Tippin was a postal worker on an average salary when he landed an $11 million Megabucks jackpot in Vegas. Yet, in 2001 he released a book called 'I DID IT! My life after Megabucks' in which he claims the life-changing win made him lonely, paranoid and caused him to isolate himself.
I for one wouldn't mind switching places with him. I bet I could find the right balance needed to deal with a win like that. How about you?
Winning at the Wynn
Another winner who has chosen to stay anonymous is a lady from Hawaii who won $10.7 million playing slots at the Wynn casino.
It turns out that she won the fortune while playing for $3 spins on the Megabucks Wynn Wheel machine, which was created especially for this casino and is named after its founder.
How Is Megabucks Paid Out
While most of us would definitely consider taking a vacation to Hawaii after such a win, this lucky lady gets to spend the rest of her life there spending the vast fortune she accumulated while on vacation in Vegas.
That's what Vegas is all about, is it not?
Instant Karma's Gonna' Get You
I think we can all agree that the brave men and women in uniform who risk life and limb to protect us deserve a little luck more than almost anyone else, and this story shows that it can happen.
In February 2012, a 26-year-old US marine named Alexander Degenhardt sunk $100 into Money Vault Millionaires Seven slot at the Bellagio casino. He walked away with $2.9 million and had been in the city for a little R&R while training at a nearby Air Force base.
Roulette table wheel. When interviewed by CNN later, he credits karma for the win, since he had been accepted as a bone marrow donor just a few days earlier. He also decided to stay on and serve in the military, proving what an upstanding guy he truly is!
Photo of Trinadad Torres courtesy of Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino.
Admit it. You have the same dream we do.
Everything conspires and you find yourself in the right place at the right time – seated in front of a Megabucks slot machine that's primed and ready to hit. You push the button (of course, pulling a lever would be more dramatic, but this is 2015 and the one-armed bandit has gone the way of the horse and buggy). The logos on the reels all line up. And then the moment you've been waiting for finally arrives…you realize you're a millionaire.
Correction: A multimillionaire.
IGT's Megabucks has been paying out ginormous life-changing jackpots for almost 20 years. 21 to gamble. Its slogan is 'Dream big. Win big.'
A network of slot machines linked throughout Nevada, Megabucks boasts a top prize that builds from a base amount of $10 million. To play it costs $1 a spin, but to quality for that top amount you'll have to shell out $3. That sounds pretty steep, we know. But trust us, if you hit Megabucks with only a buck or two invested, you'll leave with a jackpot in the thousands instead of millions. And just imagine trying to live with that.
As you'd expect, Megabucks lays claim to having paid the largest slot jackpots in Vegas history. It last hit here in mid March at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. The lucky winner was Trinadad Torres, a 78-year-old woman from Magna, Utah. She played $100 before netting the $10,744,292.71 jackpot. Her plans include traveling to the Philippines and buying a yellow Mustang.
While nothing to sneeze at, Torres' windfall just misses placing her on our list below of the 10 biggest slot jackpots ever won in Sin City.
Photo of Excalibur courtesy of MGM Resorts International.
Jackpot amount: $39,710,826.36
When: March 21, 2003
Where:Excalibur
More than 12 years ago, a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles, who wanted to remain anonymous (and who can blame him?), hit the city's largest slot jackpot after playing $100 on a Megabucks machine. A C-note in return for nearly $40 million…now that's what we'd call a damn good investment.
Photo of Cynthia Jay-Brennan at the Desert Inn courtesy of Ethan Miller / Las Vegas Sun.
Jackpot amount: $34,959,458.56
When: Jan. 26, 2000
Where: Desert Inn (imploded in phases in 2001 and 2004 to make room for Wynn Las Vegas)
Gobs bigger than any tip she'd received, cocktail waitress Cynthia Jay-Brennan, then 37 years old, hit the second largest Megabucks slot jackpot in Vegas (at that time it was the city's highest Megabucks payout). But her story took a tragic turn when her car was rear-ended about six weeks later by a drunk driver. Her older sister Lela died in the accident, and Jay-Brennan was left paralyzed.
Photo of Palace Station courtesy of Station Casinos.
Jackpot amount: $27,580,879.60
When: Nov. 15, 1998
Where:Palace Station
Ignoring your budget isn't always a bad thing. Just ask the then 67-year-old retired flight attendant from Vegas who racked up the city's third largest Megabucks slot payout. She'd only intended to play $100 at Palace Station that day, but wound up putting $300 in…and we're pretty she doesn't regret overspending one bit.
Jackpot amount: $22,621,229.74
When: May 27, 2002
Where:Bally's
How does that old expression go? The early bird catches…the $22.6 million slot jackpot. Well, that's how Johanna Heundl (then 74 years old) of Covina, California, might remember it. She was on her way to breakfast when she decided to stop and play a Megabucks machine. Having looked away for a moment, she couldn't believe her eyes when she turned back and saw all the logos aligned in the payline.
Photo of Caesars Palace courtesy of Caesars Entertainment.
Jackpot amount: $21,346,952.22
When: June 1, 1999
Where:Caesars Palace
An Illinois man, then 49 years old and described as a 'self-employed business consultant,' put a $10 bill into a Megabucks machine at the Roman-themed property and hit this whopping multimillion-dollar slot jackpot on his first spin. Here's what we want to know: Is he still consulting? Can we hire him to help us get into the business of being millionaires?
Jackpot amount: $21,147,947
When: Sept. 15, 2005
Where:Cannery Casino Hotel
One man, two times a Megabucks winner. What are the odds? They've got to be astronomical. Certainly, anyone would be happy to score a single multimillion-dollar slot jackpot. But not everyone is Elmer Sherwin. A frequent Vegas visitor, Sherwin hit his first Megabucks jackpot of $4.6 million at The Mirage back in 1989. It was a sign of even better things to come. Sixteen years later, at the age of 92, that lucky son of a gun (kidding, we're not jealous…really) did it again, adding another $21.1 million to his bank account.
Photo courtesy of the M Resort.
Jackpot amount: $17,329,817.80
When: Dec. 14, 2012
Where:M Resort
Oh, the best things in life are free…especially when they lead to a $17.3 million jackpot. A Las Vegas woman stopped by the M Resort in Henderson to gamble with her 'free play' credits and enjoy a meal with some dining vouchers. Before she knew it, she'd become a multimillionaire.
Photo of 'Rampart Lucky Local' courtesy of the Rampart Casino.
Jackpot amount: $14,282,544.21
When: Nov. 30, 2014
Where: Rampart Casino
Late last year a Las Vegas man put $20 in a Megabucks slot machine at the Summerlin-area Rampart Casino. Within five minutes he'd hit a jackpot worth $14.2 million. His plans were altruistic (unlike ours). The man, dubbed the 'Rampart Lucky Local,' said he would make a donation to his church. The church, which had been holding services in a high school gym, can now have its own location built.
Photo of Aria courtesy of MGM Resorts International.
Jackpot amount: $12,769,933
When: Jan. 21, 2011
Where:Aria
A woman visiting her niece in Vegas decided to drop $6 in a Megabucks slot machine before heading back to her room. Her reaction when the winning symbols lined up: 'The machine broke.' Luckily, her niece was there to clarify things. We think we should book a room at Aria because about four months after that jackpot occurred, another Megabucks jackpot hit at the resort for $10,636,897. Talk about lightning striking twice!
Latest Megabucks In Las Vegas
Photo of New York-New York courtesy of MGM Resorts International.
Jackpot amount: $12,510,549.90
When: April 14, 1997
Where:New York-New York
New York-New York opened its doors on Jan. 3, 1997. Perhaps due to a little of the 'city that never sleeps' magic, Vegas resident Suzanne Henley made her fortune at the Big Apple-themed megaresort just a few months later. On her way home from work, she stopped in to play a Megabucks machine – one that she'd had an inkling might hit. Henley waited in line an hour before she could play. And at 1:44 a.m., after putting $100 in, her diligence paid off…to the tune of more than $12.5 million.
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