Casino players who concentrate on other types of cards or tables might skip out on slots because they feel these games pay off small winnings, but this is far from true: some of the most eye-popping payouts in casino history have to do with slot games!
In 1998, winners of a $27.5 million jackpot at Palace Station Resort in Las Vegas eventually emerged from the shadows – in this case, a retired flight attendant from the rain-soaked city of Las Vegas.
Katrina Bookman
When Katrina Bookman’s slot machine showed her the $42,949,672 jackpot payout, the Far Rockaway woman was elated. Bookman took a selfie next to the machine as it flashed her win at Resorts World Casino New York City in Far Rockaway, Queens. Afterward, her life would never be the same: the casino told her that its machine had ‘broken’ and that it would throw in a goodwill steak dinner. Her story is a warning against getting too excited in winning a slot jackpot, and then hoping for the real riches. You might not have much of a chance, but be glad you take a chance because it might pay off – big time. At the very least it’s steak dinner, and that ain’t bad.
Elmer Sherwin
One man did it at Las Vegas slot machines twice! Elmer Sherwin, a 76-year-old retiree from Texas, won $4.6 Million on Megabucks at Mirage casino within 10 hours after it opened. And 16 years later, at Cannery Casino, he won another jackpot of $21.1 million on the same machine he’d won the first jackpot on. Apparently, the money hasn’t gone to his head because he still plays that machine all the time. A software engineer from LA who happened to be visiting his family in Vegas slotted a $100 coin dollar bill and saw his winning symbols line up to a 21 Million jackpot prize! Over inflation, the jackpot prize amount used to be distributed over 25 years with yearly payments every year after 25 years.
Cynthia Jay Brennan
On 10 April 2000, a cocktail waitress called Cynthia Jay Brennan visited Desert Inn Hotel and Casino to play a little slot machine on her way home from work. Although she had started out with a mere $3, she put the money in a Megabucks machine at the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino and won a $35 Million jackpot. Her life had suddenly, miraculously shifted: her fiance got married and they began their lives together; a mere few weeks after collecting her record-breaking jackpot, an intoxicated driver with 16 prior DUI arrests rear-ended her car and broke her spine, leaving her paralysed from the chest down. She would spend the rest of her life helping others, with this message for all: fortune is fickle; never take anything for granted.
An Anonymous Software Engineer
Although hard-core casino players often overlook the slot machines due to their small bets and small percentage of winning set by the maker of the machines, the slots have become the biggest millionaires of history! A software engineer who did not want to reveal his name even won $40 Million Jackpot from a Megabucks machine in Las Vegas. It was the third-biggest jackpot in the history of Vegas And so that night, on the way home from work, she stopped at a casino for a final $100 spin and – phew! – it was godsend: the first three images were Megabucks symbols! She was happy to keep her identity hidden, but the win transformed her life. She collected her payout as 25 annual instalments, but even now she is living in comfort, and much of the money has gone towards charities working with those with disabilities.