Slot games are hugely popular – although they can oftentimes be scoffed at by ardent casino lovers, who consider them to be games of little skill, with low stakes and smaller wins compared to high-paying table games like blackjack and poker.
However, apart from the fact that there is no skill required to play them, they couldn’t be more wrong – you can play some big stakes – and win some seriously massive payouts. The introduction of progressive jackpots has enabled slot games to be responsible for some of the most eye-watering casino wins in history. Moreover, the slot machine Megabucks, ranked by the world’s best casino sites as one of the biggest paying games of all time, has made a number of millionaires – in fact, it’s responsible for every winner on our list.
So, let’s take a look at some of the biggest slot wins ever.
The $21 Million Win at Cannery Casino, Vegas
This story involves WWII veteran Elmer Sherwin. During the 1989 opening of the Mirage Casino in Vegas, Sherwin walked away with $4.6 million, having borrowed $20 from his wife. But that was just the warm-up.
Sixteen years later, at the Cannery Casino in Vegas, he had another go at the Megabucks game that had previously been so kind to him. With a $3 maximum bet, he spun the reels and landed those familiar three Megabucks symbols. At the ripe old age of 92, he won $21 million and became the only person to land a Megabucks jackpot twice in one lifetime.
A $21.3 Million Payout at Caesars Palace, Vegas
This one may not be the biggest win on our list – but it’s certainly up there when it comes to the highest deposit-to-winning ratio. A business consultant magicked his $10 bankroll into a huge $21 million payout. Back in 1999, the 49-year-old from Illinois landed the win playing at the renowned Caesars Palace in Vegas.
Spinning the reels of the famous Megabucks slot machine, he hit the jackpot. Opting for annual instalments of $1.5 million over 25 years, he certainly never had to worry about work for a while!
Hitting a $22.3 Million Jackpot at Bally’s, Vegas
Johanna Heundl, a retired Californian, stepped into the world-famous Bally’s Casino to celebrate her 74th birthday in 2002. Happy to take up the casino’s birthday offer for a two-night stay along with $100 in free play tokens, she deposited her free credit and added another $100 of her own funds before heading down for a few spins before breakfast.
Just as she was about to leave the casino floor for her morning nourishment, she took a few final spins with her last $20. Serendipitously, three Megabucks symbols lined up – and this led to two jackpots—a staggering $22 million and another $3,000.
A Royal Payout of $27.5 Million at Palace Station, Vegas
An unnamed retiree managed to secure the third-largest prize on this list while playing at Palace Station in Vegas. The former flight attendant visited the casino in 1998, just a few months after having won a very decent $680,000 on a Wheel of Fortune slot game.
This time, she chose to try her luck with a $100 bankroll… and Lady Luck was looking down on her as the Megabucks symbols hit the reels – adding a staggering $27.5 million to her already substantial casino winnings.
The $34.9 Million Desert Inn Win, Vegas
At the beginning of a new millennium, Cynthia Jay Brennan started it with a real bang. She was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar… as the song goes, she finished up her shift and went over to the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino. It was there that she decided to try her luck on the Megabucks slot machine.
With a deposit of just $21, she opted to play the maximum $3 bet per spin and managed to access the bonus rounds with the progressive jackpot. Despite her bankroll quickly dwindling, she decided that she would make two more attempts before calling it quits. However, the stars – and the symbols aligned perfectly, resulting in a massive jackpot win of $34.9 million from the Megabucks slot.
A Legendary Win of $39.7 Million at Excalibur Casino, Vegas
The biggest slot machine jackpot recorded at a casino came about at the Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas. This massive win dates back to 2003 – and was enjoyed by an anonymous software engineer from LA. Having wagered $100 on the Megabucks slot, luck was on his side as this machine was ready to pay out big and he was in the right place at the right time.
The great news is that you don’t have to fly over to Vegas and play the Megabucks slot to hit a huge payout. Online casinos offer lots of progressive jackpot slots, with prizes often hitting millions.
You may win – and you may not… after all, let’s face it, only the really lucky enjoy million-dollar wins, but you have to be in it to win it!
