Lottery and casino payouts have grown remarkably in the past several decades, with the leading lottery payout sitting at the astonishing amount of $1.537 Billion in 2018.
Casino jackpots while smaller in amount have still continued to make many millionaires on a regular basis and have kept gamblers coming back for more due to their large winnings. Slot machines remain in the top payouts of both casino and online gambling which is remarkable considering the simplicity of their play whereby coins or cards drop in the money, a lever or button is pressed and then chance lines up the infinite possibility of the winning combination of images. The odds for winning a on a slot machine is averaged at 50 million to 1, making the winners truly lucky.
- The biggest payout known to date was in Las Vegas by a 25-year-old Software engineer who won $39.7 million dollars while waiting for the 2003 NCAA to start. He won this on the Megabucks slot machines at the Excalibur.
- Three years prior to this, in 2000 a cocktail waitress by the name of Cynthia Jay Brennan walked away also from Las Vegas at the Desert Inn with a then record win of just under $35 million dollars.
- In the late 90’s a retired flight attendant won $27, 580, 879. 60 at the Palace Station Casino on a Megabucks machine.
- 2002 saw a Californian resident also playing on a Megabucks machine win $23 million while on her way to breakfast!
- 1999 a business consultant from Illinois won $21.3 million dollars on a Megabucks slot machine as well.
- In 2005 Elmer Sherwin won $21 Million dollars in Las Vegas on the Megabucks slots with his second big jackpot win. 16 Years earlier he had won $4 million at the same jackpot just hours after The Mirage had opened for business. With a 50 million to 1 odds, winning twice makes Elmer possibly one of the luckiest winners in the world.
- 2012 saw a holiday maker in Nevada use her complimentary $20 voucher winning almost $18 million dollars!
- The next win in line was a $12. 8 million windfall back in Las Vegas on a single $6 bet.
- $11.8 million was another Megabuck winner on a $3 bet in 2017 to Rodolfo T. of California at the Fremont Casino.
- The biggest wins in brick-and-mortar casinos are on Megabuck machines which are wide area progressive slot machines (WAP) from IGT that are interconnected over a wide area and have been used since 1986. They alone have paid out over 1 billion dollars in prizes in total. The Megabuck WAP systems have more players contributing to its odds than any other casino system and winnings start at $10 Million. They are considered the most expensive slots to play starting at $3.
Wheel of Fortune and Double Diamond machines have paid out jackpots of over a million dollars in single wins making them the next best in payouts. In terms of odds of winning though, Megabucks seem to be the best choice for bettering your odds.
