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They say that the house always wins and that you cannot trust your hard-earned money in the hands of casino dealers or worse, feed it to the slots. Yet the lure of the casino is stronger than ever, both on land and online, and millions of people worldwide tempt their luck for the chance of earning the pay-out of a lifetime. In this article we look at ten of those glorious moments when players finally hit it big. We have set our sights high and counted down the top ten biggest casino wins in history, with winnings running into many millions of dollars. Read on to find out what the richest win ever made in gambling history is…
10 – $10.6 million
The Megabucks machine at the Aria in Vegas was on fire back in April of 2011 and a lucky gambler hit the jackpot almost three months after another big payout was doled out. The unknown player took home $10.6 million, making him or her another happy customer of the Megabucks game, which is responsible for making several new multi-millionaires, many of whom appear on this list.
9 – $12.7 million dollars
Nearly three months prior to the win that came in number 10 on list, a women staying at the Aria decided to feed the Megabucks machine $6 while she was making her way to her room. Little did she know that action would literally change her life overnight, as a few seconds later she was the proud winner of a $12.7 million jackpot. The player wouldn’t believe her eyes and was reported saying that she thought the machine wasn’t working properly when she saw the sum flash on the screen.
8 -$14,487,759
Coming at number 8 is the biggest payout ever made online. The winner was a Norwegian player who is only known by his first name, Peter. One day, Peter logged in to his account and decided to give a progressive jackpot slot called Arabian Knights a spin, and exchanged some Norwegian Crowns into Euros to play the game.
A while later he had accumulated 11.7 million Euros in his bankroll and curious to find out what that amount was worth in his local currency, he contacted customer support. To his surprise, Peter had become a millionaire several times over during that session, to the tune of $ 14,487,759.
Online casinos and gambling are increasingly popular and games like the progressive jackpots offer insanely big prizes.
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7 – $21,147,947
Yet another happy Megabucks customer! Elmer Sherwin was 92 years old when he beat the odds and hit his second Megabucks jackpot at the Cannery Casino in Las Vegas. His previous jackpot was worth $,4.6 million but his latest lucky strike was nearly five times bigger at $21,147,947. The odds of hitting the jackpot twice on Megabucks are one in fifty million, making Sherwin one hell of a lucky geezer.
6 – $21,346,952.22.
In 1999 an unnamed man from Illinois won over $21.3 million at Caesars Palace after depositing only $10. The player, who was 49 years old at the time, gave his occupation as a business consultant and became a multi-millionaire after just one spin at a slot machine.
5 – $22,618,156.67
Johanna Heundl, a 74-year-old woman from California, was about to go to breakfast at Bally’s when she chanced upon a Megabucks machine. Not one to shy away from an early morning gamble, she reached into her purse and pulled out $170 to give to the machine. One quick spin later and Johanna made her way to the continental breakfast a mega-millionaire, with more than $22.6 million to her name.
4 – $27,580,879.60
Another massive win happened in Palace Station in November of 1998, when a retired flight attendant and a native of Las Vegas placed $300 in a slot machine. The unnamed woman was no stranger to big wins, she had already won $680,000 at the Palace station a while back, but on that November day she topped her personal record by hitting a huge $27.5 million jackpot. The top three biggest casino wins…
3 – $34,959,458.50
Number three in our list is a story of great luck, as well as tragedy. Cynthia Jay, a cocktail waitress at the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas decided to take a spin at the Megabucks slot machine in January 2000 during a birthday party. On her ninth try, she won nearly $35 million which she spent by giving herself the wedding of her dreams just two weeks later. Sadly, Cynthia was involved in a horrible car accident seven weeks after winning that jackpot, which left her paralysed from the chest down and unable to ever walk again.
2 – $39,710,826.36
Taking the second spot on our list of the top ten biggest casino wins is a $39.7 million jackpot that was won by a 25-year-old software engineer from LA in March of 2003. The lucky guy deposited $100 at a video slots at the Excalibur and proceeded to win one the second biggest jackpot in the history of Las Vegas.
1 – $40 million
The story of Archie Karas has become legend. The world’s luckiest man and one of the finest gamblers in history walked into a casino with just $50 dollars in his wallet and emerged with his pockets bulging with $40 million worth of banknotes. Karas’s life story is a true roller-coaster of emotions fraught with big wins and equally massive losses, pointing towards the inevitable truth in every gambler’s career: you have to know when to grab the money and run, or keep on playing and risk losing it all. Forty million dollars. Imagine all the things you could do with that amount of money sitting in your bankroll or bank account. One thing you wouldn’t do for sure is work another day in your life!
The house wins again.
Nevada sportsbooks won $18.7 million off $154.6 million in bets on Super Bowl LIV, according to figures released Tuesday by gaming control officials. Both the win and the amount wagered were near-records for Nevada's bookmakers and stand as evidence that Las Vegas remains the epicenter for American sports betting.
The Kansas City Chiefs rallied in the fourth quarter to knock off the underdog San Francisco 49ers 31-20 on Sunday. The Chiefs covered the 1.5-point spread, the game stayed under the 53.5 total and Nevada cleaned up.
The $18.7 million win is behind only the $19.6 million Nevada sportsbooks won on Super Bowl XLVIII between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos, and the $154.6 million bet is just behind the record $158.5 million that was wagered on Super Bowl LII between the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots.
This was the second Super Bowl since a 2018 Supreme Court decision opened a path for states outside of Nevada to offer regulated sports betting. Since the ruling, legal sportsbooks have opened in 14 states, with several more poised to get into the bookmaking business this year. The expansion hasn't slowed down the action in Nevada, though. A record $5.3 billion was bet with Nevada sportsbooks in 2019.
'The overall picture in Nevada [since the Supreme Court decision] remains positive,' Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for Nevada Gaming Control, said in an email to ESPN. 'Nevada has set annual records in 10 consecutive years for sports pool volume and won $329.1 million in 2019, which is an all-time record and up 9.5% over last year. In fact, since 2010, sports betting volumes in Nevada have increased 92.6% or $2.555 billion.'
Bettors had more success on the Super Bowl in some of the new states offering sports betting. New Jersey sportsbooks reported a $4.2 million net loss on the $54.2 million bet on the Super Bowl, although some of that loss can be attributed to promotions offered by Garden State bookmakers. Pennsylvania sportsbooks reported a $3.3 million loss on the $30.6 million bet on the Super Bowl.
Kip Levin, president and chief operating officer of FanDuel, pointed to in-play wagering as a big factor in the book's Super Bowl loss in New Jersey.
'With their knack of playoff comebacks, there was a lot of interest in the Chiefs when their odds peaked in the fourth quarter,' Levin told ESPN.
He emphasized, though, that FanDuel was still pleased with the betting interest on the Super Bowl, despite the loss.
'I think we have a lot of years to go before revenue, instead of customer acquisition, is the primary metric for success on days like Super Bowl Sunday,' Levin said.
Rhode Island sportsbooks fared better, winning $804,000 off $5.5 million bet on the Super Bowl, according to state lottery officials. The Oregon state lottery did not report a net result but said more than 90,000 bets totaling more than $2 million were placed on the Super Bowl between the Chiefs and 49ers.